The Watermelon Woman is a film by Cheryl Dunye that chronicles her quest to film a documentary about a black actress from the 1930s named Fae Richards. The film was funded independently with a budget of $300,000 and was the first feature film directed by a black lesbian (IMDb.com). Although The Watermelon Woman is very low budget and features some unusual subject matter, I thought Dunye was courageous in her attempt to shed light on the history of lesbian culture and the struggles they have faced while living in America.

In our lecture on Wednesday, Daniel put up a slide that listed the claims of The Watermelon Woman. The first claim is that “cinema is a way of creating and validating personal identity” (Platt). One of the most important aspects of the film is how Dunye’s life parallels the life of her subject, Fae. Both Dunye and Fae are in a relationship with a white woman and struggle with discrimination against interracial relationships. I believe Dunye made up Fae’s character as a way to find validation of her own actions and beliefs. She idolizes Fae for being a resilient and strong lesbian especially because of the time period of which she lived. Dunye’s relationship takes places decades later, but is still under the same scrutiny as Fae’s. I think that Dunye wanted to show how discrimination against lesbians and interracial couples has not changed since Fae’s time.

The second claim is that “American Film History does not represent the history and lived experiences of African Americans or LGBT people” (Platt). The fact that it was not until 1996 that a black lesbian directed a feature film speaks volumes to this claim. African Americans and LGBT people have always been discriminated and misrepresented, especially in the media, and Dunye making the Watermelon Woman helps to represent and perpetuate some of those lived experiences. I also believe Dunye used The Watermelon Woman as a way to show how even other lesbians are discriminatory towards each other. Her best friend Tamara, who is also lesbian, continuously berates Cheryl about her interracial relationship and how she is “trying to be white.” Dunye wanted to shed light on the fact that criticism is still abundant even within the LGBT community.

The third claim is that “when your history seems to be absent, you either have to dig it up or create a totally new history” (Platt). By the end of the film, Dunye realizes that her quest to tell Fae’s story was actually a pursuit to tell the story and history of black lesbians in Hollywood and American culture. Dunye initially focused on the story of Fae, but soon realized that Fae’s story is extremely similar to the stories of thousands of black females today. After meeting with June Walker, she tells Dunye that she needs to shift the documentary from focusing on Fae to telling the history of the lesbian community.

I really enjoyed The Watermelon Woman because it help shed light on a community that I did not know much about previously. I think Dunye did a great job of balancing herself as the protagonist and relating her life to the struggles and obstacles of Fae’s.

Peeping Tom is a British thriller film made in 1960, which chronicles a serial killer who films his victims as he murders them to record their faces and expressions as they die. Mark Lewis, the protagonist and serial killer, murders women to explore his obsessions with fear and voyeurism. Peeping Tom was considered a horror film at the time, but many critics have debated whether it should actually be categorized as a psychological thriller. This film’s graphic content and themes can make the viewing experience a bit uncomfortable, but once I really started to think about Mark Lewis and dive into his psyche, I became fascinated by his character and the film.

Mark Powell, the director, wants the audience to feel a connection with Mark in order to sympathize with his situation. From the start of Peeping Tom, the director Michael Powell aims to immediately bring the audience into the mind of Mark Lewis. Powell accomplishes this by bringing the camera to the point of view of Mark so the audience sees exactly what he sees. The opening scene shows an unidentified man walking towards a woman on an empty city street at night. The man approaches the woman and brings a film camera up to his eye, which transports the audience’s view into the viewfinder of the camera. This technique initially made me quite uncomfortable because it made the film seem too real and created a sense of intimacy with the characters. The point of view camera is an important function of Peeping Tom because it is a movie that has an extremely complex protagonist, and the technique gives the audience a unique way of relating to him. One of the most interesting themes of Peeping Tom is voyeurism, which I believe is still a major part of our vastly connected digital society.

Our generation is constantly sharing intimate experiences with the world through a vast network of social platforms. Platforms like Facebook or Twitter allow people to share their daily life with thousands of strangers. Anyone has the ability to gather information about someone’s life, which has fueled a society that has become obsessed with the lives of other people. We can essentially follow someone’s daily life without actually physically being with him or her, which is much like how Mark Lewis uses his camera to obsess over the women he aims to murder. Although Peeping Tom shows an extreme type of voyeurism, I believe it touches on the voyeuristic obsessions of today’s social networks and platforms.

I enjoyed Peeping Tom mostly because of its focus on voyeurism and how Powell gave the audience the ability to get inside of the Mark Lewis’ mind. Powell’s film techniques, like the point of view angle, are extremely important to the character development of the film. We see aspects of Mark’s personality that other characters do not see, such as his homicidal tendencies. Furthermore, this film made me really think about how our society does not focus on privacy anymore and, more importantly, the consequences that can follow. These women allow Mark to film them with his camera unaware of the fact that he intends to use those intimate times to murder them. Mark is able to get into intimate situations with these women where they are extremely vulnerable because he knows a lot about them. Overall, I think Peeping Tom is a phenomenal film because it directly involves the audience, and forces them to dive inside the mind of a sociopath.

“Man With A Movie Camera” by Dziga Vertov is an experimental montage-documentary that was made in 1929. This film is one of the most interesting films I have ever seen and kept my attention throughout its entirety. I was most astonished by the extremely advanced film techniques and editing style, and can definitely see how this film has influenced popular films styles of today.

My initial reaction to the film was one of confusion, as I thought it was just a random montage of Russian life. However, during our discussion of the film, I started to realize the juxtapositions and cultural commentary that “Man With A Movie Camera” was conveying. The quick and choppy editing was by design and aimed to showcase the industrialist society of Russia. The juxtapositions between industry and recreation depicted the separation of different social classes.

I also believe that “Man With A Movie Camera” is a film that intended to inspire Russian workers and fuel nationalistic ideologies. This film is essentially a tribute to the hard working laborers of Odessa. I think Vertov wanted to show the strength of the Russian manufacturing industry as a way to inspire its citizens. Moreover, Vertov chooses to shoot recreational activities, such as a bar or a beach, in order to show how great the lives are of Russia’s citizens. I think one could definitely make the case that “Man With A Movie Camera” was used as a form of propaganda, which was especially common in Lenin era.

The cultural commentary and significance of “Man With A Movie Camera” are very important, but I also believe the cinematography and technologies used in filming are just as important.

Vertov uses many different filming techniques to disorient the viewer, contextualize the scene, and symbolize an idea. One of the most symbolic fixtures of “Man With The Move Camera” is the double exposure shot of a silhouetted man with a camera in the clouds. Vertov, who we assume is the man, uses his camera to peak into the everyday lives of Russian citizens, just as a man, or “God” in the sky would.

Another scene that astonished me was when the horse was galloping around the track. During this scene, Vertov used a carriage to track alongside the horse, and then slowed the frame rate down so the horse galloped in slow motion. I did not know that slow motion filmmaking existed in the 1920s, so to see it done so well was an amazing experience.

“Man With A Movie Camera” definitely struck a chord with me because I am fan of montage filmmaking. Another film I really enjoy that is similar to
“Man With A Movie Camera” is “Koyaanisqatsi,” which is a city-montage film directed by Godfrey Reggio in 1982. Both of these films aim to show the culture and society of the time, while also commenting on certain societal trends. “Koyaanisqatsi” aims to highlight the relationship between humans, nature, and technology, while “Man With A Movie Camera” comments on industrialization and the juxtaposition of Russian social classes.

Vertov created a film that was extremely influential in terms of cinematography, storytelling, and film technology, and I believe the film industry would not be the same had “Man With A Movie Camera” not been produced.