Research Project

Since the birth of the film industry in American society, cinema has used the performance of women onscreen to codify their erotic imagery into our social consciousness. Traditional cinema achieves this cultural manipulation by reinforcing, and reframing images of women the individual spectator expects, as taught to him by the dominant patriarchal structure. Yet, cinema may only reflect and influence the political formations of women within the boundaries of its dimension. Cyberspace is different. Media in cyberspace is not bound by the same limits of time and space its cinematic counterpart has historically been. Digital media is overstimulating, overbearing, and contradicting in only a matter of seconds. Pairing this onslaught of digital media with its near instantaneous communication, and cyberspace becomes a fertile breeding ground for far right political rhetoric. Therefore, by using a feminist film theory framework, this paper deconstructs the conditions in which the boundaries of cinema are built. In doing so, I analyze how the performance of women online interacts with conservative dialogue in cyberspace. Through an analysis of several digital videos across the political right filmed by women, this paper examines how the performance of such women constructs the visual politics of the far right. This paper argues that cyberspace provides a unique platform for conservative propaganda unlike its cinematic counterpart, and how female performance is an essential element of its design.