User:HTSCHRE/sandbox

Everything in this article is relevant to the topic, Dee Rees. However, I did feel it was missing some information about her personal life and her work as a director. Her education leading up to her career is discussed, but I wished to learn more about how she developed this passion for film. I am currently unaware where her motivation to pursue her career even came from. Her career as a director is portrayed with great success, for she has received countless awards and nominations. It would have been nice to learn about her strategies as a director and how her work is distinguished from others in the business.

The article is very neutral in opinion. However, I am very curious about the fact that her sexual identity is only briefly mentioned. Perhaps there would be controversy if her sexual identity was not mentioned in this article, as it is an obvious part of her personal life, but I find it could also be a concern with it only being addressed in a few sentences. With Rees being a queer individual, this part of her identity could have been influential to her work.

Many of the citations used are linked to other pages within Wikipedia, which makes me concerned on where all the external information is actually coming from. Other links are connected to different websites instead of databases.

Haley Schreiber

2/23/18

Rea Tajiri

Source 1: Shank, Barry. “Comments on ‘Patriotic Drunk.’” American Studies, vol. 44, no. 1/2, 2003, pp. 114–119. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40643436.

Tajiri is famous for the cheap budget she uses to produce her films as well as the avant- garde characteristics in her filmmaking. She uncovers topics that are difficult for many to observe like controversial identity subjects. Tajiri plays with the ideas of history within her film to represent the culture and identity of Asian Americans. I was unable to discover any information about her personal life or her personal motivation for her filming strategies within this article, as it was simple a description of her recent films’ relations to other film plots.

Harvey, Dennis. "Film Reviews: STRAWBERRY FIELDS." Variety (Archive: 1905-2000) Mar 24 1997: 36. ProQuest. Web. 23 Feb. 2018.

This article gives a description of Strawberry Fields (1997), one of Tajiri’s films that highlights family relations while including the conflicts of Asian American culture and politics. It also expresses Tajiri’s work as experimental and personal to the subject. It certainly gives a great depiction of the film’s purpose not gain, not much information about Tajiri’s personal motives.

Kathleen Hulser. The American Historical Review 96, no. 4 (1991): 1142-143. doi:10.2307/2165011.

Tajiri is praised for her work with History and Memory (1991) for the way which she collects memories and uses them to form a perspective on the current culture. Her own family history supplements the memories that are presented to the reader as well is not. I feel this article expresses her personal connection to filmmaking and how she flourished so immediately in her films mainly because of the cultural connections that she shared with the characters as well as her audience.

Dee Rees

Hornaday, Ann. “Dee Rees Wanted to Make 'an Old-Fashioned Movie' and Ended up with an Oscar Contender.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 10 Nov. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/dee-rees-wanted-to-make-an-old-fashioned-movie-and-ended-up-with-an-oscar-contender/2017/11/09/fd2b1792-c2fe-11e7-84bc-5e285c7f4512_story.html?utm_term=.03a96f08e7e2.

This article discusses the racial and socio- economic controversies that exist in Rees’s new movie, Mudbound, and how such issues are connected to her personally. She digs deep within the purpose of identity and its significance to our history. There is great analyzation of how Rees’s family history influences her ideas in the movie. The article also touches on Rees’s personal life and how she pursued her film career and discovered her sexual identity. There is also information regarding how her sexual identity has influenced other pieces of her work.

“Dee Rees.” Film Independent, www.filmindependent.org/people/dee-rees/

I discovered an extremely detailed list of all of Dee Rees’s accomplishments as a filmmaker, from nominations to awards to festival presentations. Although I have been looking to discover her personal motives and films strategies, this long description of her accomplishments would be beneficial when adding to her Wikipedia page as well.

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.

This article expresses the significance of Black popular culture within filmmaking as well as in relation to black filmmakers. In regards to race, it is important to these filmmakers to create a sort of engagement and connection with their audience who share the same identity. I found this article most interesting because I had never considered how race can so strongly influence filmmaking and how it may be applied to Rees’s work.

Dorothy Davenport

McMahan, Alison. “FIRST LADIES: EARLY WOMEN FILMMAKERS, 1915—1925.” Cinéaste, vol. 26, no. 1, 2000, pp. 58–59. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41689323.

A great description is given of Dorothy’s early life including what led her to filmmaking career. It suggests she was oppressed as a female filmmaker within the industry. She was manipulated as a women and the article fails to mention her success as a filmmaker.

Lowe, Denise. "Davenport, Dorothy (1895 Boston, MA-1977 Woodland Hills, CA)." Encyclopedic Dictionary of Women in Early American Films, 1895-1930, Jan. 2005, pp. 158-161. EBSCOhost, login.proxy.library.emory.edu/login?url= http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f3h&AN=22520565&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Dorothy was involved in the media industry as not only a filmmaker but also an actress and activist for social issues. Her passion in regards to the messages she was sending to her audience is displayed within many of her films. A lot of her influences come from personal experience as well as family interactions, such as her experience of having a husband with a drug addiction.

CAMPBELL, DONNA M. “Red Kimonos and White Slavery: The Fallen Woman in Film and Print.” Bitter Tastes: Literary Naturalism and Early Cinema in American Women's Writing, University of Georgia Press, ATHENS, 2016, pp. 150–198. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt19x3k50.8.

This article suggests the different roles of female characters within difference films and the trends seen within their characters from oppression to narcissism to intelligence. Even though this article is not especially focused on one of her films, it is beneficial to my research because I get an idea of the patterns seen within female characters and how it could have influenced Davenport’s work.

