Jessie Ede Blog 5

I have been looking forward to discussing gender and gender representation in this class because I was naive enough to believe when registering that the "sex" in the course title simply referred to gender. Anderson's brief references to women tie both meanings of the word together in his discussion of sexual politics and arranged marriages as a means for power preservation. While not explicitly stated, women have commonly been used as a vehicle for diplomacy in the basest form possible. Anderson's discussion of nation-building up to this point has not focused on the role of women at all and has largely used masculine pronouns. I do not think this connotes disrespect, but I think it is easy for those writing and theorizing about the history of nation-building to focus almost exclusively on men since they hold hegemony in the global system.
In La Noire de..., the title character is female. She is treated extremely poorly, however, and is a silenced woman. I disagree with Mayssa's assertion that Diouana's suicide represents her as weak and vulnerable, however. I think her suicide instead shows not only an extension of the effects of subjugation and colonialism on a person (as Diouana could be a symbol for colonized Africa), but also strength and a commitment to her own conception of herself. By rebraiding her hair and giving back the money because she cannot be bought, Diouana is asserting her own identity in her death even though suicide silences her. She dies herself.
Who Killed Vincent Chin? contains interview pieces with many different women from a variety of walks of life. I find it incredibly interesting that the filmmakers, both female, kept the bits featuring sexism (ex.: the scene where the workers are picking up lunch and sexually harass the waitress; frankness about the strip club after work culture pervading the area) without any commentary - showing those parts is enough to set the scene and also make the viewer just a little bit uncomfortable with what they are hearing and witnessing. The film also juxtaposed Lily Chin and Helen Zia, two Asian females, with Roger Ebens and Michael Nitz or the prosecutor, all white males. Mrs. Chin's grief is palpable, and Ms. Zia comes across as incredibly intelligent and articulate. I think this film does more to place them in a position of power or positive light than it does with either of the dancers interviewed or Mrs. Ebens. Mrs. Ebens is very quiet most of the time, and does seem pained by what happened but still sticks by her husband's story. The dancers provide stories that are somewhat contradictory, but I do not think the film did anything to make them appear less credible due to their profession. I also think it is interesting that the jury that convicted Mr. Ebens and Mr. Nitz was majority female, and the jury that overturned the conviction was majority male - I hope someone in the class has read more about jury trends than I have and perhaps some connection between gender makeup of juries and sentencing exists. I think Who Killed Vincent Chin? portrayed a spectrum of women, though I am at more of a loss to argue for its portrayal of womanhood. Our class should have a discussion about not the facts of the case or where justice derailed, but the representations present of different people whose lives intersected.