Lots of great suggestions for this month's book club!
I made the determination based off of votes, which was not super helpful because the highest voted only had two votes, but still. Democracy is democracy!
Our next book shall be “Herland” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman as suggested by Okokimup.
Okokimup commented with several suggestions, but I chose this one because it is thematically relevant to last month which might be helpful for discussion, it is available for free through project Gutenberg, and because it might be more palatable with less trigger warnings than some of the other suggestions. I am still trying to balance a heavy movie with a lighter book, and this is more about a utopia, and from what I can tell does not include as much violence as the movie of the month. It is on the shorter end as far as books go, so hopefully will not be an overly huge time commitment.
Trigger warnings: allusion to attempted sexual assault, racism
I would like to include some discussion questions that are community specific and relevant to feminism, and not generic book club questions, so these will likely be questions I ask regarding every work, subject to change of course.
Some things to think about while reading:
- Do you think this work is told from a feminist perspective? Why?
- Do you think the authors gender or gender identity affected their choice of subject, writing style, or perspective character?
- Does the narrators gender or gender identity affect the work? If so, how?
- Did this work change your opinion on anything? If so, what and why?
This is not a homework assignment. You can choose to address any or none of the questions posed here, or talk about your general thoughts or whatever else. Please feel free to pose your own questions in the comments as well. These should serve as a handy springboard if needed, but not a mandatory outline for your comment.
For the October movie we will be watching Thelma & Louise as suggested by klemptor.
There seems to be a few sites where it is available for streaming, some of which are free with ads, so hopefully everyone will have at least one way they can watch.
Trigger warnings: domestic abuse, sexual violence, general violence, guns, suicide
The writer, Callie Khouri, won an academy award for best original screenplay for this movie. I'll be taking that as an invitation to pay particular attention to word choice, so I'm hoping to see some realistic Bechdel approved dialogue.
Same spiel as above: I would like to include some discussion questions that are community specific and relevant to feminism, and not generic movie club questions, so these will likely be questions I ask regarding every work, subject to change of course.
Some things to think about while watching:
- Do you think this work is told from a feminist perspective? Why?
- Do you think the authors gender or gender identity affected their choice of subject, writing style, or perspective character?
- Does the narrators gender or gender identity affect the work? If so, how?
- Did this work change your opinion on anything? If so, what and why?
This is not a homework assignment. You can choose to address any or none of the questions posed here, or talk about your general thoughts or whatever else. Please feel free to pose your own questions in the comments as well. These should serve as a handy springboard if needed, but not a mandatory outline for your comment.
Comments are spoilers territory.
If you want to use spoiler tags in the comments, please do, but it is not required. If you venture into the comments please keep in mind this is a discussion thread for media so there will likely be spoilers.
Going forward
This is a community project. I would like to get input regarding written works and tv/movies that would be a good fit for this. I will leave a comment on this thread that you can respond to if you'd like to offer a suggestion. One suggestion per comment please. You can comment multiple times though. I'd like to make sure the selections are widely accessible, so please add that information if you know for sure something is in the public domain or available online, as that makes it easier to recommend. If you commented suggestions last month and they were not chosen, please feel free to comment them again! I will try to favor the most voted on replies each month, and if you don't comment this month it won't be considered unless there are no other suggestions. Please vote on the other comments you see there (I will not be voting since I'm organizing). I'd like to pair heavier topics in one media with lighter topics in the other, just in case you're wondering why a specific piece was not chosen. Things like language or availability may also affect the selection. I'm also open to changing or adding discussion questions.
Thank you all for your comments last month. Excited to hear your perspectives on this month's picks!
If you missed last month, please feel free to see what great insight your community members brought to the conversation:
https://lemmus.org/post/16011446
Some highlights (not to play favorites!):
- ZDL had a great comment about the book of the month that touched on Daoism, which added a whole new layer to an already richly layered work.
- Dandelion explained that they didn't perceive the movie of the month as feminist, which was a new angle to me and changed my perspective.
- Okokimup talks about the movie of the month and brings up body diversity and a huge plot hole I didn't even think of (it's not a top level comment, but still worth reading as a standalone!).
- Vanth brings up some other media that is in conversation with the book of the month.
PS: Even if you have seen or read the media for this month before, I would encourage a reread or rewatch to best participate in the discussion!
