Wednesday, May 9, 2007
daughters of the dust
After watching the film, Daugthers of the Dust, I was disappointed that the film was so simplistic on the surface, yet filled with complexity underneath the simplicity. In order to make any sense of the film, it was pivital to thoroughly read the screenplay. I had a hard time understanding the movie in any way until I had gone back and read the screennplay and heard Dr. Esquibel's synopsis and explanation of the characters. I just felt like the film had many critical issues within and would have been better conveyed through a less confusing script with some actual background and detail.
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6 comments:
The complexities of the film were hard for me to grasp, too. Thank goodness Catriona outlined the movie for us!
One of the underlying aspects that intrigued me was the relationship between Yellow Mary and Trula. Julie Dash decided to subtly portray their relationship, leaving some of us to wonder, what relavence is this movie to the class? I certainly wouldn't have known they were lesbians if I watched this on my own. Upon reflection, I think the subtlty of their relationship is one of the most important facets of the film. In a way, the lack of overt recognition of their love affair says "yeah, they are lesbian. But that is only a small aspect to their identity." In other words, their sexual orientation does not overwhelm their personal identities - we get to know the "whole" Yellow Mary, everything about her, without labeling her as "the lesbian" (which viewers in mainstream society tend to do. It usually distracts them from seeing the complexities of the characters, seeing them as a person with multiple aspects to their identity.)
i have to agree that the film was very complex to understnd, which was partly my part my fault for not reading the screen play. but i have to wonder if i was to rent this movie from block busters would the screen pay come with the rental.. any ways.. besides the slang in the movie the story line was one that iv never experianced before, good thing the professor helped in distribing who was who. when she expained things made more sense, he only thing that i didnt understand was how every body came up with the conclusion that yellow marry and Tula were lesbians. but that could be because im stuck in the mind set that being a lesbian on screen mean u have show some type of effection to your partner, or make it openly obvious that your are attracted to another woman, when thats not how lesbians are. i know alot of lesbians that you would never guess were lesbians, so thats the one thing i learned form this movie. you dont have to act like a lesbian to be a lesbian, it was one of Tuals and yellows mary's characterists it wasnt the only one.
The film was great, although is became quite confusing at times. I didn't have the opportunity to read the screenplay before I watched it. I also found some interesting articles and essays regarding this film but none of these articles discussed the films queer content. Check it out if you have a chance.
http://dickinsg.intrasun.tcnj.edu/dust/
Yeah, the queer aspect of this movie is too easily overlooked with so much else going on, the whole issue of slavery and history and family and such. I liked it a lot but my favorite characters ended being the non-queer ones, partly because the queer characters were hardly presented and ended being minor to the rest of the story. It would be a lot different to hear their opinions and feelings and why they did what they did, especially Tula since she knew she'd be out of place as a stranger in a family gathering but seemed to have some expectation about being there.
I couldn't agree more with Ashley. I felt like an audience with no prior knowledge to what messages the film was attempting to convey may not fully comprehend all of the underlying themes of the film. It wasn't very clear in its content or dialogue.
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