A (mush)room of one’s own: feminism, posthumanism and race in Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Brown, William
Data de Publicação: 2020
Tipo de documento: Artigo
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: http://aim.org.pt/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/557
Resumo: The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola, USA, 2017) is one of several recent films to feature mushrooms as a prominent plot device. In this essay, I argue that the use of mushrooms here allows cinema to engage with issues surrounding the Anthropocene, or the period in which capitalist man has shaped the world more than the world has shaped capitalist man. I shall in particular propose that the association between women and fungi suggests that the Anthropocene entails an anthropocentric and patriarchal worldview. That is, The Beguiled suggests that the Anthropocene is defined specifically by capitalist man – whose world must now be replaced by one that might be deemed feminist and posthuman, not least because of how the women at the film’s all-girls’ private school work with mushrooms to bring down the central male figure, Civil War soldier Corporal John McBurney (Colin Farrell). However, The Beguiled also posits the limits of such a feminist and posthuman world both through its Civil War setting and through its status as an adaptation-cum-remake of Don Siegel’s 1971 film of the same name. For, by omitting from her film the central character of Hallie, who is played in Siegel’s “original” by Mae Mercer, and which character is in Thomas P. Cullinan’s source novel known as Mattie, Coppola conscientiously raises the issue of race – precisely by rendering it invisible/absent. This omission is not necessarily racist in intent, however, for in her elliptical style and in her use of the Madewood Plantation House as a location, Coppola subtly suggests that cinema itself is a force for the white Anthropocene, and that blackness, like a mushroom and like woman, will emerge as its post-cinematic replacement.
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spelling A (mush)room of one’s own: feminism, posthumanism and race in Sofia Coppola’s The BeguiledFeminismo, pós-humanismo e a questão racial em The Beguiled, de Sofia CoppolaThe BeguiledSofia CoppolaAnthropoceneMushroomsPosthumanismFeminismRaceSofia CoppolaAntropocenoPós-HumanismoFeminismoCogumelosCorridaThe Beguiled (Sofia Coppola, USA, 2017) is one of several recent films to feature mushrooms as a prominent plot device. In this essay, I argue that the use of mushrooms here allows cinema to engage with issues surrounding the Anthropocene, or the period in which capitalist man has shaped the world more than the world has shaped capitalist man. I shall in particular propose that the association between women and fungi suggests that the Anthropocene entails an anthropocentric and patriarchal worldview. That is, The Beguiled suggests that the Anthropocene is defined specifically by capitalist man – whose world must now be replaced by one that might be deemed feminist and posthuman, not least because of how the women at the film’s all-girls’ private school work with mushrooms to bring down the central male figure, Civil War soldier Corporal John McBurney (Colin Farrell). However, The Beguiled also posits the limits of such a feminist and posthuman world both through its Civil War setting and through its status as an adaptation-cum-remake of Don Siegel’s 1971 film of the same name. For, by omitting from her film the central character of Hallie, who is played in Siegel’s “original” by Mae Mercer, and which character is in Thomas P. Cullinan’s source novel known as Mattie, Coppola conscientiously raises the issue of race – precisely by rendering it invisible/absent. This omission is not necessarily racist in intent, however, for in her elliptical style and in her use of the Madewood Plantation House as a location, Coppola subtly suggests that cinema itself is a force for the white Anthropocene, and that blackness, like a mushroom and like woman, will emerge as its post-cinematic replacement.The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola, EUA, 2017) é um de vários filmes recentes a apresentar cogumelos como um dispositivo narrativo importante. Neste ensaio, argumento que o recurso à imagem do cogumelo permite que o cinema remeta para questões relacionadas com o Antropoceno, ou o período durante o qual o homem capitalista moldou o mundo mais do que o mundo moldou o homem capitalista. Em particular, proponho que a associação entre mulheres e fungos sugere que o Antropoceno acarreta uma visão antropocêntrica e patriarcal do mundo. Isto é, The Beguiled sugere que o Antropoceno é especificamente definido pelo homem capitalista - cujo mundo deve agora ser substituído por um que possa ser considerado feminista e pós-humano, também por causa da forma como as mulheres do filme utilizam os cogumelos para derrubar a figura masculina central, o soldado John McBurney (Colin Farrell). No entanto, The Beguiled também postula os limites de um mundo feminista e pós-humano, seja através do seu cenário de guerra ou do seu estatuto enquanto adaptação/remake do filme de Don Siegel, de 1971, com o mesmo título. Ao omitir do seu filme a personagem principal, Hallie, interpretada no original de Siegel por Mae Mercer, conhecida no romance de Thomas P. Cullinan como Mattie, Sofia Coppola levanta de forma consciente a questão racial - precisamente por torná-la invisível ou ausente. Esta omissão não é necessariamente racista na sua origem e, no entanto, o estilo elíptico e a utilização da Madewood Plantation House