Process
Status Items Highlights Done See section below Claims None Questions None Output None
Highlights
Time 0:15:42
Madeline Pendleton’s Worker-Owned Business
- Madeline Pendleton, author and podcast host, runs Tunnel Vision, a worker-centered clothing brand.
- Everyone at the company, including interns, earns the same daily take-home pay with a four-day work week.
- They use a break-even business model where profits beyond operational costs are distributed equally among workers.
- One year, the business had significant profit which was voted by all workers to buy everyone in the company a new car.
- Madeline aims to have her employees transition to a coop structure in the future. Transcript: Madeline Pendleton Okay, great. So I’ve run Tunnel Vision for 12 years now. And I have tried various different ways to make it like a worker-centered business. And some of them failed early on. But our current model that we operate from usually gets people pretty interested. The main thing that’s different about our business is that everybody who works at the company, from me, I am the legal sole owner, but that’s mostly just because it makes it easier for Us to access financing and the other workers aren’t ready to merge into a co-op yet, but I tell them they will have to eventually. But yeah, everybody for me is the legal sole owner all the way down to an intern. We all earn the exact same take-home pay per day work. And we have a standard four-day work week, is 28 hours. And we also have a break-even model where we aim not to profit beyond just, you know, there’s like a difference in business. It’s really boring, but it’s gross profit versus net profit. So we do the gross profit, right, which just pays for our business to basically exist. And the net profit is usually what owners would siphon off for themselves as part of
Time 0:39:28
Contrasting Patriarchal Approaches
- Castor Troy and Sean Archer both utilize the patriarchy, but in different ways.
- Archer views his wife and daughter as objects to be protected, demonstrating a control-based mindset that hinders his ability to understand their needs.
- Conversely, Troy exhibits overt sexual aggression towards women throughout the film.
- Both approaches objectify women but through contrasting lenses. Transcript: Frank Capello And then has this really supportive community of international terrorist criminal friends. So it does. It does a really good job of sort of flipping these dynamics on their head and making you look at who is writing these labels and and why they get assigned to these different groups yeah Madeline Pendleton It is really interesting to see too that uh caster troy when he is wearing the sean archer skin suit becomes a better husband and father than sean archer ever was he listens to his wife His not real wife obviously he pays attention to what she needs he prioritizes her the daughter the teenage goth daughter right he protects her from being sexually assaulted from a Date in a car in front of their house and he gives her a knife and is like this is how you defend yourself so in a lot of ways yeah we see that the bad guy is better at moving through community Spaces than this quote unquote good man is. Now, a thing I picked up on politically, though, that was interesting, is that both utilize the patriarchy in different ways. Both are viewing women as objects. The difference is that Sean Archer, our good guy, he is viewing his wife and his daughter as things to be protected, right? It’s a very patriarchal control-based thing. He doesn’t see their humanity. That’s why he’s such a bad husband and father. He can’t pay attention to what they need. He just knows that it’s his duty to protect them as his prized objects, right? But on the flip side, Caster Troy, the
Time 0:40:23
Patriarchy in Face/Off
- Both Sean Archer and Castor Troy utilize the patriarchy, but in different ways.
- Archer views his wife and daughter as objects to be protected, demonstrating a patriarchal control.
- Troy is overtly sexually aggressive towards women.
- The film subtly mocks institutions like the FBI, the US government, and the Church for harboring and protecting bad men, exemplified by Troy’s unchallenged groping of a teenage girl while dressed as a priest. Transcript: Madeline Pendleton Now, a thing I picked up on politically, though, that was interesting, is that both utilize the patriarchy in different ways. Both are viewing women as objects. The difference is that Sean Archer, our good guy, he is viewing his wife and his daughter as things to be protected, right? It’s a very patriarchal control-based thing. He doesn’t see their humanity. That’s why he’s such a bad husband and father. He can’t pay attention to what they need. He just knows that it’s his duty to protect them as his prized objects, right? But on the flip side, Caster Troy, the way he interacts with women throughout the movie is he is just overtly sexually aggressive to all women. There’s actually a funny bit in there that seems to be uh kind of mocking the church because castor troy is dressed up as a priest unbelievable shit it’s a fantastic scene uh and he’s being Vile and grotesque while wearing this like catholic priest outfit to the extent that i he approaches what looks to to me like a teenage girl like a child like a teen definitely a teenage Frank Capello Girl. Yeah. Madeline Pendleton Yeah. And he like gropes her very aggressively and nobody bats an eye as he’s doing this. And to me, that’s a nice little aside where you’re like these institutions, like the institution of the FBI, the institution of the United States, the institution of the Constitution, The institution of the carceral system, the
Time 0:46:07
Narrow Expectations in Mainstream American Society
- Mainstream American society has very narrow expectations for behavior.
- Those outside these expectations are considered pariahs.
- This relates to the MoMA long leash program where the CIA covertly funded abstract expressionist art during the Cold War.
