Daddies and mummies

Fri May 2 20:47:01 UTC 2008

Well, as a Spaniard, I wasn't shocked by the words or the presence of the girl in the clip, so I agree that both the clip and its readings are very much culturally based. Beyond the specifics of this short film (the presence of the girl, her age, the artistic value of the film), I think we must take into account the socio-political context in which it has been produced.

The clip was made in 2005 by "Proyectafilms", a producing firm in Spain. You have information about it in proyectafilms.com. Apparently, it was made with the "make the most out of the least" principle and has won several nominations and awards, whose international reach or quality I'm in no position to judge. It is also interesting that many feminist organizations and ongs have asked them to use the clip in their campaigns against gender violence, so at least in Spain, people seem to recognize some value in the up-front and crude representation of domestic violence as viewed from a child's perspective.

It seems that this short film goes hand in hand with Spanish official attempts to make domestic violence visible and the target of political, police and civil discussion. The present and recently formed government in Spain (the first one with more women than men as ministers, and an eight-month pregnant woman as the minister of defense, which has caused quite an uproar among conservatives) has made equality (including of course gender equality) one of its priorities, and evidenced in the creation of a ministry of equality. So I think that it is in this context that we have to view the short film, although I understand that other readings and reactions are also possible and valid, as shown in the messages to GALA-L.

My two Spanish cents,
Marisol

***************************************
Marisol del-Teso-Craviotto
Assistant Professor of Linguistics
Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese
Miami University
Oxford, OH 45056
________________________________________
From: International Gender and Language Association [GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Valentina Pagliai [Valentina.Pagliai at OBERLIN.EDU]
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 3:02 PM
To: GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
Subject: Re: [GALA-L] Daddies and mummies

I am Italian, and I too do not feel I can speak for all Italians. But as a Tuscan of working class background, I can say the words used by the girl actor did not bother me. Maybe we have a different upbringing.
Being direct, argumentative and coming out strong is a positive thing and children are exposed to and learn to use fighting words early.

But even in the US there are studies showing that the middle class ideal of avoiding foul language esp. in front of children are not necessarily shared by everybody.
Working class mothers and minorities may have different views, as in the following two articles.

Miller, Peggy 1986.  “Teasing as Language Socialization and Verbal Play in a White Working-Class Community.”  In B Schieffelin & E. Ochs (Eds.)  Language and Socialization Across Cultures.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  (Pp. 51-79).
Eisenberg, Ann 1986.  “Teasing: Verbal Play in Two Mexicano Homes.” In B Schieffelin & E. Ochs (eds.) Language and Socialization Across Cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Pp. 199-212)

Also, Jennifer Reynolds has done studies on Guatemalan Mayan children teasing each other and learning fighting words, and the ideologies around the definition of "children" and "children in need of protection".

As for the movie, I completely I agree with Amy's analysis.

For me, I found the movie kind of boring, nothing new, the usual stuff. I was hoping for some parody or turnabout at the end but it did not come. I thought it could have been done by a teenager for a classroom project. Not really a powerful filmaker.
But itube itself is an interesting phenomenon, to a degree empowering.

Valentina Pagliai
Oberlin College

On May 1, 2008, at 10:52 PM, Amy Sheldon wrote:

I thought about the consequences to the young girl too and found it very troubling. The possible damage to the child actor became a preoccupation in my reaction to the film.
Is that preoccupation the effect the film maker was after?  I doubt it.

It seems that there's a means justifies the end mentality in the film that makes the possible harm to the child *actor* become an issue, when it should not be.

What is the artistry of this film?  It re-enacts real life in a *raw* way. Is there no way to give the message about the conscription of onlookers to violence to become violent themselves? Who is the audience...children?  battered women/persons?   It's not a new message either.

So I think there's a side story here about the wisdom or aesthetics of film maker's over use of audience shock treatment to make the point.
Would the next step be to have the battering become a real event we all are asked to watch for the redeeming value of realizing battering is bad?

Should horrible events be told about in an aesthetic frame?  This is a discussion that has taken place wrt if and how to contextualize and treat the Holocaust (and other horrific events) in an artistic frame,  so that they can be understood and not forgotten.
Amy Sheldon

On May 1, 2008, at 8:36 PM, Valentina Pagliai wrote:

Well,
The girl seemed to be having a lot of fun at it. And I suppose I would prefer an awareness of the existence of family violence to a girl misleaded into believing that certain things don't exist (until it happens to them). I feel that it is really cultural, for lack of a better word, the American (but not all Americans) tendency to hide stuff from children. Personally, I feel it is better to make children aware as soon as possible of sexism and oppression, so they can learn to defend themselves.
That's my two cents.

Valentina Pagliai
Oberlin College

On May 1, 2008, at 9:04 PM, Campbell, Heather wrote:

I must say, I agree with your concerns. Powerful film, but as an early childhood educator, I am extremely conflicted about this. There was a duty of care towards the wellbeing of the young child acting in this film, and I wonder if the possible benefits deriving from the film (that is, raising awareness of domestic violence and its effect upon children) justify the potential harm inflicted upon the child involved.

Heather Campbell

From: International Gender and Language Association [mailto:GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Sarah Wagner
Sent: Friday, 2 May 2008 9:45 AM
To: GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG<mailto:GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Subject: Re: [GALA-L] Daddies and mummies

All I can think is, what about this young "actor" who is doing this?  What is she thinking as she says all of these horrible things?  You can't, even in an acting context, make this sound like "pretend" can you?  It's an incredible film, unbelievable (and incredibly important message of course), but I'm so conflicted about the reality of making it.
----- Original Message ----
From: Megan Crowhurst <mcrowhurst at MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU<mailto:mcrowhurst at MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU>>
To: GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG<mailto:GALA-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Sent: Thursday, May 1, 2008 4:09:43 PM
Subject: Re: [GALA-L] Daddies and mummies

Well, there's a frighteningly powerful message
about how kids internalize and learn to reproduce
domestic partner abuse.  I'm forwarding this to
our SafePlace volunteer co-ordinator...

At 10:25 PM +0200 5/1/08, Goretty Robles Fernández wrote:
>I'm speechless.
>http://www.metacafe.com/watch/336489/papas_y_mamas_daddies_mummies/

--
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Megan J. Crowhurst, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Graduate Advisor, Linguistics
All advising email should go to megancrowhurst at gmail.com<mailto:megancrowhurst at gmail.com>

Snail mail address:

The University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Crowhurst
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Phone:  512-471-1701
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My home page: http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~crowhurs/index.html<http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/%7Ecrowhurs/index.html>
Department home page: http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/linguistics/
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