Sunday, November 17, 2013

Media Moment 3, "The Punk Singer"

This weekend I saw "The Punk Singer", a documentary about Kathleen Hanna. Kathleen Hanna was the singer of a feminist punk band called Bikini Kill in the 1990's and other more recent bands such as Le Tigre and, most recently, The Julie Ruin. Bikini kill is considered to be the pioneer of the riot grrrl movement, an underground feminist punk rock movement associated with third-wave feminism that started in the early 1990's in Washington, DC. Riot grrrl is a whole subculture that includes music, art, DIY ethic, activism, and political action as part of it. I chose to post about this film because riot grrrl often goes unheard of and it's an important part of feminism, at least to me. This was a really great film and I recommend it to anyone who's a fan of Bikini Kill or interested in what part riot grrrl had in the feminist movement (if anyone is interested in seeing it you can find dates and locations here). I think this movie was a more accurate portrayal of what was going on in Kathleen's life considering the past is often romanticized. The film showed the hate that Kathleen received for playing music and how people were worried about her safety, something I had never thought about. This film mad eme think a lot about where riot grrrl is today, where feminism is today, and what progress there is to be made. I was very upset when after the film a person told me that there was "no where to go after third wave feminism" because all progress had already been made. I completely disagree with this but often times I do find myself wondering where there is to go from here, sometimes all things seem to be said and done. How do you guys feel about this? Will there be a fourth wave for feminism? Where do we go from here?

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