More Man Than Any Of Them

I’d like this experiment to investigate and reflect on MAN from my perspective as a cisgender female, and the implications of having the characteristics gendered in different etymological frameworks. For example, examining characteristics such as being strong-willed, outspoken or ‘tough’, and how these can be perceived as positive or negative depending on language: strong-willed vs bossy, outspoken vs opinionated, emotional vs hysterical.

The work will reflect on several incidences over my own experience, starting with being referred to as a tomboy through to being referred to (especially in an online context) as bossy, loud, opinionated or hysterical.

I’m interested in how to express these experiences in the context of an artwork, and am considering using the film from which my word was selected as a starting point. I’m going to watch the film to better understand it, and am considering inserting myself into the film in some way.

I’m going to explore and look at performing masculinity as seen in the film, and am considering how I might do this successfully. I’m considering performing the monologue featured in my selected 21 seconds of film (see the Results page in the Random Data Generator menu) on a greenscreen and overlaying and tracking this over the actual footage. I think this would explore a few things: most superficially, it is a direct reference to mansplaining (as I am literally going to be ‘speaking over’ a man),and on a deeper level it speaks to power dynamics within interactions between men and women/NB/X. I think it would also extend the critique of male/masculine militarism by subverting the long-held perception that women don’t belong in the military, or any proximity to violence. I also like that it speaks directly to notions of power, as I’m erasing the man and erasing not only his agency, but literally his entire person.