Blog 10

            This week we watched the move Boys Don’t Cry staring Hillary Swank as a transgender teenager. In the movie she plays Teena Brandon a young girl who believes she is a boy. She dresses like a boy and often pretends to be one and have relationships with women who believe she is a boy. Brandon has a sexual identity crisis he is a boy stuck in a girl’s body. The movie shows how difficult it is to be yourself and how close-minded some people can be. Brandon is in a difficult position because he wants to have gender reconstruction surgery but cannot afford it. So he is stuck in a girl’s body when he knows he is a boy. The movie portrays the struggle that he goes through in his life and what it is like to be a transgender person. Brandon grows as a person when he meets Lana his last girlfriend before he was killed. They fall in love and even after Lana learns the truth she still loves him. Brandon was a good person and was always looking out for others. Brandon just got himself into trouble for trying to be who he really was. The area that Brandon was from was not a very open minded place. People who knew who he was would beat him and be cruel to him just because he was being himself. When Lana and her friends find out that Brandon is really a girl they do not react well to it. Jon and Tom who are mentally disturbed people attack Brandon. They assault and rape her when they find out she is a girl. Then they threaten her to keep it a secret. When Brandon goes to the police Jon and Tom become even more violent and murder Brandon and their friend.  Brandon was murdered out of hatred and misunderstanding. He was not treated like a person just because he believed to be a boy. Society puts standards on us to be a certain way and a certain gender. Brandon was different and did not fit into these strict standards of what it is to be a girl and a boy.

            In the article written about Boys Don’t Cry written by Melissa Anderson, all of Brandon’s lovers were interviewed and they all had nothing but great things to say about him. When they found out he was a girl they still had good things to report about him. Even when Lana found out she still loved him not because of his gender but because of the type of person he was. “Lana’s comments reveal that her love for Brandon, regardless of gender was the only thing that mattered.” Brandon was loved for who he was not for his gender, and a lot of people could not understand this. They just thought that Brandon was a lesbian. They wanted to make sense of what Brandon was going through. Billy Tipton was another transgender girl who was a man. She was only discovered to be a girl after she had died. Billy had a full life and was even married to a woman. In Telling Tales by Judith Halberstam she tries to find out what defines a transgender person and what it means to be transgender. So many people want answers and explanations about being transgender because they believe that it is the same as being gay. But it is completely different because they believe they are the opposite sex. So what defines being a girl or a boy? Why does just our body parts define us? Being transgender is being who you are no matter what. That’s what it means to me. Teena Brandon and Billy Tipton lived their lives trying to be men and that’s what made them happy.

            

Blog 9

            In this weeks lecture we discussed the idea of culture wars and what that entails. “Culture wars” is a series of debates about the politics of art. There are many arguments about if art is political or if politics can be seen as art. Art and politics are connected through the flow of money in the government. Artists are granted money from schools and museums. The money used is public money supported by the taxes of the government. The reason there are so many arguments over who should be granted money is because not all of the art is seen as appropriate or accepted by everyone. Art is controversial and because of that the government feels it is necessary to censor what is put into schools and museums and into the public eye.  In 1990 the National Endowment for the Arts chairman John Frohnmayer denied the grants for four artists who were four Holly Hughes, Karen Finely, Tim Miller, and John fleck.  These artists challenged the norms of our society and tried to show the themes of being homosexual. Congress believed that their work was offensive and promoted “homosexuality”. This fight led to another fight about whether the government has the right to censor what we see in our society. Just because some people believe these works to be offensive others may not. They could have a more liberal view of what these artists are trying to tell everyone. The government has a very strict idea of what should be allowed and should not be.

