As the critique J.K Curry stated, the film Oleanna suggests “that sexual harassment is really a ploy of militant feminists to disempower and destroy white, middle-class, male academics” (“David Mamet’s Oleanna as Commentary on Sexual Harassment in the Academy”). Although I’m not completely sure about what Carol’s group’s intentions were, it’s clear that the student used her “innocent” position as a female student to get the professor fired, and did not actually feel sexually threatened. From the gecko Carol plans to take down John which becomes clear when she tries to “dictate a class content reading list, [violating] John's academic freedom and [abusing] [the] campus sexual harassment policy.” Through manipulation, the student’s offensive agenda towards the college’s strict no-tolerance policy allows her to succeed in the end. However, like the play, the film sets out for the audience to sympathize with the professor, so it almost feels acceptable when he begins to beat her (well, at first anyways). It’s because of the shady, dis-honest instances like when Carol yells, “Let me go. Let me go. Would somebody help me? Would somebody help me please…?” (so the faculty members could clearly hear her) and when she reads from her notes: “The twelfth: ‘Have a good day, dear.’ The fifteenth: ‘Now, don’t you look fetching…’ April seventeenth: ‘If you girls would come over here…’” While she confesses “For two semesters [she] sat there [watching the professor] exploit [their], as [he] thought, “paternal prerogative,” and what is that but rape;”… then adds, “I came here to instruct you,” that we take the teacher’s side. In my opinion, if this film did indeed try to make a Feminist/Marxism point, it got lost due to the overwhelming focus on sexual harassment. As a female, I wanted to like Carol and root for her dedication and commitment to gain power, however she did it in such dis-tasteful matters that I had to sympathize with John. If I (being a young woman) rooted against Carol, then what does that say about the Feminist influence in the production? I think the film was not created for the audience to find one answer or take sides, but pressures us to start thinking about multiple issues about power struggle, poor communication, sexism, and so on. It’s how you interpret it that matters.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Blog 4: Question 5 -Andrea Abbott
As the critique J.K Curry stated, the film Oleanna suggests “that sexual harassment is really a ploy of militant feminists to disempower and destroy white, middle-class, male academics” (“David Mamet’s Oleanna as Commentary on Sexual Harassment in the Academy”). Although I’m not completely sure about what Carol’s group’s intentions were, it’s clear that the student used her “innocent” position as a female student to get the professor fired, and did not actually feel sexually threatened. From the gecko Carol plans to take down John which becomes clear when she tries to “dictate a class content reading list, [violating] John's academic freedom and [abusing] [the] campus sexual harassment policy.” Through manipulation, the student’s offensive agenda towards the college’s strict no-tolerance policy allows her to succeed in the end. However, like the play, the film sets out for the audience to sympathize with the professor, so it almost feels acceptable when he begins to beat her (well, at first anyways). It’s because of the shady, dis-honest instances like when Carol yells, “Let me go. Let me go. Would somebody help me? Would somebody help me please…?” (so the faculty members could clearly hear her) and when she reads from her notes: “The twelfth: ‘Have a good day, dear.’ The fifteenth: ‘Now, don’t you look fetching…’ April seventeenth: ‘If you girls would come over here…’” While she confesses “For two semesters [she] sat there [watching the professor] exploit [their], as [he] thought, “paternal prerogative,” and what is that but rape;”… then adds, “I came here to instruct you,” that we take the teacher’s side. In my opinion, if this film did indeed try to make a Feminist/Marxism point, it got lost due to the overwhelming focus on sexual harassment. As a female, I wanted to like Carol and root for her dedication and commitment to gain power, however she did it in such dis-tasteful matters that I had to sympathize with John. If I (being a young woman) rooted against Carol, then what does that say about the Feminist influence in the production? I think the film was not created for the audience to find one answer or take sides, but pressures us to start thinking about multiple issues about power struggle, poor communication, sexism, and so on. It’s how you interpret it that matters.
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Hi Andrea, I definitely agree with you that the play offers little to like about Carol. But I found little to like about John as well! I can relate to the frustrations of having a teacher whose ego is bigger than the classroom and makes sexist comments in class. So perhaps I'm predisposed to disliking John where people who haven't had those kinds of teachers wouldn't be. The play really doesn't offer a lot of concrete examples of what kind of teacher he really was. I agree with what you said, it's how you interpret it that matters.
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