Rough Cut

We're working on the rough cut this week, having rented a work space in the charming studio of Ink Run Press, in the heart of Salt Lake City. How could one not be inspired by the surroundings?

We hope to have a solid draft by the end of the week--lots of note-taking and discussions. Wish us luck and please tell your friends!

Pioneer Women

If you're in Utah, you celebrated Pioneer Day this past week. This holiday, celebrated both by the state and the LDS Church, marks the arrival of Brigham Young and the Mormons in the Salt Lake Valley.

And the week's festivities reminded me of something that one of our interview subjects argued...that Helen's ideas about romance and femininity represent a cultural shift away from the ideas about women just a generation before her. That, on the frontier, there was no room for dependence and childlikeness and flirtation. That pioneer women in Helen's mother's and grandmother's generation often needed to be hard-laborers in the fields and in the house, that they endured incredible privations complicated by high birth rates and isolation, that Mormon women were sometimes within polygamous relationships that demanded much and offered very little.

Helen's ideas about fascination then seem a conscious effort to escape the very demanding lives of the pioneer women who came before her. This is something we explore in the documentary.

Fascinating Women

Sally Ride died last week. She was an astronaut, physicist, teacher, tennis player.

But she wouldn't have counted as fascinating in Helen's book.

Sarah Palin, conservative doctrinaire, has taken it upon herself to remain a warning voice in American politics.

Also not fascinating.

Hillary Clinton...  I don't even have to finish that thought, do I?

Maya Angelou, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Toni Morrison, Nancy Pelosi, Oprah Winfrey, Madeleine Albright, Rachel Carson, Marie Curie, Indira Ghandi, Golda Meir, Angela Merkel, Condoleeza Rice, Sandra Day O'Connor, Rosa Parks, Martha Stewart, Margaret Thatcher. My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Parran.

None of these women rate very high for Helen. They are powerful, competent, articulate, successful women, whether or not we agree with their politics. Helen says often in her book that women's first calling is to be a wife and a mother. She repeats on her website that feminists have ruined our economy and upended our American values system. At one point, she even quotes Rush Limbaugh, saying that women have "screwed up America."

And she advises that if single ladies must work, they should try not to be more successful than the men around them. It's more important to be feminine and well-liked than proficient and accidentally insult a co-worker's masculinity.

Yet, Helen still has an incredible following on the web and in print. The latest edition of Fascinating Womanhood went to press in 2007. Her message appeals to many women, perhaps because they feel like their choices to raise children are denigrated by today's society. This is what our documentary hopes to explore. 

Erin's Past Films II

Here's another film from Erin!

Called The Milliner, this film was created for the 2009 Attack of the 50 Foot Reels at the Egyptian Theater, Los Angeles, CA.

Erin focuses on the process of hatmaking here, an art some consider out of style. But her use of experimental techniques brings a real physicality to the subject.

Helen's Thoughts on Daughter's Education

Taken from the 2007 edition of Fascinating Womanhood.

Should Daughters be Trained for Careers?
You may think your daughters should prepare to make a living in the event of widowhood, divorce or other compelling emergencies. Consider the seriousness of this step from the following viewpoints:

1. Makes her independent and less likely to attract a man.
2. Encourages her to continue working after marriage.
3. Wastes her time on training that changes from year to year.
4. Provides an easy escape from marriage.
5. Deprives her of a liberal education that will prepare her to develop creativeness, intelligence, sound reasoning, and wisdom.

Valerie Hudson Profile

Dr. Valerie Hudson is professor of Political Science at BYU and director of the WomanSTATS project.

Hudson's research into international family law and the global status of women confirms that the health and wellness of women in a nation-state will predict the stability of the economy and state security.

How does this connect to Fascinating Womanhood?  One of the arguments about Helen's ideas is whether or not she promotes gender equality. With Helen's call for a return to previous standards of femininity and sexual division of labor, is she helping women regain the respect and protection they lost via the Second Wave of Feminism? Or is she asking women to give up legal, social, and ethical gains they've made because of Second Wave Feminism?

And how does that affect our society?

You can read this article in Foreign Policy about Dr. Hudson's new monograph, Sex and World Peace.

Funding

As you know, independent documentaries and feature films scramble for funding on a constant basis. Handkerchief Films as a production company is no different. Much of the travel, equipment, and other fees have been paid from Erin's work as a commercial editor. Other positions are unpaid, and generally we're doing what we can to move the project efficiently along.

We continue to work on grant applications. One of our successful grants is fiscal sponsorship from the Utah Film Center, which extends us non-profit status. This means anyone donating to our project via UFC can earn a tax break for 2012. Please contact us if you're interested in donating in this way.

We also have two more days on Kickstarter. We've already reached our goal, but the website is an easy way for people to donate to the project. You can donate at a level ($22) that will reserve a DVD copy of the final film to be sent out next spring.

Once our Kickstarter campaign has finished, we will make pre-ordering of the DVD available on Amazon. Look for that by the end of the week.

Many thanks for all those who continue to support the project.