Learning to Re-imagine: Uncovering affective investments in female film characters

ABSTRACT In this article I explore how I use my imagination to analyse the two main female characters, Dede and Jane, in the film Little Man Tate (1991). Although I perceive Dede and Jane to be portrayed in very stereotypical ways, my analyses do not remain limited to this detached level of viewing, rather I try to gain an understanding of the tremendous pain I experienced while watching their lives performed on the screen. I examine closely how my imagination has been shaped by the traditional message that women must choose between motherhood and a career and how, as a result, I invested in the conflict between Dede who I perceived as a 'good mother' stereotype and Jane who I perceived as a 'successful career woman' stereotype. By reassessing how I have learned to evaluate female characters, I discuss how students, like myself, can be taught to uncover their affective investments in the filmic stories they are learning to criticise.