The Death of the ‘Authorlessness Theory’?
Let’s face it. Can one fully buy into Roland Barthes’ claim that “The birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author”? (172). Even if “it is language which speaks, not the author” (168), an author is responsible for the creation of a unique sequence of words in a novel, a poem or an article. The canvas on which freeplaying signifiers paint themselves seems so vast to Barthes that “the writer can only imitate a gesture that is always anterior, never original” (170). His claim, when taken at face value, is equivalent to saying that since paint exists, there can be no Painter. But it would be a faux pas give his idea such a naïve reading—a reading strictly limited to written texts. When applied to projects such as Group art, music and film, his theory gains greater validity. Three such works that illustrate the complexities of authorship are Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party (1979), Gram Parsons’ second solo album, Grievous Angel (1974), and the 1939 MGM film version of The Wizard of Oz. Adding to Barthes’ idea proposed in “The Death of the Author” will be discussions of Michel Foucault’s “What is the Author?” and Andrew Sarris’ auteur theory to understand the complexities of claiming authorship. These examples will show that the Author is a construct that might not disappear as quickly as Barthes and Foucault had anticipated.
A discussion of The Dinner Party group project is an excellent starting point to explore definitions of “The Author” and authority. First, to what extent can fine art be authored (or rather, can a non-text be authored)? Second, who should receive credit? A simple dictionary definition of “author” will contain ...
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...e of MGM—and the Miracle of Production #1060. Special 60th Ann. ed. New York: Hyperion, 1998.
Jones, Amelia. “Sexual Politics: Feminist Strategies, Feminist Conflicts, Feminist Histories.” Sexual Politics: Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party in Feminist Art History. Ed. Amelia Jones. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. 20-38.
- - - . “The ‘Sexual Politics’ of The Dinner Party: A Critical Context.” Sexual Politics: Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party in Feminist Art History. Ed. Amelia Jones. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. 82-118.
MacDonald, Ian. Revolution in the Head: The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties. Rev. ed. London: Pimlico, 1998.
Rushdie, Salman. The Wizard of Oz. London: BFI Publishing, 1992.
Sarris, Andrew. The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996.
Haney-Peritz, Janice. "Monumental Feminism and Literature 's Ancestral House: Another Look At 'The Yellow Wallpaper '." Women 's Studies 12.2 (1986): 113. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
Haney-Peritz, Janice. "Monumental feminism and literature's ancestral house: Another look at The Yellow Wallpaper". Women's Studies. 12:2 (1986): 113-128.
Whitney Chadwick, Women, Art, and Society 3rd ed. (NY: Thames & Hudson world of art, 2002), 153-160.
At the time Charlotte Perkins Gilman wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper” she was considered a prominent feminist writer. This piece of background information allows the readers to see Gilman’s views on women’s rights and roles in the 18th century; “The Yellow Wallpaper” suggests that women in the 18th century were suppressed into society’s marital gender roles. Gilman uses the setting and figurative language, such as symbolism, imagery, and metaphors to convey the theme across.
Accordingly, I decided the purposes behind women 's resistance neither renamed sexual introduction parts nor overcame money related dependence. I recalled why their yearning for the trappings of progression could darken into a self-compelling consumerism. I evaluated how a conviction arrangement of feeling could end in sexual danger or a married woman 's troublesome twofold day. None of that, regardless, ought to cloud an era 's legacy. I comprehend prerequisites for a standard of female open work, another style of sexual expressiveness, the area of women into open space and political fights previously cornered by men all these pushed against ordinary restrictions even as they made new susceptibilities.
Ehrenreich, Barbara and English, Deirdre."The 'Sick' Women of the Upper Classes," The Captive Imagination: A Casebook on the Yellow Wallpaper, ed. Catherine Golden, New York, Feminist Press, 1992, 90-109.
“But here I can creep smoothly…that long smooch around the wall, so I cannot lose my way.” Jane had the backing and support of other feminists whom may have created that smooch for her, Kate Chopin’s feminist novel, The Awakening had come out around the same time The Yellow Wallpaper was published. Mary Wollstonecraft’s feminist work had come out a century earlier, creating a smooch for these writers to follow. Thus, Jane left her smooches all around, for other women to pick up on and continue her movement.
