User:Carmencee/sandbox

Nina Patricof Peer Review

I think Carmen makes some great point about Dee Rees and what is missing from her Wikipedia page. I am especially fascinated by her interest in learning more about Rees' struggle with her sexuality and how that has manifested itself in her filmmaking. I would also be interested to learn more about the early life section on her page. This seems to be lacking from many of the filmmaker's pages, including my own project, and it is an important factor in learning how filmmakers came to be who they are and why they make the films that they do. I really liked Carmen's choice of sources. She has a good mix of interviews and articles written objectively about Rees, which is important in getting both important background information as well as personal testimony. I think a really interesting area for Carmen to explore would be Ree's early education and family life. This might be a good lead in into talking about her personal outlook when it comes to her films.

I also think that the page, though pretty unbiased and well cited, could use some more mentions of her films and some analyses of her most influential ones, specifically Mudbound. There are lots of film analyses out there that could be used as good credible sources for this. Despite the fact that Mudbound has its own page, it is still beneficial to have information on the films that might trigger people to look up Rees on Wikipedia.

It would also be interesting to look at any social activism Rees has been involved in and what she has participated in outside of her filmmaking in recent years. In reading the page, I craved information about where she is now and what she is currently involved in.

In general, the edits made by Carmen were well written, sourced and succinct! I really enjoyed reading the page.

Thanks for your feedback! It's hard because what is missing from her page isn't readily available on the internet, so it's taken a lot of digging. Most of the articles I have found don't relate to how she grew up. It's all very surface level. Thanks for the advice about looking into social activism. I didn't think of that!

-Carmen

Peer Review: Eliza Paprin

I think Carmen's choice of Dee Rees is a really good one, especially after looking at her article and seeing that there is little information about her. Something definitely lacking from her article is the "personal life" section. I think that including more about her personal life would be really helpful in understanding her work. I agree that Carmen's sources are great and they will provide the information about Dee Rees' personal life that is integral to understanding her as an artist. Another thing that I think would be interesting is to look at Dee Rees' involvement in social justice activism. From what I understand, she is very socially-conscious and displays this through her films. How does her lesbianism and her race affect her life and her films? This is incredibly relevant now, with the release of Mudbound which received several Academy Award nominations.

I also really like Carmen's questioning of Rees' early background is well-guided. Just as Carmen says, "what local schools?" What were the conditions of those schools? Did she have a "normal" experience growing up or did she have harsh obstacles to overcome?

Lastly, I think an important question to ask is what is her role in the film community as a black lesbian woman? How does she navigate the world of a predominately white and male industry? What challenges has she had to face in this industry in regards to her career?

Overall, I think Carmen has made a great start and has collected some really good sources. She is asking the right questions and should just go further in-depth.

I agree I should look into her involvement in social justice activism, which is something I didn't think of. Being lesbian and being black has definitely been something that's affecter her films and something that I have been reading about. Unfortunately, a lot of the questions I asked were never answered. Most of the information on Dee Rees is about her films and not her personal life, or how she grew up. Thanks for your feedback!

-Carmen

Article Evaluation

Dee Rees

Dee Rees is an interesting woman filmmaker with little information on her wikipedia page or references to back up the information. The references on her wikipedia page for the most part are news outlets such as, NBC News, LA Times, The Independent, and The New York Times. Other sources are less reliable like Slate.com, Refinery29.com, and IMDb. Although the sources range from legitimate to less reliable Rees page has information from 2011-2017. I wonder if there is anything before 2011, and who is going to update her page in 2018.

The article is fairly neutral with no outlandish claims or biases, which is interesting because the less reliable sources tend to be biased. Especially a source like Refinery29, which I'm not sure is appropriate for Wikipedia.

There is basic information including the who, what, when, where, why, but there needs to be more. Under the early life and education section it states "she attended local schools." What schools? In the career section it references her successes with her debut film Pariah, and other films like Bessie and Mudbound. It does so in a compact space and there can be more said about the individual films.

Wikipedia pages are supposed to be informational about all aspects of the persons life. The personal life section just states, "Rees is a lesbian." Which is like okay? but tell me more. It also repeats parts of the career section stating that Pariah is semi-autobiographical and Mudbound is about her grandmother. The section could include more of her personal life and reasoning behind incorporating her identity into her films. I don't think women filmmakers should be described in terms of their identifiers but it's also important to include.

The revision history is also interesting to look at because all of the latest revisions are really minor changes. No big contributions to her page about her work or her life, and there isn't much talk on her page.

