The Inherent Queerness of Shaker Theology
Cora Allie
Artist Statement
For my final presentation, I chose to do an analysis of The Testament of Ann Lee, which is a film depicting the life of Ann Lee, who was the founder of the Shakers. To present my analysis, I chose to do a video essay because the video format will allow me to easily present clips of the movies that will help support my analysis, and for people who haven't seen the movie, it will give them a better idea of what I am trying to describe. This idea fits into what we have covered in class because this whole class has been about analysis of films about religion and queer and trans identities. Another core part of this class is readings from Melissa Wilcox's Queer Religiosities, in which Wilcox will view some religious traditions through a queer lens. So my goal with this analysis is to show how in The Testament of Ann Lee, the inherent queerness of Shaker theology is shown throughout the film. This format for my final project combines both the skill of analyzing film, and what I have learned from reading Wilcox's Queer Religiosities, to perform my own analysis on queering Shaker theology and showing how that is presented on film. This idea can extend outside the confines of the classroom by being shared on the internet for other people to learn about the Shaker society, and how queer and trans identities fit into Shaker theology. Uploading my final video to Youtube makes it very accessible for anyone to watch it and learn about the Shakers.