Abstract
In Chapter 3, Dang explores how Easy A (USA 2010) thematizes the power and effect of language. She argues that the film can be read as a genuinely insightful study of gossip, in particular its treatment of the function and effects of gossip as a form of communication. The film itself can be defined as an aesthetic expression of gossip. Viewed as a social principal of order and perception, Dang shows how gossip functions as a common way of organizing the relations between individuals and groups. This chapter demonstrates how gossip as a collective and participatory practice of subjective imagination produces strong bonds and a sense of belonging based on gender categories.
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Notes
- 1.
It is difficult to apply the concept of the free indirect discourse here, as in the analysis of Emma, since the voice-over and the amorphous movement of the camera relate to an “I” (and not to a third person).
- 2.
Easy A thematizes how in order to become an individual and thus a subject one must step out of the mass. This always implies the risk of failure. Nevertheless, Easy A does not correspond to Robert Warshow’s (1962 [1948]) analysis of the gangster film and the notion of “becoming somebody” within a class-based society. Instead the film looks at the ramifications of “becoming somebody” based on gender.
- 3.
Original quote: “Durch die Modulation des oralen Diskurses wird die erste Person, ‘ich’, zur dritten Person – und damit letzten Endes eine Figur. Doch diese durch Klatsch produzierte Figur ist eine dritte Person mit größerem Wirkungsgrad. Denn dadurch, dass andere durch ihre Positionierungen zur Verwandlung dieser Figur beigetragen haben, fungiert sie als eine Art ‘kollektive Äußerung’, wie es Gilles Deleuze ausdrücken würde, mithin eine Figur, die für viele politisch und soziale Relevanz erhält” (Siegel 2006: 77–78).
- 4.
Original quote: Rumors are essentially to be understood as “Form der ungesicherten und ungeprüften Informationsweitergabe zu verstehen” Kay Kirchmann 2004.
- 5.
Political Science scholar Benedict Anderson defines nations as “imagined communities,” which presume a shared identity and a sense of belonging to a specific, well-defined geopolitical space, in which ideology and indoctrination cover the real social inequalities of individuals and present nations as natural and given. Even though nations are the effect of power, institutions, and techniques, they are understood as original and preexisting (see Anderson 2006 [1983]).
- 6.
- 7.
Original quote: Siegel writes that “[am] Klatsch Teilnehmende ‘die Rede über andere’ [benutzten], um über sich selbst zu reflektieren, um Erstaunen und Unsicherheit zum Ausdruck zu bringen, Gewissheiten zu verorten und ihr Wissen über andere zu erweitern. Diese Art von Klatsch kann, wie die anderen Formen, Elemente des Skandals benutzen, aber ihre Ziele richten sich nur im engeren Maße auf die Welt jenseits der Sprechenden selbst – außer auf die Dimensionen der Welt, die sie betreffen” (Siegel 2006: 74).
- 8.
Original quote: “Bezeichnen und vollziehen fallen zusammen. Performative Sprechakte erzeugen demnach das, was sie bezeichnen. Sprache hat hier also wirklichkeitserzeugenden Charakter. Das gesprochene Wort nimmt den Status einer sozialen Tatsache an” (Bublitz 2002: 23).
- 9.
The role of conversation in Sex and the City can also be understood as a possibility for women within a heterosexual world to establish a feminine collectivity. Following the work of Monique Wittig, one could argue that the formation of a feminine identity a “man” must serve as the point of reference in order for the “woman” to feel a sense of belonging. Based on Wittig’s logic a lesbian identity cannot theoretically exist in a heterosexual world since a “woman” is always defined based on the desire of a man and this means a woman’s desire of another woman is categorically excluded, since this would imply a subject that cannot be understood as a “woman” (Wittig 1992 [1976]). I argue that in chick flicks a shift in the definition of “woman” takes place. In chick flicks women are represented less as complementary or as opposites, meaning they are not framed in terms of “the second sex,” instead gender differences as part of a dichotomous predetermined system are drawn into question. Instead they are reflected upon as taking shape on a multidimensional level. In this regard women in chick flicks are reflected upon based on their relationality as relational subjects.
- 10.
On the critique of mass media and gossip, see Mellenkamp 1992: 155–166.
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Films
Easy A (USA 2010; directed by Will Gluck; script: Bert V. Royal; actress: Emma Stone).
Emma (UK/USA 1996; directed by Douglas McGrath; script: Jane Austen/Douglas McGrath; actress: Gwyneth Paltrow).
Sex and the City (USA 1998–2004; directed by Michael Patrick King et al.; script: Darren Star; actresses: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon).
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Dang, SM. (2017). Easy A—“A is for Awesome”. In: Gossip, Women, Film, and Chick Flicks. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56018-6_3
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