Shirley+Clarke

=**Introduction**=

Never afraid of a little controversy, Shirley Clarke stretched boundaries into shaping what is now modern cinema. Never stepping out without two things, a lit cigarette pressed between her lips and a strong desire to prosper. Clarke was thriving to make radical change by emphasizing the harsh reality the public constantly shunned. “The very thing that was trying to be hidden is now trying to be exposed.”(Gallagher). Clarke made the misrepresented and ignored become her primary subjects in her film works. Besides her chain-smoking, Clarke ignited a chain reaction of quarrels due to her “vulgar” display of realism, therefore making cinema re-evaluate their outdated manner.

=**Personal Background**=

Her journey first began in Park Avenue New York (Vallance). Without any knowledge about cinema Clarke set herself for a long run to reach her dreams in the film industry (Dargis). Born on October 2nd 1919 was Shirley Brimberg. She was the daughter of a polish Jewish immigrant. Clarke’s father had a great impact in her lifetime. He worked in a manufacturing business that boomed into success allowing his family to climb up the social and class ladder (Koutsourakis).

 Clarke as a young girl loved to dance. She was always interested in the beauty of art (Dargis). Art was a passion that fueled her curiosity leading her mind to run off into what seemed as far-fetched fantasies. The wealth her father earned finally allowed her to take the dance classes she yearned for. Shirley got married to a friend named Bert Clarke, but this marriage was seen more as a “contract”. This “contract” allowed Clarke to carry on with her artistic experiments financially. Unlucky for Clarke, she had struggled to keep up her interest in dance after repeated professional disappointments. She shifted career paths into filmmaking and she did so with a Boltex camera she received as a wedding gift (Koutsourakis).

 She began to film home movies that were funny, cute, and even good. Clarke enjoyed playing around with the editing and music/audio for her films because she enjoyed experimenting (Rabinovitz). She grew into becoming an independent experimental female filmmaker. Shirley loved to film in a very stylized way and combines it by editing; those were her favorite parts of her (Halleck). With a background in dance, she brought choreographers fluidly and rhythm to her film editing. Examples of her editing are displayed in her best-known films The Connection and The Cool World (Vallance). She liked to put in her own reflection on aesthetics and philosophy into her film and video works (Rabinovitz). Throughout the sixties, she lectured on independent film at universities and museums recognizing her as a cause to the independent movement (Vallance). Her art wasn’t limited to just her movies, she co-founded The Film-Makers Distribution Center, The Teepee Video Space Troupe, The Film-Makers Cooperative which continues to be significant to the film community after 40 years (Gallagher).

=**Personality Traits**=

Shirley Clarke always had been a self-motivating and shrewd woman. She always encouraged herself to achieve higher by constantly moving forward to gain the reputation of a great American filmmaker (Gallagher). Never giving up and trying out new things allowed her to improve her skillmanship (Dargis). Clarke was known for her extraordinary view on art, cinema, and politics (Koutsourakis). What she enjoyed in filmmaking was the individuality it gave her. It let her be unique and get attention by ways she expressed isolation and alienation in her films (Rabinovitz).

She expressed her thoughts that consisted of her widespread and radical ideas (Dargis). Because of her outgoing personality, many people did not like the way she expressed her inner thoughts and perspective into her film works. Clarke was sensitive to the harsh feedback she received. She became incredibly depressed due to the heavy discrimination (Halleck). That was not the only thing that got her upset.

The smallest yet most irritating situations that she had no control in would drive her furious, especially if it involved editing or producing a film. At times Clarke would not be able to handle her emotions (Rabinovitz). Even though she went through bad times, she still managed to be helpful and positive towards her co-producers and actors (Dargis). Shirley gladly enjoyed teaching university classes about filmmaking. This won her multiple awards, prizes, and acknowledgement from her supporters (Vallance).

=**Obstacles**=

Even though Clarke is now recognized for her impact in filmmaking, she wasn't taken easy during her era due to her gender. She was treated differently; the deep discrimination towards women artists was a burden for her. Clarke experienced the most explicit form of discrimination at the Television Lab at WNET. “The engineer was the worst. He was so obstructive. He just hated the fact I was a women: hated it! That was probably the most overt discrimination I ever had.” (Halleck).

Shirley felt isolated for being a female filmmaker (Rabinovitz). Many women in film industries struggled to raise funds for a full time occupation (Halleck). Getting what she needed was difficult due to budget (Dargis). Her film The Cool World (1963) caused her to be in $50,000 of debt (Rabinovitz). Money wasn’t the only issue she dealt with, she was also told crude remarks due to the contents in her films.

