Not part of a collection.
Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power
Investigates the politics of cinematic shot design, and how this meta-level of filmmaking intersects with the twin epidemics of sexual abuse/assault and employment discrimination against women, with over 80 movie clips from 1896 - 2020.
- Original title
- Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- —
- Revenue
- $28,826
CinemaSerf
Sep 10, 2024 · via TMDB
It looks like there was quite a bit of Disney family backing for this occasionally quite insightful look at the roles of women in cinema over the decades, but unfortunately Nina Menkes chose to use a lecture as the template for her message and the ensuing delivery is probably more notable for it's sweeping generalisations than it is for any potent points it wishes to make. Her message about the historical objectification of women at the hands of largely (heterosexual) men drags in far too many films and genres without really detailing just who was directing what - on screen or from the office. Nor, indeed, does it begin to address that many of these men would have been facing a considerable degree of sexual repression of their own - and a legal one, at that, as they made their films. The simplicity of many of the statements aren't backed up by any of the actors or directors providing comment - contemporary or archive - on why they chose to make films that may or may not have compromised their actor's sexual and/or artistic integrity. The likes of Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich were, to an extent, made by their male directors and producers but would anyone argue that they compromised their identity to become stars? If so, then was this because of a male dominated studio system or maybe because that's what the wider American - this documentary doesn't attempt with any weight to look at the far more interesting European cinema environment - public actually wanted. To what extent are any of her assertions, and those of her assembled collection of academics and C-listers, taking into account the market for which these works are intended. Again, there's no redress for the cinema going punters. Great detail is gone into about the sexualisation of the female body, of violence - physical, psychological or implied; but again we have no input from the directors or the writers who created these images and characters to explain any rationale. Nor do we really hear about the motivations from the participators who needed the work, wanted the fame, wanted the money, or who didn't see any of it as prurient or exploitative at all. It's the very one-sided earnestness that disappoints. Balance wouldn't necessarily have diluted the thrust, but it might have illustrated far better the intricacies both commercial and personal of an industry as riddled with flaws and inconsistencies as the society it serves.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Kino Film Collection
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At Home
Nina Menkes
Self
Rosanna Arquette
Self
Penelope Spheeris
Self
Catherine Hardwicke
Self
Julie Dash
Self
Sheila Frazier
Self
Joey Soloway
Self
Eliza Hittman
Self
Laura Mulvey
Self
Hugh Jackman
(archive footage)
Nina Menkes
Director
Abigail Disney
Executive Producer
Nina Menkes
Producer
Sharon Farber
Original Music Composer
The Day Iceland Stood Still
Les paillotes refusent de boire la tasse
The Making of Agatha Christie's 'Evil Under the Sun'
Pussy Riot: Rage Against Putin
Klimt & The Kiss
$avvy
Django, Sartana, Trinita' et les autres…
Nice, les artistes et l'azur
George Michael : la chute d'une icône
Writing Hawa
Giant
It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures
Sing Me a Song
Man on the Moon
The Secret
Red Shadow over the White House
Martha
Yakuza Eiga, une histoire du cinéma yakuza
sex, lies, and videotape
iHuman
The Story of Adèle H.
A Nos Amours
Counter Shot: Departure of the Filmmakers
The Lovers
Beatles '64
Oprah with Meghan and Harry: A CBS Primetime Special
Louis, Martin & Michael
Eight Miles High
Fat Girl
Factotum
Nine 1/2 Weeks
The Pan-African Festival in Algiers
Fin de vie : pour que tu aies le choix
In My Skin
Kurosawa's Way
A Real Young Girl
Led Zeppelin: The Untold Story
Anatomy of Hell
Making of KAMEN RIDER GAIM : Soccer Grand Final! Golden Fruit Contest! Hero Japan's National Team Summer
Il n'y aura jamais assez d'images
Encounters in Yakutia
Paint me your Spring: Interviews with 'De Vrolijkheid'
Skip Liberty: Shooting in Vietnam
La bande son des années 90
Hodgepodge
The Windrush Generation
Across the Rails
Ana Rúbia
Silent Veil
Eye Of The Beholder
Kāinga
Seaspiracy
Ted Bundy: Mind of a Monster
Bowling for Columbine
The Arbor
Blue
Collapse
Long Shot
Maternal Instinct
Nanking
20,000 Days on Earth
Untold: Crime & Penalties
Narco Cultura
Soaked in Bleach
Dirty Wars
The Accountant of Auschwitz
An Open Secret
The Crash
Heroin(e)
Into the Abyss
Aileen: Queen of the Serial Killers
Tyson
Con Mum
Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer
Kids for Cash
Nail Bomber: Manhunt
Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger
Murder in Monaco
Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator
Running with the Devil: The Wild World of John McAfee
Einstein and the Bomb
H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer
Out of Thin Air
Voyeur
The Devil on Trial
Jan 22, 2022
Sundance Film Festival (Virtual)
Oct 21, 2022