- This was done to counter the USSR’s practical, realistic paintings of workers, promoting a different image of American culture. Transcript: Madeline Pendleton But something I think is interesting is how much it showcases that mainstream American society, there’s a very narrow expectation of how you are to conduct yourself. And if you do not conduct yourself within this narrow expectation, you are a pariah. And this really makes me think of the MoMA long leash program. What’s that? Oh, so the CIA covertly funded abstract expressionist art for years, because it was part of this Cold War technique where, you know, coming out of the USSR, we had these very practical, Realistic paintings of workers doing labor. We had people harvesting
Time 0:46:27
CIA Funding of Abstract Expressionism
- The CIA covertly funded abstract expressionist art during the Cold War.
- This was a strategy to contrast the USSR’s realistic, labor-focused art with the supposed creative freedom of capitalism.
- Artists like Jackson Pollock were unknowingly part of the CIA’s “long leash” program, which distanced them from the agency while they received funding.
- The CIA worked with the New York MoMA to promote this art internationally. Transcript: Frank Capello That? Madeline Pendleton Oh, so the CIA covertly funded abstract expressionist art for years, because it was part of this Cold War technique where, you know, coming out of the USSR, we had these very practical, Realistic paintings of workers doing labor. We had people harvesting wheat. We had people doing farming. So the CIA was like, to challenge this, we are going to fund abstract expressionist art. Like Jackson Pollock was unknowingly a CIA asset. He was on the long leash program with the CIA, which basically just meant there were so many steps in between him and the CIA. He was on such a long leash. He did not know that he was being paid by the CIA to make this art. And the reason the CIA did this, they worked in conjunction with the New York MoMA to spread this agenda. They did these international showcases of abstract expressionist art. The idea was that capitalism
Time 0:53:47
Male Gaze in Face/Off
- Masculine obsession with perception by other men drives the narrative in Face/Off, with women relegated to objects.
- This patriarchal overtone reduces female characters to assets, prizes, or incidental bystanders in the men’s performance for each other.
- The film’s lack of explanation for Caster Troy’s initial assassination attempt on Sean Archer suggests an ongoing, primordial conflict, further emphasizing the male-centric narrative.
- This dynamic reflects a broader societal issue where men’s actions and motivations are primarily driven by their interactions with other men, while women’s roles are minimized. Transcript: Madeline Pendleton I think this is really interesting though like the um it’s like the twitter trend that’s like fellas is it gay too and then it’s just like the most heterosexual thing ever like um there Was one that was like somebody talking about rihanna being pregnant on the cover of a magazine with like her her dude like walking behind her and this guy tweeted it and was just like seems Kind of fruity to be walking behind your woman like that you know and somebody was like fellas is it gay to get Rihanna pregnant um you know but I think it’s like this masculine obsession With how you’re perceived by other men it’s like women don’t even enter your mind as an audience. And that goes along with the patriarchal overtones of the movie. Like the women don’t exist. They are objects to be maneuvered, manipulated, controlled. They are assets. They are prizes to be won. And really, yeah, this is just performance of these men for each other, this singular obsession. And we never learn when this obsession started. We don’t know why Caster Troy tried to assassinate Sean Archer in the beginning of the movie. That’s never explained. For all we know, this vendetta has been going on time in memoriam, right? It’s just always been. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth and Sean Archer and Caster Troy. Idea of good and evil is replicated throughout the movie too. The final fight scene starts in a church and Caster Troy even references it. Like good and evil constantly in conflict throughout history. So they almost are these like apocryphal kind of deities just intended. Elemental. Elemental. Just intended to be obsessed with each other from the moment of creation until one of them dies. But yeah, it is very, very much speaks to like the male gaze, right? The men are performing for each other at all times and the women are incidental bystanders or byproducts.
Time 1:01:22
Misogyny in Face/Off
- Castor Troy’s treatment of women is the only aspect that effectively makes him a villain in the movie ‘Face/Off’.
- In other areas where the filmmakers tried to portray him negatively, such as his blasphemy or cruelty, he comes across as almost likeable.
- The misogyny is presented as the crucial element that prevents the audience from sympathizing with his anti-hero persona.
- Without this element, he would be a fun, likeable character whose desire to blow up LA is even portrayed humorously. Transcript: Madeline Pendleton So I wonder if it’s a necessary part of making the audience hate Caster Troy, because it actually is, to me, the only effective thing that makes him not the anti-hero is his treatment Of women. But if you took all of that away, he’s frankly too likable. Frank Capello Yeah, that’s really true. You’re absolutely right. Madeline Pendleton He ends up being fun, you know, fun, likable guy who just wants to blow up la and even when they present that that that’s his goal to blow up la it is like a joke and a side was like who cares La they’re gonna get what they deserve and you know the audience for this i can only imagine is like like mainstream america outside of la you’re i think they’re supposed to relate to That they’re supposed to be like yeah fuck L.A. Who cares about L.A.? You know? So, yeah, I think that the misogyny is a crucial tool.