Agnes Varda

It was really cool to talk about Agnes Varda, who she was, and what she did, at her grave stone. I learned a lot about her.  One of the things that stuck out to me was how willing she was to put herself out there. She stood up for what she believed in and who she was. One fun example of this is the way that she dyed her hair. She consistently kept her hair cut in a bowl cut with the top half dyed white and the bottom dyed red. I think this is super cool and indicative of her personality.  Something else I learned about her is that she was one of the founders of the French new wave of cinema as well as a huge part of feminist cinema. She also is really inspiring to me because of how she was able to take her photography background into directing. Her background in photography could have made it really difficult for her to make her career in directing, but instead she was able to turn it into a strength that allowed to her to create her own way of making films. I loved learning about Agnes Varda and who she is. She is an inspiration in cinema and feminist ideals. 

Her contribution is important because she came in to a male dominated field and was able to be very successful at what she did. She also offered a new perspective on film and helped usher in a new era, French new wave cinema. This wave was extremely influential in cinema and changed the way that film has progressed. New wave cinema helped people rethink film and look at it a different way. New film aesthetics and tactics came into the world of cinema. She also helped change the way that people look at female directors by showing that they should be taken seriously. Going along with that, she was a major feminist and took stands for what she believed in.

Something that was interesting to me that we talked about is that we monumentalize women in a lot of different ways. I think that it is important that the way we remember them is cohesive with who they were and what they did for society. Agnes Varda’s mural I think is a wonderful example of a job well done. I like that we talked about how they didn’t change the name of her street because she loved the street she lived on - the name was important to her. I think that shows that they took who she was in consideration. The mural celebrates her film and her achievements, memorializing who she really was and what she stood for.