In the paper written by Joan Glantz Garfinckel she addresses the issue if art is political or if politics can be art. “It is said that everything is political; some critics, moreover, hold that anything is art. If there is a difference then, this is it: all art is political, but not all political expression is artistic.” What she is stating is that there is a very thin line between art and politics. Art can be seen as political and a way to understand society. A great speech something that inspires everyone can also be seen as art. The fact is that art and politics are always going to be intertwining and dealing with each other. There are millions of debates over whether or not the government has the right to deny artists grant money based on their art. Artists can draw what ever they want in any way they want to. That is his or her right that is everyone’s right in our country. We have the first amendment protecting what we say and what we do. Just because people find an artists work offensive does not mean that their work cannot be shown. The government has abused their power when they denied money to artists because they did not like the message that the art was sending. When the “Helm Amendment” was made it restricted the NEA and who they could grant money to. “The amendment provided that NEA funds could not be "used to promote, disseminate, or produce materials which in the judgement of the [NEA]... may be considered obscene, including but not limited to, depictions of sadomasochism, homoeroticism, [and] sexual exploitation." This amendment limited artists to what they can and cannot do. The government made rules against who could get grant money and who couldn’t. They wanted to censor what people could view and wanted to stop artists from making art that offended the government. This amendment was seen as unconstitutional because it was limiting artist’s freedom of speech. There is a ton of art that is seen as controversial and just because the government does not approve of it does not make it right. Artists had to fight for their right to be granted money by the government and they were able to do that and get the “Helms Amendment” removed.  The fight is still going on but it has gotten better from the 1990’s. People have become a little be more open and accepting of new things.

National Museum Of Women In The Arts Blog 8

When I entered the National Museum Of Women In The Arts I started at the first floor and then went on to explore the second and third floors. The museum is very beautiful and in a great spot in Washington DC. When I was there I saw many interesting pieces of art that I was not expecting. At first I thought I was going to see a lot of artwork like Judy Lorber’s that we have seen in class. The museum had a lot more paintings then I had expected. Three paintings really stuck out to me while I was there. The first painting that really interested me was in the permanent exhibit, which was located on the first floor. “Portrait of a Young Boy” by, Elisabeth Louise Vigee-Lebrun really shocked me. The painting is a little boy who I would say to be around the age of six or seven years old holding a very large rifle. The rifle is practically bigger then him. This painting really stood out to me because of the message that it portrayed. In class we have discussed in the past about how everyday men are portrayed as violent in the media. They are shown fighting, and using violence to get what they want. This painting was made in the 1800’s and is portraying the same message that we encourage today. Boys must be violent in order to become a man. In the painting the little boy is painted to look very innocent and almost girl like. He looks to be of the upper class because of the way his clothing is painted. He is very proper and is smiling in the portrait. This painting was very interesting to me and shows a message that is still encouraged in our society.

            The second painting that I found to be very interesting was from Anna Ancher’s collection on the third floor. I chose “The Maid In the Kitchen” which was maid in 1883-1886. I found this painting interesting because it was different from all of her other paintings in the exhibit. I noticed that a lot of her paintings were of her life and what was happening around her. She painted the beach and women and men working in the fields. This painting was of African American women in the kitchen making dinner. In the painting Ancher draws a very small kitchen that does not look very clean, it seems to be very old and unused a lot. From this painting I feel like this women is actually in her home and not in her employers home. The message that I received from this was that this woman is busy taking care of someone else’s family that she does not have the time to take care of her own. When she gets the chance she does as much as she can for her own family. This also reminded me of The Help where black women are raising white children and are not able to take care of their own family. I think this painting was very powerful and sent a very strong message to a lot of people.

            The last painting that I saw that interested me was "Virgin and Child" by Elisabetta Sirani. This piece is very similar to the one we were shown in the beginning of the semester of "The Madonna" by Leonardo Da Vinci. The painting in the museum portrays Mary and her baby Jesus. In the painting Mary is very innocent and pale looking and very motherly. This image is shown over and over again throughout time where a woman should be motherly but at the same time should be able to get a husband.

            The National Museum Of Women In The Arts is a great museum. I think it is very beautiful and the setup of it makes it very easy for you to explore and see everything that they have to offer in the museum. My favorite part of the museum was the Anna Ancher’s exhibit I enjoyed how there were different rooms of different paintings and not just her paintings. I found it interesting that there were a lot of painting done by her husband Michael Ancher. This exhibit was set up in way that you were able to explore and walk through every room and you would get something different every time. The museum was a great experience you could really see each of the paintings and how much work they put into each stroke and each painting. There is a lot of detail that you miss when you are looking at a picture of it on the computer or in the brochure. I think there should be more museums dedicated to women artists and showing a lot more of their works. I thought the trip overall was very helpful to understanding the art and what the artists were thinking at the time.