como local de filmagem no filme de Coppola sugerem subtilmente que o próprio cinema é uma força ao serviço do Antropoceno branco, e que a negritude, como um cogumelo e como a mulher, surgirá como o seu substituto pós-cinematográfico.AIM - Associação de Investigadores da Imagem em Movimento2020-01-22info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://aim.org.pt/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/557Aniki: Portuguese Journal of the Moving Image; Vol 7 No 1 (2020): Women and space in contemporary cinema; 71-95Aniki: Revista Portuguesa da Imagem em Movimento; v. 7 n. 1 (2020): Mulheres e espaço no cinema contemporâneo; 71-952183-1750reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAPenghttp://aim.org.pt/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/557http://aim.org.pt/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/557/373Brown, Williaminfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess2024-01-26T02:03:13Zoai:aim.org.pt/ojs/:article/557Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-20T01:57:18.877360Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv A (mush)room of one’s own: feminism, posthumanism and race in Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled
Feminismo, pós-humanismo e a questão racial em The Beguiled, de Sofia Coppola
title A (mush)room of one’s own: feminism, posthumanism and race in Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled
spellingShingle A (mush)room of one’s own: feminism, posthumanism and race in Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled
Brown, William
The Beguiled
Sofia Coppola
Anthropocene
Mushrooms
Posthumanism
Feminism
Race
Sofia Coppola
Antropoceno
Pós-Humanismo
Feminismo
Cogumelos
Corrida
title_short A (mush)room of one’s own: feminism, posthumanism and race in Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled
title_full A (mush)room of one’s own: feminism, posthumanism and race in Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled
title_fullStr A (mush)room of one’s own: feminism, posthumanism and race in Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled
title_full_unstemmed A (mush)room of one’s own: feminism, posthumanism and race in Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled
title_sort A (mush)room of one’s own: feminism, posthumanism and race in Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled
author Brown, William
author_facet Brown, William
author_role author
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Brown, William
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv The Beguiled
Sofia Coppola
Anthropocene
Mushrooms
Posthumanism
Feminism
Race
Sofia Coppola
Antropoceno
Pós-Humanismo
Feminismo
Cogumelos
Corrida
topic The Beguiled
Sofia Coppola
Anthropocene
Mushrooms
Posthumanism
Feminism
Race
Sofia Coppola
Antropoceno
Pós-Humanismo
Feminismo
Cogumelos
Corrida
description The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola, USA, 2017) is one of several recent films to feature mushrooms as a prominent plot device. In this essay, I argue that the use of mushrooms here allows cinema to engage with issues surrounding the Anthropocene, or the period in which capitalist man has shaped the world more than the world has shaped capitalist man. I shall in particular propose that the association between women and fungi suggests that the Anthropocene entails an anthropocentric and patriarchal worldview. That is, The Beguiled suggests that the Anthropocene is defined specifically by capitalist man – whose world must now be replaced by one that might be deemed feminist and posthuman, not least because of how the women at the film’s all-girls’ private school work with mushrooms to bring down the central male figure, Civil War soldier Corporal John McBurney (Colin Farrell). However, The Beguiled also posits the limits of such a feminist and posthuman world both through its Civil War setting and through its status as an adaptation-cum-remake of Don Siegel’s 1971 film of the same name. For, by omitting from her film the central character of Hallie, who is played in Siegel’s “original” by Mae Mercer, and which character is in Thomas P. Cullinan’s source novel known as Mattie, Coppola conscientiously raises the issue of race – precisely by rendering it invisible/absent. This omission is not necessarily racist in intent, however, for in her elliptical style and in her use of the Madewood Plantation House as a location, Coppola subtly suggests that cinema itself is a force for the white Anthropocene, and that blackness, like a mushroom and like woman, will emerge as its post-cinematic replacement.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020-01-22
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dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv http://aim.org.pt/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/557
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dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv http://aim.org.pt/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/557
http://aim.org.pt/ojs/index.php/revista/article/view/557/373
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv AIM - Associação de Investigadores da Imagem em Movimento
publisher.none.fl_str_mv AIM - Associação de Investigadores da Imagem em Movimento
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Aniki: Portuguese Journal of the Moving Image; Vol 7 No 1 (2020): Women and space in contemporary cinema; 71-95
Aniki: Revista Portuguesa da Imagem em Movimento; v. 7 n. 1 (2020): Mulheres e espaço no cinema contemporâneo; 71-95
2183-1750
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