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Sleepaway Camp (1983) Hiltzik (how does the film imagine heterosexual sex…
Sleepaway Camp
(1983) Hiltzik
How does this make us feel
disturbed
need a walk
How do we talk about transgender bodies/lives?
individual identifications (non-op, pre-op, post-op), but calls attention to relationship between gender and sex
Plot: a child loses their parent, gets adopted, goes to camp with their cousin, and goes on a murder spree (pedophiles, bullies, counselors)
opening scene relies on steroetypical gender binary and heterosexuality: dumb blonde girl, dumb lifegaurd dude. Establishes expectations about normalcies
sets Angela apart based on performances of femininity
"Are you queer or something" scene: Judy in red robe; makes jokes about not going through puberty, talking about pubic hair and her period--the use of "body" jokes to solidfy that females have vaginas; locks sex into the body; the up close shots of Angela's face; "a carpenter's dream--flat as a board and in need of a screw"
how does the film imagine heterosexual sex acts?
not really consent. The skinnydipping scene: "come on boys"
the borders between homosocial and homosexual; is it "comfortabl" just boys being boys, or is there something else?
on the beach with Paul: non diegetic music being all romcommy, the "wait til I get my hands on you" "No, don'" and she shuts down. Zoom in on her face
How does the camera and costuming work to frame men's bodies?
The baseball scene: they talk a lot of shit (for underhand baseball: "this guy blows dead dogs" "Eat shit and live, Billy" The losers get mad. "Maybe the girls want a game"
Uses femininity as insult, sets up a bad
the "mind over matter" scene where Mozart gets butt in his face. "boys being boys"--frames masculinity as childish; also fatness is badness. Reinforces masculinity as "dominance"
Ricky using homophobic slurs "cocksucker" also "pricks"--it's all penis based. Dudes with a casual verbal obsession with penises. The language also sets up gender binary language
Buff Ronnie--not a bad guy?
The "flashback" scene: a one take tracking shot. Paints gender variance as a product of mental illness with the Aunt's "mental illness"; does the obsession with a gender binary undoes itself? The Aunt's makeup, nails, costume is over the top (and maybe critique). Embodying the "sitcom" gender
the music (ominous) with the Aunt's vocal patterns
what if assigning gender and overdetermining sex/gender paradigms is traumatic?
as a film, shows the consequences of not growing up gender conforming
also a narrative about trauma? Water based deaths, being forced into the water/
What's up in the 1980s
the DSM III classifies "transexualism" as a mental disorder; either supports pathologies or critiques the ways we pathologize trans bodies?