Saar Gives Paper Colloquium
On Saturday, February 24, Kara Saar presented a paper at the 20th and 21st Century French and Francophone Studies International Colloquium, held in Philadelphia. Her presentation was titled “Faire la meuf: Girlhood and Liberation in Emmanuelle Nicot’s Dalva.” Dalva (2022) is the first feature film by director Emmanuelle Nicot, and tells the story of a 12-year-old girl rescued from her abusive father, and forced to re-negotiate her childhood. Kara examined how Dalva troubles normative notions of childhood and victimhood, as the protagonist and viewers, alike, are impelled to reconsider imposed narratives of power, abuse, and femininity. In addition, Kara proposed that Nicot’s cinematographic technique is crucial in reframing abuse, re-appropriating classic operations of the male gaze as a way to resist sensationalizing sexual trauma.
Kara is a PhD student in our French Language & Literature program.