She showed cinema how far she can go by filming The Connection with the all nudity and cuss words it had to offer. This film gained a lot of controversy for telling the “truth”, causing it to be in conflict with the New York censorship rules (Vallance).The public found it odd, offensive, vulgar, and sick (Koutsourakis). She didn’t care much about the harsh feedback as long as she was able to refine realism. Clarke did so by getting rid of the stereotypical traits characters were always assigned in movies. This consisted of the misrepresented, overly simplified, or outright ignored characters in mainstream cinema (Gallagher).

=**Historical Significance**=

Shirley Clarke was a major figure to the world of independent filmmaking, she was a director whose films exemplify the course of American alternative cinema during the 1950s and 1960s (Vallance).Clarke impacted the film industry by paving the way into what is now known as modern cinema. She was a role model and mentor to other young women filmmakers due to the fact she was an important leader for the New York film-community during the 1960s. Even though she was not known that well in history, she did change cinema by taking down restrictions on what cannot be shown in movie theaters (Rabinovitz).This gave her the mainstream critic’s attention (Dargis).

Censorship was a new idea established in cinema by using her own film “The Connection” (Rabinovitz). Her most famous work was called the “Portrait of Jason” that touched topics such as sexuality, class, and race (Koutsourakis). This film caught a lot of attention for the fact alone of the film being about a black homosexual subject (Dargis). Clarke washed out some discrimination between colored skinned people and gays by making this masterpiece (Halleck). This film won several prizes at European film festivals and is considered to be her best work ever made (Vallance). Just like the “Portrait of Jason” her other films “The Connection” and “The Cool World” tackled controversial subjects by using an artistic style she drew upon from European art cinema and documentary tradition (Rabinovitz). Shirley always infused experimental, documentary, and narrative film techniques into her works and checked for the one that suited it the best. These three film works wrenched burgeoning cinema verite trends in new groundbreaking directions (Gallagher).Meaning she had improved and emphasized this new trend of realism into cinema like no one had ever done before. Clarke was a really deep and irrational thinker. This helped her show the world how sound and images changes the response in your image-reading process in the human mind.

She did so in her film work “Bridges go Round” by using different soundtracks on various clips of bridges (Koutsourakis).This “experimental masterpiece” consisted of New York bridges with camera choreography, rhythmic cutting and colour tints, dancing abstract elements. That same year she co-directed a short film called “Skyscraper”. It was nominated for an Academy Award and received prizes at the Venice and Edinburgh festivals. But just like much of Clarkes work these films continued to be widely shown while unknown to the public at large (Vallance).

Later on, between 1975 through 1983 Clarke taught film and video at the University of California in Los Angeles. She enjoyed teaching and inspiring young filmmakers about the changing film industry (Rabinovitz). Shirley also helped the history in women arts such as dance, film, and graphic arts (Halleck). Shirley Clarke was more than just a visionary filmmaker. Her impact on filming is still being felt 12 years after her passing in 1997 and will continue to resound loudly for many years to come (Gallagher).

=**References**=

Dargis, Manohla. "Women With a Lens, Restored." __//New York Times On Shirley Clarke.//__ 27 Apr. 2012: 5. __//Milestone Films.com.//__ 17 Sept. 2014.**SE#1**

Gallagher, Cullen. "Films of Shirley Clarke, The Rebel With a Cause." //__Hammer to Nail.__// 22 Apr. 2009. __//www.hammertonail.com.//__ 19 Nov. 2014. **SE#5**

Halleck, Dee Dee. "Interview With Shirley Clarke." //__The Early Video Project.__// Davidson Gigliotti, 1 Jan. 2000. __//davidsonsfiles.org.//__ 12 Oct. 2014. **SE#3**

Koutsourakis, Angelos. "Shirley Clarke." __//Senses of Cinema.//__ 1 Dec. 2012. //__sensesofcinema.com.__// 2 Oct. 2014. **SE#2**

Rabinovitz, Lauren. "Choreography of Cinema an Interview With Shirley Clarke." //__AfterImage.__// 1 Dec 1983. __//www.vasulka.org.//__ 6 Nov. 2014. **SE#4**

Vallance, Tom. "Obituary: Shirley Clarke." //__The Independent.__// 26 Sept. 1997. __//Independent.co.uk.web.//__ 11 Dec. 2014. **SE#6**