Park Chanwook’s latest masterpiece The Handmaiden is a wonderfully claustrophobic, seductive thriller set in 1930s Korea, without any white persons appearing to save the day or infiltrating the plot. The film has received resounding praise from critics and audiences alike, proving once and for all that despite having no literal projection of themselves within the storyline, white audiences can find an all-Asian movie both entertaining and valuable. The film’s lucrative success condemns any excuses for whitewashing in order to appeal to Western audiences, which was most recently used by Chinese director Zhang Yimou in his film The Great Wall. Continue reading
Tag Archives: female sexuality
The Joy In Life Is Loving You: Multiplicity Of Women’s Desire In Ellen Cantor’s Art
“Finally, Don Quixote understood her problem: she was both a woman therefore she couldn’t feel love and a knight in search of Love. She had had to become a knight, for she could solve this problem only by becoming partially male. It was necessary for her to delve deeper into this matter. What was a … Continue reading
Rococo Raunch: Abject Femininity And Porcelain Provocations At Jessica Stoller’s ‘Spoil’
Like Kathy Acker’s description of women as disrupting criminals, ceramic artist Jessica Stoller’s current exhibition Spoil at P.P.O.W. Gallery destroys the ideals of feminine beauty and subjugation by representing abject female sexuality and other disturbing and depraved imagery through the typically delicate and dainty (just like a proper woman) medium of porcelain. Continue reading