Women's Cinema As Counter Cinema Analysis

In Johnston’s manifesto, Women’s Cinema As Counter-Cinema, she states, “In order to counter our objectification in the cinema, our collective fantasies must be released: women’s cinema must embody the working through of desire: such an objective demands the use of entertainment film.”1 What Johnston states is there needs to be a strategy to fit the political agenda of women’s cinema while also maintaining its essence as a film. Certain Women is not an example of what Johnston’s statement of using women’s cinema as counter cinema. Johnston emphasizes the idea of creating a film without any boundaries. Women should feel as freely to create films the same way men create films. Women should not create women’s cinema within a patriarchal system, but create a film outside a male-dominated system. Although Certain Women is a film with a woman director, screenwriter, and protagonist, the film assigns stereotypes to their characters. Johnston writes about, “The Myths of Women in the Cinema.” 2 She examines how women are often put into character molds and can only be written in four different

Each character has their own small conclusion. Laura’s client is imprisoned and will continue to work on his case. Gina stares at a pile of sandstone, content in knowing that it will be used for her new home. Beth finds a better job and begins to work for Laura’s law firm. Jaime returns to her life on the ranch. It is a representation of American Women, however there is a lack of a political agenda. Setting aside the political agenda, the film does well for a drama. It establishes the conflicts of each character, but it forces stereotypes onto audiences who may want to see variations or different stories of women characters. The film does not fit with Johnston’s manifesto. Although it is a part of women’s cinema, it is not an example of it being a part of counter cinema because of the use of Hollywood motifs of