Annotated Bibliography

 Dee Rees 

1.     Davis, Zeinabu irene. “Keeping the Black in Media Production: One L.A. Rebellion Filmmaker's Notes.” Cinema Journal, vol. 53, no. 4, 2014, pp. 157–161., www.jstor.org/stable/43653684.

a.     JSTOR source

i.     Talks about the LA rebellion filmmakers, importance of black filmmakers on black culture

2.     RICH, B. RUBY. “Park City Remix.” Film Quarterly, vol. 64, no. 3, 2011, pp. 62–65. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/fq.2011.64.3.62.

a.     I edited her Wikipedia page for the last assignment and this was the source I used

3.     Sinwell, Sarah E. S. “WOMEN MAKE MOVIES: CHICKEN & EGG PICTURES, GAMECHANGER FILMS AND THE FUTURE OF FEMALE INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING.” Indie Reframed: Women's Filmmaking and Contemporary American Independent Cinema, edited by Linda Badley et al., Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2016, pp. 23–35. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1g0529f.7.

a.     JSTOR source

i.     About Women Make Movies a collection that showcases diverse women filmmakers, including Dee Rees, not that much information on her

4.     Baron, Cynthia. “NOT JUST INDIE: A LOOK AT FILMS BY DEE REES, AVA DUVERNAY AND KASI LEMMONS.” Indie Reframed: Women's Filmmaking and Contemporary American Independent Cinema, edited by Linda Badley et al., Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2016, pp. 204–220. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1g0529f.18.

a.     JSTOR source

i.     About intersectionality through their films

5.      Metcalf, Josephine, and Carina Spaulding. African American Culture and Society after Rodney King : Provocations and Protests, Progression and &Quot;Post-Racialism&Quot; Ashgate, 2015.

a.     Physical resource in the Woodruff Library

i.     Discusses the rebirth of queer in Dee Rees Pariah

 Lena Waithe 

1.     Birnbaum, Debra. "Chicago Justice." Variety, vol. 338, no. 13, Jan 02, 2018, pp. 54-57, FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database, https://login.proxy.library.emory.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.emory.edu/docview/1986080690?accountid=10747.

o   FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database

§  Discusses her new show on Showtime, The Chi, which is about inner city Chicago

2.     Toby, Mekeisha M. "Bringing Diverse Projects to Life." Variety, vol. 336, no. 11, Jun 13, 2017, pp. 59, FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database, https://login.proxy.library.emory.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.emory.edu/docview/1916950692?accountid=10747.

o   FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database

§   “Bringing Diverse Projects to Life,” talks about the episode she wrote for “Masters of None” called Thanksgiving, a semi-autobiographical episode about being lesbian

3.     Ryan, Maureen. "Master of None." Variety, vol. 329, no. 17, Nov 03, 2015, pp. 158-159, FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database, https://login.proxy.library.emory.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.emory.edu/docview/1733871842?accountid=10747.

o   FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database

§  In depth look at the episode Thanksgiving

No sources on discoverE, JSTOR, Media History Digital Library, or on film literature index. I could only find articles on FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database

 Ava DuVernay 

1.     Baron, Cynthia. “NOT JUST INDIE: A LOOK AT FILMS BY DEE REES, AVA DUVERNAY AND KASI LEMMONS.” Indie Reframed: Women's Filmmaking and Contemporary American Independent Cinema, edited by Linda Badley et al., Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 2016, pp. 204–220. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1g0529f.18.

a.     JSTOR source

i.     About intersectionality through their films

2.     Martin, Michael T. “Conversations with Ava DuVernay—‘A Call to Action’: Organizing Principles of an Activist Cinematic Practice.” Black Camera, vol. 6, no. 1, 2014, pp. 57–91. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/blackcamera.6.1.57.

a.     JSTOR source

i.     Written about on her Wikipedia page, needs to be expanded upon, talks about her being a pioneer for black filmmakers

3.     Chang, Justin. "THE MARCH CONTINUES." Variety, vol. 326, no. 13, Jan 06, 2015, pp. 34-39, FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database, https://login.proxy.library.emory.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.library.emory.edu/docview/1648081008?accountid=10747.

a.     FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database

i.     Article in Variety about the film Selma

The filmmakers that I want to work on are contemporary filmmakers and the difficulty with that is finding sources. I chose Dee Rees and Lena Waithe because they are groundbreaking women filmmakers that have very little information on their Wikipedia pages. The information there can be expanded on. Both of them share a talent in representing the underrepresented. Ava DuVernay on the other hand has a good amount of information on her Wikipedia page, but I love her work and I’m super interested in seeing what there is about her that’s not on Wikipedia already. I wasn’t able to find much on their personal lives or upbringing. Most of the information was about their films/television shows and how they influence our current culture (especially black culture).

 Ranking: 

1.     Dee Rees

2.     Lena Waithe

3.     Ava Duvernay