Rachel Choi Blog 5

A nation cannot be formed without women.  One would think that the development of a nation would put particular emphasis on the women but in imagined communities, they are not given special interest or concern.  The focus is put on men as though they would be the only ones capable of helping form a nation. The few times Anderson addresses women are left short.  For example, he speaks of the new reading public, he adds that women were the least of those who read since they would not have been able to read latin.  He also mentions that women were used for political reasons as monarchs would marry nobility.  I invite you to read this article I found on an interview with Benedict Anderson
(https://www.uio.no/english/research/interfaculty-research-areas/culcom/news/2005/anderson.html(
If you scroll down you will find the heading Invisible Women.   On a question asked about women's role in the evolution he answers "My books give the impression that there don’t exist any women in the world. I have heard and read of women’s role in nationalism, but as yet I haven’t found a way of writing about it."  Anderson admits that women's role in the evolution of nationalism is ignored.  So, what does it take to show that women play a more important role in society?

In Black Girl, main character Diouana takes care of her appearance and appears to be proud to be a woman.  But as she is given tasks like a slave, she realizes that the probability of her reasons for coming to France would not work out.  Diouana speaks back to her employer with non-verbal actions.  She continues to wear clothes that are not fit for a maid.  She puts on a different persona though she is carrying out the duties of a maid.  When Diouana refuses to work, the wife of the family has no choice but to pick up Diouana’s slack.  This solidifies the women’s role in nearly all societies as caretaker.  The importance of being caretaker is often overlooked as it is considered given when in reality, women stand for the roots of a society. 

What I noticed is that a lot of what Diouana is said is shared with the audience through her thoughts.  These thoughts are not actually shared out loud in the film.  The audience only knows what is going on inside her head.  She reiterates the fact that she would lead a better life than the family that she is working for.  Her thinking takes a sharp turn as she realizes that she has her own particular glass ceiling.  And the reality of the position she is stuck in causes her to react in a drastic way.  This brings us to the question of, who is actually listening?

Spivak says that the subaltern cannot speak.  The subaltern’s voice, in this case Diouana’s attempt to speak comes from the scene in which she slits her throat.  One would expect Diouana to take the money and return to Dakar but she does something that is out of the ordinary and doing so, shows that she broke out of the norms of a typical subservient.  But, who exactly paid attention to her action? The film showed people playing by the beach, though I at first thought it was a weird scene to cut to right before showing the newspaper.  I realized that they probably showed that scene to show that no one really paid attention to Diouana’s death.  

In Twilight: Los Angeles, Anna Deavere shows her form of breaking out of the norm as she puts on different personas to shed light on the LA riots.  As she steps out of a comfort zone that many choose to stay in, Anna tackles the riots with several perspectives. Anna’s gender is never forgotten as every time there is a new scene, the audience registers that this is a female taking on the role of a male.  Anna chose to define her own lines in what a woman stands for.  As she plays with the most obvious barrier in mankind, gender, she shows that traditional roles are of the past and gives womanhood a new meaning.   Womanhood is about breaking traditional barriers and making advances in society in order to level the playing field.