Jake Turner
Blog post 3
May 22, 2014

The Watermelon Woman is an indie film from the queer cinema movement. Even with it’s less than perfect acting and low budget it is able to tell the writers story of self-reflection. At the end of the movie we learn that the Watermelon Woman is actually completely fictional. The Watermelon Woman is just a vessel of self-reflection for the writer/director, Cheryl Dunye. She uses this film to express her feelings towards the lack of African American lesbian presence in the film industry. It’s clear that there are no famous African American lesbian’s in film at the time from the scene of Cheryl doing research at the library and coming up empty handed. This large reference library does not have one book on the topic showing its insignificance at the time.
I interpreted the Watermelon Woman as Cheryl herself and her difficulties in the film world being an African American lesbian. This is evident in the scenes of Cheryl reciting what I assumed to be said from ‘The Watermelon Woman’. An example of this can be found towards the end of the movie from 1:13:00-1:13:10 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_BU_c5TnO4). She is able to recite the lines word for word with perfect timing without looking at the real movie. I believe Tamara may be a representation of a disapproving male figure in her life. Someone had brought up during discussion that Tamara seems to be very masculine in her actions, which I came to find myself agreeing with. She disapproves of Cheryl’s idea for the movie throughout the film and brushes conversations about her movie to the side. She even comments on how Stacy’s story was better than Cheryl’s further putting her down. I found the scene of Cheryl interviewing her mother to be rather interesting. Cheryl seems to talk to her in a tone that you would not usually take with your mother. She treats her more poorly than, in my opinion, she should. She even chooses to do the interview with her own mother off camera. While her voice can still be heard she is not pictured within the frame. When her mother is asked about the Watermelon Woman she states that she does not know who that is or anything about her. This to me is just another symbol of someone who does not support Cheryl and her topic of African American lesbian women.
I think the ending of Cheryl revealing that the Watermelon Woman is completely fictional is her way of saying that there are no famous African American lesbian women in the film industry. She is trying to bring attention to this issue to make people more aware. And in a way thus making her a famous African American lesbian in the film industry. She herself then become the Watermelon Woman (a famous African American lesbian in film) One question I have that is unrelated to the idea of self-reflection however is: why the wedding scene depicted in the beginning of the movie is a straight couple while almost every other character seen throughout are of the LGBT community. Why did Cheryl Dunye choose to picture a straight wedding instead of say two women?

“Perfumed Nightmare” is a difficult movie to put into just one category. The movie has a very documentary type feel to it with hints of comedic relief along with completely fictional scenes. It is a low budget independent film and is considered to be part of the “Third Cinema” movement. In “Perfumed Nightmare” Kidlat Tahimik is born and raised in a small Philippine village with dreams of reaching America and more specifically joining the NASA program. He seems fascinated with the modern world and the technological advances it promotes. He loves to hear stories of one woman who was the only person in the village to have been in an airplane. When Kidlat get’s his opportunity to potentially reach America he does not pass it up. However, he goes to France first where he stays and works and is overwhelmed by modern technology. It is here that Kidlat see’s that his idea of what the modern world was like was skewed. He see’s modernity as unnecessary and over-done.

In a particular scene Kidlat comes to the realization that there is no need for a “supermarket” because a regular market fulfills the same purpose just fine. There is no need for it to be “super” if the normal one has no problems. The large plastic trash incinerators that he discovers especially anger Kidlat. He comes to recognize that these trash incinerators that everyone easily walks by without a second glance could house half of his entire village. The film documents well that most housing in Kidlat’s village is built from bamboo, which takes time and skill. And here are these giant plastic incinerators that could hold the equivalent of half his village that are just sitting behind a supermarket. It is here that Kidlat sees that this modern life is not for him and eventually finds his way back to the Philippines.

Kidlat (the director and character) seems to have a problem with modern society and western culture. It is clear that there is already a western influence on the small village that Kidlat comes from. There is a shot in the opening scenes of a large Marlboro advertisement; the jeeps that Kidlat drives are remade Humvees from the war. The very way he makes his living is in part thanks to western culture. However, it appears that Kidlat uses this film to describe his issues with western society and what it stands for. He is obviously against the idea of these large corporations that are putting the small people out of business. One of the final scenes is of Kidlat blowing wind so fiercely that he blows away these masked people who represent western power and cranes representing technological progress. His opposition to western culture and its ideology is extremely ironic. It turns out that Kidlat Tahimik studied at the University of Pennsylvania where he even received his Masters in Business Administration. So with Kidlat Tahimik being so deeply involved in western culture why do you think he is so opposed to it?