Woman On The Bench

Jake Tully

Professor Wexler

10/19/13

Eng 313 – M/W 2 – 315

Woman On The Bench

            Woman On The Bench is an independent drama/comedy about an early 30’s female singer-songwriter pianist named Lyla in New York City attempting to become part of a record label to both further her art and provide for her livelihood. Lyla has thus far in her career had a very difficult time achieving any notoriety or success due to her sex and her ethnicity, and not by any means the merit of her musical capabilities. Lyla lives in a small flat with her roommate Shiloh, a woman her same age who constantly lands small television parts and local theatre productions, though mostly roles that are demeaning or otherwise sexist and beneath her. To help support her craft, Lyla works part-time at a library as a clerk/story-time leader. Lyla’s musical idol and greatest influence is Nina Simone, a point she makes abundantly clear several times throughout the film.

            While auditioning for labels and promoting herself through means of playing small venues and doing local radio spots, Lyla meets a young man, Zach, who is also a singer-songwriter/guitar player. Zach has a folk-punk mentality, very different from Lyla’s eclectic style of piano, but nonetheless thinks he is a great talent. Lyla considers their connection a chance meeting, until they meet again doing an interview for a small radio station that is showcasing local talent. They soon begin a small fling, providing happiness for Lyla despite her constant rejection, and more material for her songwriting portfolio. Ultimately, however, Zach finds evidence about Lyla’s songs pertaining to their relationship in her apartment, and steals the notes to her music unbeknownst to Lyla. Zach begins performing Lyla’s work due to his inability to craft new songs, until Lyla finds out about Zach’s misdeeds and breaks it off with him.

            The final scenes of the movie show Lyla still struggling with her music career a few years later, and working double-time at the library. She enters a nightclub where Zach’s new jazz trio – a genre he adopted from Lyla – is headlining. Zach sees Lyla is still down on her luck and offers her a position playing piano for his now popular group. Lyla refuses, walking out the door and getting an offer to play piano inside the mall that Sunday. Lyla accepts, on the condition that she is able to play a predominantly Nina Simone set. Nina Simone plays as the credits roll.

            Ideally, actress Rosario Dawson should play Lyla, while the role of Zach should be Oscar Isaac. For Shiloh, Kristen Wiig comes to mind. Most of the shooting will occur in New York City, specificity is not a point of contention.

            Woman On The Bench should be made for a number of reasons along with a handful of themes it represents and elucidates. One such theme is certainly that of feminism and the role that sex plays in society – a subject many have breached time and time again – but there is also more to it than that, especially when the Anglo-Saxon is taken out of the equation and replaced with an African-American female. Certainly, this very arguably and radically changes the circumstances in feminism and the role of sex in society versus a white woman. An unfair change in circumstances, indeed, yet one that should be analyzed more closely and represented more wholly.

            To further the point of feminism and the independent sex outside of the man, an apparent theme for Woman On The Bench is the struggle that persists for women in the entertainment industry and the collective arts. Ostensibly, it could be contested that women in music have always had to overcome barriers of sorts in order to achieve great success and incur infamy, especially if the woman in question is more than a pretty face and a shapely body – one that can play piano and has distinct tastes in music. Once again, it may be even more difficult for women of color to achieve success, yet another unfair societal factor against their plight.

            Woman On The Bench is meant to entertain and captivate, but also hopes to give empowerment and shed light on the societal status quo we have deemed normal – perhaps through the film as a text the deconstruction of women as “the other” can begin, and we can actually see some realization of the fictional Lyla and her story.

            When speaking of perceived feminism and sex in our culture, one can certainly turn to Michele Foucault and his “docile bodies” theory in which “subjects are the ‘effect’ of discourse,” though concern may arise for feminists for “it appears to rob subjects of the agency required for an emancipatory project” (Barker, 303.) Indeed, one can simply see sex and subjectivity in sex as a horizontal discourse vis a vis implications of biological necessity, but in doing so we may remove an honest aspect of our analysis, especially if the horizontal discourse of white to black is involved. Consider the following from BlackFeminist.org, “We express strength and solidarity in or shared experience of inequality and power imbalance based on our race and gender. We aim to challenge the hegemony of patriarchy prevalent in most parts of the world which subjugates many, particularly black females (BlackFeminist.org) Black feminism, perhaps more so than white or any other brand of feminism is of particular importance, especially in our country due to the hegemony we have imposed upon both minorities and females for centuries. It would be paltry to suggest that we treat any female differently due to their ethnicity, but we must consider both sex and ethnicity equally when we impose our societal norms upon one another, certainly a theme explored through the film.

            Another theme to explore is that of women in the arts. Historically, the male sex has never experienced a particularly difficult time breaking through in the entertainment industry, for culturally it became a norm. If one was to turn to a hall of great film directors no doubt would we see the classics – Orson Welles, Frederico Fellini, Spike Lee. However, we may see a subsection in this display – “Great Women Directors” – wording that disseminates to the viewers that somehow the artistic integrity is lessened due to gender. This is true of music as well – women are recognized as anomalies in the art. However, women have been enormous contributors to art, and namely music, not as a novelty commodity, but as serious and great artists. The Smithsonian Folkways Coalition writes, “Women around the world use music to further women's rights and other political and social causes. Suffragettes who won American women the right to vote at the turn of the 20th century changed the lyrics of traditional hymns and patriotic anthems to assert their demand to be treated as equal citizens” (SmithsonianFolkways.com) Certainly, there is much more substance to women in the field of music than purely conventional and political ideologies, consider Grammy winner for Best New Artist 2011 Esperanza Spalding, Lucinda Williams, Carole King – the list goes on. Fortunately, in this day and age consumers are more progressive thinking in their inclusion of great musicians not to think solely of men, though some residue of the archaic way of thinking still remains.

            Finally, consider the relationship between men and women, both in the field of the arts and of relationships purely in society. We have constructed and perpetuated the idea that men must use their clout to help the submissive model of gender (women) for they mat not be able to themselves. Consider the following from Michele Foucault, “Women have always been seen by heterosexual men as their exclusive property... Men think that women can only experience pleasure in recognizing men as masters…” (Foucalt,1982). Indeed, the hegemony once again arises that men are the aggressive and progressive power in the realm of the sexes, a theory in which permeates into daily of many and influences the lives of even more. Woman On The Bench explores this theme through the relationship of Lyla and Zach – Zach feels pity for Lyla whom he perceives to be doing poorly likely due to her ethnicity and sex, and uses his pull to offer her a cushy piano-playing position. Lyla refuses due to a presumed integrity of both the gender and the artistic kind.

            Truly, the film deals with theories of feminism, gender, and race that have been hashed over and dealt with many times, but Woman On The Bench hopes to present such themes and prove its exigency in a manner that is not lurid or banal. Evoking Foucault theory, black feminist thought, and Smithsonian researched history and ethnography, Woman On The Bench will serve as a great text and testament to important and ever-budding themes and ideologies in our world.

Works Cited

Barker, Chris. "Sex, Subjectivity and Representation." Cultural studies: theory and            practice. 4th ed. London: SAGE, 2000. 302-303. Print.

"Black Feminists." Black Feminists Site Wide Activity RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

Foucault, Michele, "Sexual Choice, Sexual Act." Foucault Live (Interviews, 1961-  1984).  New York:  Semiotext(e). p. 331.  French original, 1982. 

"Women Breaking Musical Barriers." Smithsonian Folkways. Smithsonian Institution,       n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.