Rent Striking Women and the Problem with Netflix
In continuing to consider paper topics for my gender/queerness class, I have come across the topic of women's involvement in rent strikes - particularly in the rent strike of 1969 in St. Louis. It seems that, historically, women have played a larger role in rent strikes than in strikes of the usual (factory) sort. Unfortunately, I don't think it's entirely appropriate for this class - there isn't a tie-in to popular culture that I can think of off-hand. Maybe if I'm nice, D will let me take this one on...it would fit so well into my work on working class resistance, and it involves women, so...
The other idea I have is to examine the film Spicebush, directed by Kevin Jerome Everson, for signifiers of constructed black working class masculinities. It's the story of a working class black family, their efforts to get by, etc. I'm interested in how Everson portrays the men (and the women...the focus could easily shift to an examination of working class feminities); as an independent, academic filmmaker, Everson may have created images that challenge dominant conceptions of black working class men and/or women.
Here's the challenge: I haven't actually seen the film and I can't figure out how to get a copy. It's a small budget, Sundance-screened film from last year and it's not available anywhere online. Perhaps I could call and request a copy from UVA, where Everson is on the art school faculty.
I could also follow an earlier idea and deconstruct working class masculinities in Deer Hunter. I just recently watched it again (J hadn't seen it yet) and I was struck by the overt, grotesque mannishness, especially in the first half before the POW scenes. That work would inform my interst in representations of white working class men as in opposition to representations of black working class men...which would be a topic for a second article.
And I'm still interested in taking a look at how working class women of color are excluded from "pink collar" occupations, often relegated to service and jantorial (housekeeping) work.
All of this takes so much time, just trying to figure out where to start. It's 2:30 and I'm starving, but I've been sitting here scrolling through JStor articles, searching for something to hang my hat on.
Oy.
The other idea I have is to examine the film Spicebush, directed by Kevin Jerome Everson, for signifiers of constructed black working class masculinities. It's the story of a working class black family, their efforts to get by, etc. I'm interested in how Everson portrays the men (and the women...the focus could easily shift to an examination of working class feminities); as an independent, academic filmmaker, Everson may have created images that challenge dominant conceptions of black working class men and/or women.
Here's the challenge: I haven't actually seen the film and I can't figure out how to get a copy. It's a small budget, Sundance-screened film from last year and it's not available anywhere online. Perhaps I could call and request a copy from UVA, where Everson is on the art school faculty.
I could also follow an earlier idea and deconstruct working class masculinities in Deer Hunter. I just recently watched it again (J hadn't seen it yet) and I was struck by the overt, grotesque mannishness, especially in the first half before the POW scenes. That work would inform my interst in representations of white working class men as in opposition to representations of black working class men...which would be a topic for a second article.
And I'm still interested in taking a look at how working class women of color are excluded from "pink collar" occupations, often relegated to service and jantorial (housekeeping) work.
All of this takes so much time, just trying to figure out where to start. It's 2:30 and I'm starving, but I've been sitting here scrolling through JStor articles, searching for something to hang my hat on.
Oy.
posted by Jackie at 12:04 PM
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