Judy Chicago comments in her essay that she “had been made to feel ashamed of her own aesthetic impulses as a woman, pushed to make art that looked as if it had been made by a man.” The idea that female artists were not permitted to draw from their personal experiences completely undermines the basis of what art is. Art provides context of culture: it adds meaning and relevance to the time that it was created, and the artists’ personal experiences is what drives the artwork, and society, forward. Chicago’s blatant truths about women and their art in the early 70’s describes the struggles of walking between the worlds of femininity and the regular world talked about by Woolf. It’s impossible to deny the importance of femininity. If one is not
Haney-Peritz, Janice. "Monumental Feminism and Literature's Ancestral House: Another Look at 'The Yellow Wallpaper.'" Women's Studies 12:2 (1986): 113-128.
"Whilst some feminists have argued to be included in 'male stream' ideologies, many have also long argued that women are in important respects both different from and superior to men, and that the problem they face is not discrimination or capitalism but male power." (Bryson, 2003, p. 3). The feminist art movement is unclear in its description because some describe this movement as art that was simply created by women and others describe it as art with anti-male statements in mind. For the focal point of this paper, the goal will be to analyze several female artists and their works of art who influenced, and who are said to have made powerful influence both in the feminist art movement from a political and societal perspective, then and today. With that being said, we will start with the female artist Judy Chicago and a quote from her that calcifies her position as an artist. "I believe in art that is connected to real human feeling that extends itself beyond the limits of the art world to embrace all people who are striving for alternatives in an increasingly dehumanized
Leibovitz photographs women of remarkable accomplishment: senators, supreme court justices, astronauts, athletes, opera singers, firefighters, a philanthropist maid, basketball stars, movie stars, elementary school teachers, weightlifters, and performance artists, as well as those who happen to fall in the viewfinder, sitting in the back of a pickup truck playing with Barbie dolls, or seeking shelter from domestic abuse at the local YMCA. Viewing this seemingly objective portrayal of women, we must consider the statements being made. Carol Duncan, in her essay “The MoMA’s Hot Mamas,” describes the modern art museum and a vast array of modern art in general as “a ritual of male transcendence, if we see it as organized around male fears, fantasies, and desires (118).” One might assume that Leibovitz, a respected and established photographer, might take ...
Sunset Boulevard directed by Billy Wilder in 1950 is based on how Norma Desmond, a huge Hollywood star, deals with her fall from fame. The film explores the fantasy world in which Norma is living in and the complex relationship between her and small time writer Joe Gillis, which leads to his death. Sunset Boulevard is seen as lifting the ‘face’ of the Hollywood Studio System to reveal the truth behind the organisation. During the time the film was released in the 1950s and 60s, audiences started to see the demise of Hollywood as cinema going began to decline and the fierce competition of television almost proved too much for the well established system. Throughout this essay I will discuss how Sunset Boulevard represents the Hollywood Studio System, as well as exploring post war literature giving reasons as to why the system began to crumble.
Throughout this essay I hope to illustrate how the development of Feminism was shown through art into Post Feminism and how feminism not only gave rights to women but to other 'Minorities ', I also plan on showing how strong Political influence is involved in art and feminism.
Marder, Herbert. Feminism and Art: A Study of Virginia Woolf. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1968.
Feminism has been an extremely controversial and significant subject over the centuries. The issue of equality between men and women have been questioned and exceedingly debated upon, why men were treated and considered the ‘superior’ gender. During the 1960’s, civil rights, protests against war and gay and lesbian movements were at its peak. It was the period of time, which the Feminist art movement had emerged, also known as the “second-wave” of feminism, shifting away from modernism. Women wanted to gain equal rights as men within the art world. Feminist artists such as Cindy Sherman, Carolee Schneemann and Hannah Wilke pursued to change the world and perspectives on women through their artworks, specifically in body art. Their goal was to “influence cultural attitudes and transform stereotypes.” (DiTolla. T, 2013)