After watching the movie Whip It four times this week, I thought well why not write a paper on it. I apparently love the movie, so why not share my love for it with others…..
I absolutely love this movie. It has many elements that challenge heteronormativity, but it also conforms to heteronormativity in terms of the characters’ relationships. This movie is great because it portrays women as tough and intimidating on the roller-derby scene; however, in terms of the relationships, it is not so wonderful because the main character gets her heart broken by her guitar-playing boyfriend.
The part of the movie that I am a little critical about is the relationship that occurs between the main character and her boyfriend. I plan on analyzing this in my paper to my audience. I am going to discuss the roles of the women in this movie because the women don’t fit into the normal gender norm. These women in this movie are presented as the dominating figures whereas many of the men in the movie are portrayed in a much more passive manner. It is so neat to watch a movie that has women as very powerful. It is very empowering, and it kind of makes me want to be a Roller Derby girl……I think Roller Derby Darby sounds quite good.
As for my working thesis, I still need to work on it. For now, it is the following: Whip It challenges the dominant culture’s idea of gender and sexuality through the empowerment and domination of women of the roller derby rink.
I like the idea that Whip It doesn’t conform to the idea that women have to be extremely passive and overly sexualized to be accepted by society. This movie makes being independent and strong appealing to its audience. I think it will be a perfect topic for this paper because I will be able to talk about it in terms of gender and sexuality.
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I think that this is going to be a good topic!
ReplyDeleteFirst you have chosen to look at the next essay in a slightly different way than everyone else, and I love variety. second, I think you have plenty to write about! and third, I feel like your idea was similar to the one I had about the girls basketball team. You could even incorporate the question, "can a woman be strong and aggressive and still be a girl and feminine?"
*I have never seen this movie, but after reading your blog I really want to rent it! :)
Hi Darby,
ReplyDeleteOkay, I just added Whip It to my Netflix queue so I can watch it before you turn in your essay. I think that this is an interesting film to choose for your analysis, especially because you say that it both challenges and conforms to aspects of heteronormativity. I'm especially interested to see you discuss the main character's relationship with her boyfriend in an atmosphere that seems so liberating to women.
One thing you might want to think about doing to help your essay's structure is to look first at how the film challenges heteronormativity. Then, as you move toward the end of the essay, you might say something like, "Although the film challenges the idea that women must be passive and weaker than men, it also reinforces the idea of heterosexuality as the dominant sexuality," or something like that. Then, you can go on to discuss how the film still conforms to heteronormativity before making an overall assessment of the film in your conclusion. Does that make sense? I'm interested to see how this turns out. ~Megan
I have never seen this movie, but I think this sounds like a really good idea. I like that you took the approach of looking at women as being the aggressive non-passive ones. I definitely think that with our readings and our class discussions you will have enough information to write 4-6 pages on this movie. I am interested in learning about the main character's relationship with her boyfriend and what you think if wrong about it. I also really like your thesis and think that it supports the short ideas you have given so far. I think that it could provide a good framework for the rest of you paper.
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