Browsing by Author "W.Michael, Mehret"

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    A Feminist Reading of Selected Films: A Case Study of Two Female – Authored Amharic Films – Sara And Roman
    (Addis Ababa University, 2007-08) W.Michael, Mehret; Yazbec, Olga (PhD)
    Women are one of the greatest sources of human life. They were marginalized and ignored as if they were unimportant part of the society. The truth is they are the nucleus of each community especially in Africa. This fact also influenced African women writers who contribute to the writing business over the years. African feminist literary criticism encourages those women writers to open up and write about themselves. Film is a visual medium which can play a great role in directing human’s mind. As it is a new phenomenon in the Ethiopian Society, female writers can use it to challenge the existing social system. Therefore, this thesis has attempted to analyze two female authored Amharic films from the African Feminist Literary Criticism point of view. It examines how the female characters are represented in each film. The concept of feminist film criticism bases on Laura Mulvey’s (June, 2007) male gaze and Eva-Maria Jacobson’s (May, 1999) female gaze. There is a challenge between the male power over female which is also seen through the gaze of each sex. This thesis also observes how gaze differences applied in these films. Films can show the social and cultural expectations established through patriarchy how women are considered to be. This thesis focuses on the emotional and cultural clashes existed using the visual art. As few feminist film critics believed, the findings of the study prove the possible existence of female gaze in these two female-authored Amharic films. Unlike the previous norms of portraying women as sexual object, passive and ignorant beings, few females are made to be logical and intellectual. They lived beyond the patriarchal domination and cultural expectation of women. They were appeared to control their life and influence other male characters around them. They are the center of their own story and become heroines with whom audience want to identify themselves.