Film Matters: Please tell us about your article that is being published in Film Matters.
Sophie Barbour: My article looks at a character named Dounia from the film Divines and attempts to further other academic discussions of her gender identity—or rather, her gender performance. It is immediately obvious upon watching the film that it is interested in gender. It follows a female protagonist, her female best friend, and the female drug dealer against the backdrop of a violent male culture within the banlieue. Additionally, Dounia is North African and lives outside of the banlieue itself in a Roma camp. Her identity is, for lack of a better word, unrooted. There is no female-dominated space for her. She doesn’t live with other North Africans within the banlieue, and, of course, she lives in the periphery of the larger Parisian society and economy. With that in mind, she makes a space for herself as a drug dealer by performing certain traits that are attributed to men in order to partake in the banlieue economy. However, she also performs a type of hyper-femininity when it is required of her. These gendered performances then lead us to question her identity more largely. Where do the performances stop and Dounia start? I found that, really, there is no distinction. The performance of identity is the identity itself, and thus Dounia’s particular skill in acting becomes a powerful tool in being able to morph herself to the needs of the different roles she fulfills.
FM: What research and/or methodologies do you incorporate in your article?
SB: I used an interdisciplinary approach for this article. Only by linking film theory, seminal feminist works, and different approaches to performance theory was I able to start understanding how different aspects of Dounia’s identity come together as she tries to fight her way out of the banlieue. In the article, I first look at film theory that considers the banlieue film genre to give context to Divines. Then, I link together work from Laura Mulvey, Judith Butler, Joan Riviere, and Mary Anne Doane as they all talk about the role and performance of gender. Expanding beyond gender, I put these ideas into conversation with texts on performance theory more broadly, including the works of authors Erving Goffman and Efrat Tseëlon.
FM: Describe the original context for/when writing this article while an undergraduate student.
SB: I wrote this for my senior seminar class during my final semester at Ohio State. The class pushed my classmates and me to dig deeper into the research possibilities for film by building off of our prior film studies education. The assignment itself was rather broad, tasking us with proposing an original reading of any film from our course (which focused on Francophone films of the African diaspora). I felt immediately drawn to Divines and never looked back.
FM: How have your personal experiences shaped and influenced your writing?
SB: As I get older and have had more time to refine my taste in media, I feel more confident in my instincts. I knew there was something that jumped out to me about Divines, and even that vague feeling was enough for me to move forward with starting research on the film itself. I am very grateful to have had a rather cross-disciplinary education that hasn’t restricted my interests to just film. I am a big reader and incredibly interested in feminist theory, so getting to dig deeper into Judith Butler’s work in particular was just one way in which this project allowed me to pursue other interests that I’ve always had on the edges of my mind. I think just about anything can be connected, so all those brimming interests always have a chance of making their way into other projects of mine.
FM: What aspects of the writing process were most challenging? Why?
SB: The first draft (or five…) were probably the hardest parts of this process. Normally, I find the final rounds of editing to be the bane of my existence; but this project was one that I cared a lot about from the start, and thus had a ton of ideas that all had to fit together somehow. I like to use the “red string conspiracy theory” method of planning, which mostly just makes me look eccentric as I try to link things that seem to have nothing in common. It’s challenging, but extremely enjoyable to me.
FM: What do you enjoy most about your article?
SB: I enjoy the freedom that comes with the notion of identity being performed. I’ve always felt a bit indebted to Butler’s work on gender performance because it comes with a real breath of relief for me. Everything is an imitation, and there is no original. When we expand this concept to identity as a whole, I feel that same sense of relief. There is no inherent “self,” we are merely reflections of the people and the world around us. That makes me feel connected. I bake with recipes from my great-grandmother; I use phrases I first heard from my best friend. I like to remember those types of things, and I hope that this sort of postmodern humanism continues to be a topic of conversation moving forward.
FM: How has the Film Matters editorial and publication process impacted the development/evolution of your article?
SB: To be honest, I didn’t have to change a whole lot for this article. I was encouraged early on to think about submitting this paper to Film Matters, even before it was complete. The ideas were still in their infancy when the possibility of publication was planted in my mind. That definitely motivated me to put my best work forward so that I could get immediate feedback frequently during the drafting stages, rather than waiting for a final grade and having to do the legwork for publication editing on my own.
FM: What audience do you hope to reach with your Film Matters article and/or what impact do you hope it has on the field of film studies?
SB: I think this article definitely appeals most to people with an interest in gender performance, so I hope anyone with a shared interest there can enjoy this film and article. I really would love to see more academic work done on this film. It is extremely rich, and I could only begin to scrape into it with this article. I would especially love to see more texts on the ending of the film, as that is one part that I did not dig into.
FM: How has your department and/or institution supported your work in film and media?
SB: Again, I’m very thankful to have had the interdisciplinary education that I’ve been given. I have always been encouraged to pursue topics that interest me, regardless of how obviously they do or don’t fit into my main studies in film or English literature. The Department of Theatre, Film, and Media Arts has helped me harness ideas that stem from different backgrounds and pull them into my analysis of film. I also am extremely grateful to have had professors that have introduced me to theories and topics (like films from the African diaspora) that I might not have sought out on my own.
FM: How has your faculty mentor fostered your advancement as a film scholar?
SB: My mentor pushed my imagination beyond the boundaries I had put in place for myself. Honestly, the class seemed overwhelming at first. I was nearing the end of my degree and still felt unprepared to tackle our syllabus, but Professor Flinn never let us succumb to our fears of inadequacy. We pushed forward as a group, and by the time we needed to dig into our individual projects, I felt much better prepared to pursue research into the aspects of this film that caught my attention. She was incredibly supportive both with this article and more broadly in my development as not only a film scholar, but also as a human being.
FM: What advice do you have for undergraduate film and media scholars?
SB: I encourage people to pursue what interests them. There is always something more to uncover about whatever piques your interest. Plus, it is a lot easier to work on projects that you truly feel passionate about.
FM: What are your future plans?
SB: I currently do not have any plans to continue as a scholar or media analyst; however, I’d love to revisit those options in the future.
Author Biography
Sophie Barbour is a recent graduate of The Ohio State University where she majored in both English and Film Studies. There, she also was an active member of several film clubs that helped hone both her taste in film as well as her ability to critique works. She is interested in storytelling in all its forms, and finds herself especially drawn toward female-led narratives.
