Natalie Meza Meza 1
Dr. Adan
WGQS 210
Facing Intersectionality in Watermelon Woman
The film and moving image I chose is Watermelon Woman (1996) which is a film with a
documenting style of a lesbian filmmaker Cheryl Dunye who is trying to figure out who the “Watermelon
Woman” was. The specific moving image I wanted to analyze was the scene where Cheryl and Diana go
and see Martha Page’s sister to interview her about Fae Richards and Martha Page. During this interview,
her sister downplays the art of Fae and gives Martha all the credit, as she praises Martha, Cheryl suggests
that Martha and Fae had sexual relations which then upsets her sister and Diana begins to tell Cheryl to
stop suggesting such. This then leads them to be kicked out. The filming style is an interview, which can
be seen as intimate as it is one and one and asking personal questions. In this interview the camera is
further giving us as the viewer the opportunity to watch it play out. Added behind the overall interview is
a voiceover. It's Cheryl’s perspective of the interview and how she was feeling. She sounds upset and
invalidated with the fact that she’s not getting to know about Fae Richards, but Martha Page, the white
director. She talks about how Martha’s sister was completely erasing Fae overall. As she expresses that
she’s immediately shut down by everyone in the room, even her own girlfriend. I think this interview
filming style and voiceover show the true emotion of frustration that Cheryl’s going through. The
invalidation of the impact of your community not being credited for something so significant is a difficult
feeling. Then, on top of that Martha’s sister negates the relationship of Fae and Martha when brought up.
Intersectionality ties in as Cheryl, a Black lesbian, is now seeing in real time two of her marginalized
communities being neglected for the hard work they put in. You’re seeing how both Cheryl and Diana
deal with their emotions in that moment and how it’s something one another will never understand.
“Progress doesn’t begin until intersectionality shows up, so it is critical to consider where in the work the
subject is brought in.” (Baten 2024) Diana thinks she’s helping Cheryl with her project but in reality just
from her reaction to Cheryl’s frustration shows she doesn’t know the true meaning of Cheryl’s film and
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the consistent fight Cheryl has to deal with daily. As I mentioned, the documentary/interviewing style is
very intimate. Interviews tend to be personal and ask more vulnerable questions that are asked regularly. I
think this refers to gender and sexuality as life in marginalized communities is a consistent life-long
question. Wanting to know your ancestors and how you got to where you are today. It’s a sad truth of
seeing your history be erased and having to dig for a sense of community and understanding. I also
believe the “reality” instead of the interviews of her going through Cheryl’s life in the film really
demonstrates how gender and sexuality impact her day to day life. I think that the scene I chose is a prime
example of that. As much as we think we evolve in a society you still see difference, separation of
mindset. I think Diana’s simple, “Cheryl” when Cheryl was expressing her feelings about Fae and Martha
to Martha’s sister was very telling. Almost as if Diana interpreted that Cheryl was acting out, when she
was just expressing her true frustration of the erasure Martha’s sister was displaying. “This is how you
give meaning to things through language. This is how you'd ‘make sense’ of the world of people, objects
and events, and how you are able to express a complex thought about those things to other people, or
communicate about them through language in ways which other people are able to understand.” (Stuart
Hall 1997). Being able to speak up for yourself and confront an issue isn’t easy. But, Cheryl didn’t
hesitate to speak for her community and let them be heard. In this specific clip, Mise en scène is a major
formal property as the positioning of the camera and how Martha’s sister, Diana, and Cheryl are all
positioned further away. It gives an outside perspective of a consistent conversation in marginalized
communities where their ancestors are being erased. The position of each person and object helps create
the intensity of the situation and helps see how it heightens from start to finish. “Record not only the
figures and objects in the frame (the content) but also how the frame itself and its photographic
qualities (the form) are used to define that content through camera angles, lighting, the use of depth and
surface, and editing techniques.” (Longman, 2007) Also within this scene was the formal property
dissolve, where it fades in out of the interview to scenes of Fae and Martha together. Giving the effect to
the viewer of highlighting the history of them, their love, and their art. As Martha’s sister tries to erase it,
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Cheryl makes it a point in the film to show their truth with the dissolve. Lastly, Cheryl uses the fade
effect, as Martha’s sister is kicking them out and Cheryl still calls her out on invalidating Fae’s part in
Martha’s career. As they’re still arguing Cheryl grabs the camera and fades into Diana and Cheryl in bed.
I think this represents when to pick your battles and to move on. People like Martha’s sister are so close
minded, it’s not worth your time to convince them of their history and Fae’s impact. I think based on my
intersectional positionality influenced my interpretation as in my ways of being a Mexican-American
woman, it helps me see more in depth of certain actions and formulating why they do it. I believe I chose
that scene because it was the most obvious example of that. Seeing head-on, Diana, Cheryl’s white
girlfriend, almost takes over her project but also in some way shame her for confronting a direct issue.
Cheryl wanted to know more about Fae, and instead essentially contradicted her point of the film. “The
project of giving voice to experience and making visible oppression is a significant point of women's
politics.” (Betterton 1987) That being Cheryl’s overall motive, to help the voice for Black women who
are not credited for something so impactful. It demonstrates the different ideologies as Diana might seem
to understand Martha’s sister’s point of view and Cheryl doesn’t. I think based on my positionality is
Cheryl’s true feelings about the situation in the scene, I assume she’s frustrated based on her tone and
words but there’s guaranteed more elements to her true mindset in that moment, and it’s something I’ll
understand as a woman but Cheryl is a Black lesbian woman where multiple of her communities are being
impacted by people like Martha’s sister. And that pain I will never truly understand or experience.
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Works Cited
Excerpt from Chapter 2 of A Short Guide to Writing about Film, 6th edition (Longman, 2007)
Baten, J. (2024, February 14). How to authentically represent intersectionality in Media — Center for
Scholars & Storytellers @ UCLA. Center for Scholars & Storytellers @ UCLA.
[Link]
ting-intersectional-identities
Stuart Hall(1997) from Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices
Rosemary Betterton, "Introduction: Feminism, Femininity, and Representation," from Looking On:
Images of Femininity in the Visual Arts and Media (1987)