Melissammoore’s Weblog

I looked at Untitled Film Still #58, in which Sherman is standing in front of a large building. She has short, untamed hair and her scarf is blowing in the wind. Her gaze is off to the side and she has a serious look on her face. My initial thought was that she looked like Bob Dylan. This struck me as postmodern in the sense that similar to the narrator in Winterson’s Written on the Body, the gender seems ambiguous. The longer that I studied the film still, it reminded me of the stereotypical new york city woman, short hair a stern look on her face, and wearing a gender neutral outfit; taking on what could be considered  more masculine qualities to procure a career in a big city.

Film Still #20 is Sherman exiting what seems to be her home, wearing a button down shirt tucked into a below the knee length skirt and wearing a hankerchief protecting her hair, as well as carrying a purse. This film still initially made me think of my grandma, because of her hair being covered and how proper and ‘lady like’ she looks. Sherman seems to be assuming the role of housewife, where although you can only see a slight bit of the house, the large shrubs and bricks aligning the door make it look as if it would be a pristine house in a quiet neighborhood, and Sherman is leaving to do some grocery shopping or pick of the children from school.

Untitled Film Still #7 shows a disheveled Sherman exiting what seems to be the sliding glass doors of a pool house. Her hair is messy, she has a cocktail in her hand and a slumped over posture which gives her the appearance of being drunk, and her other hand is lifting up a side of the slip that she is wearing. She has dark sunglasses on and a blank stare. The film still makes me think of Hollywood starlets, what Marilyn Monroe may have been like off the camera. In this film still Sherman fulfills the stereotype hollywood beauty, yet one who is overindulging, and  troubled. 

As the Malpas reading states, “In the case of the postmodern feminists, this notion of performative subjectivity is employed to disrupt the traditionally ascribed gender positions identified by Cixous.” (74). Within the film stills, Sherman takes on the roles of the stereotypes that women have assumed throughout the years as a way of calling attention to the issues of such gender roles.