Female Desire and Feminist Rage: Ana Lily Amirpour's Reworking of the Vampire Motif in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Central to this essay is the feature film A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night by the Iranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour. The director binds viewers to a vampire’s point of view – one that expresses both female desire and feminist anger – by using film-specific stylistic devices such as the dep...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Zadar
2022-06-01
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| Series: | [sic] |
| Online Access: | http://www.sic-journal.org/ArticleView.aspx?aid=686 |
| _version_ | 1797377892325261312 |
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| author | Doro Wiese |
| author_facet | Doro Wiese |
| author_sort | Doro Wiese |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Central to this essay is the feature film A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night by the Iranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour. The director binds viewers to a vampire’s point of view – one that expresses both female desire and feminist anger – by using film-specific stylistic devices such as the depth of field, framing, lighting, sound, and location. The film embraces feelings of anger and rage when confronted with patriarchal domination and violence, and turns these feelings into liberatory tools that give rise to both feminist analysis and agency. And while gender oppression is rejected violently, the film also establishes a community of care that amends, escapes, reveals, and resists patriarchal and capitalist oppression.Keywords: feminist rage, sexual and gender-specific violence, film-specific stylistic devices, depth of field, framing, and lighting, vampire technologyIn her debut feature film A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, the Iranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour plays with images. In this highly acclaimed film, a nameless female vampire roams Bad City as an avenging angel to terrorize violent men. Amirpour references the Western, rebel and vampire films, the black-and-white design of comic books, and the style of the gothic subculture to rework the classic archive of images from these various styles in feminist terms. The film establishes the vampire as a figure that expresses female desire and feminist rage to intervene into patriarchal structures. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T19:59:53Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3939048b17174638bf5600ed6dc6bef0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1847-7755 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T19:59:53Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | University of Zadar |
| record_format | Article |
| series | [sic] |
| spelling | doaj.art-3939048b17174638bf5600ed6dc6bef02023-12-23T21:42:26ZengUniversity of Zadar[sic]1847-77552022-06-0112210.15291/sic/2.12.lc.3686Female Desire and Feminist Rage: Ana Lily Amirpour's Reworking of the Vampire Motif in A Girl Walks Home Alone at NightDoro WieseCentral to this essay is the feature film A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night by the Iranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour. The director binds viewers to a vampire’s point of view – one that expresses both female desire and feminist anger – by using film-specific stylistic devices such as the depth of field, framing, lighting, sound, and location. The film embraces feelings of anger and rage when confronted with patriarchal domination and violence, and turns these feelings into liberatory tools that give rise to both feminist analysis and agency. And while gender oppression is rejected violently, the film also establishes a community of care that amends, escapes, reveals, and resists patriarchal and capitalist oppression.Keywords: feminist rage, sexual and gender-specific violence, film-specific stylistic devices, depth of field, framing, and lighting, vampire technologyIn her debut feature film A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, the Iranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour plays with images. In this highly acclaimed film, a nameless female vampire roams Bad City as an avenging angel to terrorize violent men. Amirpour references the Western, rebel and vampire films, the black-and-white design of comic books, and the style of the gothic subculture to rework the classic archive of images from these various styles in feminist terms. The film establishes the vampire as a figure that expresses female desire and feminist rage to intervene into patriarchal structures.http://www.sic-journal.org/ArticleView.aspx?aid=686 |
| spellingShingle | Doro Wiese Female Desire and Feminist Rage: Ana Lily Amirpour's Reworking of the Vampire Motif in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night [sic] |
| title | Female Desire and Feminist Rage: Ana Lily Amirpour's Reworking of the Vampire Motif in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night |
| title_full | Female Desire and Feminist Rage: Ana Lily Amirpour's Reworking of the Vampire Motif in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night |
| title_fullStr | Female Desire and Feminist Rage: Ana Lily Amirpour's Reworking of the Vampire Motif in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night |
| title_full_unstemmed | Female Desire and Feminist Rage: Ana Lily Amirpour's Reworking of the Vampire Motif in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night |
| title_short | Female Desire and Feminist Rage: Ana Lily Amirpour's Reworking of the Vampire Motif in A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night |
| title_sort | female desire and feminist rage ana lily amirpour s reworking of the vampire motif in a girl walks home alone at night |
| url | http://www.sic-journal.org/ArticleView.aspx?aid=686 |
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