List: Dee Rees, Rea Tajiri, Dorothy Davenport

Assignment Deadline Extended to 3/5: 5 Sources (3 sources are listed above under Rea Tajiri)

Feng, Peter X. “The State of Asian American Cinema: In Search of Community.” Cinéaste, vol. 24, no. 4, 1999, pp. 20–24. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41690098.

The Asian American Cinema, which Tajiri strongly associates herself with as a director as well as an individual, focuses on the recognition of the Asian American identity, which is different than the Asian American culture. The similarity in the multiple films discussed in the article is the importance of recognizing and preserving the character's own past. I found this article very helpful in understanding the difference of Asian American films compared to other styles and why they would be significant to someone with or without a connection.

Streamas, John. “‘Patriotic Drunk’: To Be Yellow, Brave, and Disappeared in Bad Day at Black Rock.” American Studies, vol. 44, no. 1/2, 2003, pp. 99–114. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40643435.

Streamas applauds Tajiri's work for her strategic experimental filmmaking, making some information available to the camera, hidden from the camera, or only within the minds of the characters. Withholding such information is important within her films in order to make memory seem realistic, instead of ideal. She challenges the reader by not revealing everything, creating an open interpretation for her audience.

Assignment for 3/9/18

Write an outline of that topic in the form of a standard Wikipedia article's "lead section." Write it in your sandbox.

Rea Tajiri (born 1958) is a Japanese American video artist, filmmaker and screenwriter, most famously known for her work Strawberry Fields (1997), which is recognized for its connection to Asian American identity in connection to Tajiri's past. Her experimental style filmmaking is applauded among her work as well as her unique ability manipulate the camera in what is does and does not reveal to the audience. She uses her Asian American, female identity to positively influence the acting within her films, and her knack for strategic camera use makes her work realistic and interesting for her viewers to interpret.

Identify What Is Missing:

Need to make changes to proper format of general information/ introduction

More information on current career section.

Include any co- directors/producers if necessary along with her work

Need more information about her work as an actress

Check to include nominations along with awards

Biography source for personal life

https://tfma.temple.edu/staff-faculty/Rea-Tajiri

WOMEN MAKE MOVIES | Rea Tajiri, www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/makers/fm357.shtml

Final Article

Lead Section:

Rea Tajiri (born 1958) is a Japanese American video artist, filmmaker and screenwriter, most famously known for her work Strawberry Fields (1997), which is recognized for its connection to Asian American identity in connection to Tajiri's past. Her experimental style filmmaking is applauded among her work as well as her unique ability manipulate the camera in what is does and does not reveal to the audience. She uses her Asian American, female identity to positively influence the acting within her films, and her knack for strategic camera use makes her work realistic and interesting for her viewers to interpret.

General:

Tajiri’s father served in WWII in the 42nd regiment. During her time at the California Institute of the Arts she studied studio art.

Film Characteristics:

History and Memory:

An experimental film which reflects the memory of Tajiri’s mother of the war period which she lived in. The plot is displayed through pieces of memory and known family history. Tajiri presents the film in four different parts: Events that that happen in from of the camera, events that are restaged, events that are told through the memory of character conversation, and events that are known to have happened but not shown at all. As the narrator of this documentary, Tajiri uses text and verbal communication with her audience in order to enhance the purpose of the memory or images she gives to her audience. Through this film Tajiri has highlighted the absence of Japanese Americans among filmmaking. By upholding whatever deconstructed history and memory she may have of her family’s experience, Tajiri is praised for bringing attention to the culture of her family’s past. Tajiri is also known to bring attention to a topic by using absence to declare presence. In History and Memory, absent characters share a significant presence since their memory is so vital to the film’s message. This ability to highlight a character, topic, or event that is absent without confusion or misunderstanding is difficult to achieve for a filmmaker, but Tajiri certainly succeeds in doing so (Streamas). This documentary ultimately awarded Tajiri with the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Documentary association and a Special Jury Award from the San Francisco International Film Festival (Dorsey). Tajiri’s way of filming is most recognized in History and Memory where she distorts the camera in order to show the recollection of memory.

Strawberry Fields:

Strawberry Fields was produced by Open City Films and ITVS. It was first premiered in Europe at the Venice International Film Festival and the film also was the recipient of the Grand Prix at the Fukuoka Asian Film Festival (Dorsey).

Tajiri’s is applauded for her work within Asian American cinema, which she strongly associates herself with as a director as well as an individual, focusing on the recognition of the Asian American identity in her films, which is different than the Asian American culture. Tajiri goes against societal norms in Strawberry Fields, where protagonist Irene, a third generation Japanese American woman, publicly flaunts her inner rage, something which was not taken well if you were a woman living in the seventies (Feng). In the majority of Tajiri’s filmmaking she is constantly bringing attention to societal issues, like in History and Memory, where she highlights Asian Americans, Latinos, or Black people not being able to immerse themselves within the white American population (Shank).

Legacy:

Tajiri has also brought attention to identity within filmmaking, displaying cultural tensions and curiosities in order to educate her audience through the story she is telling within specific films.

Current Career:

Tajiri is currently working as an associate professor at Temple University, a public research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She works in the school Film and Media Department in the Division of Theater, and is a teacher of documentary production. In 2012-2013, she was the Faculty Director for Temple University’s Los Angeles Study Away Program (Temple).