A brief summary of this essay by Laura Mulvey and feminist film theorist.
I. Introduction :
A. Political Use of Psychoanalysis
·Use of psychoanalytic theory as a political weapon to understand patriarchial influence on Cinema.
The woman is tied to the place of “bearer of meaning” instead of “maker of meaning”.
B. Destruction of Pleasure as a Radical Weapon
Pleasure in looking-manipulation of visual and challenging
Breaking the coding of erotic language in cinema
A new language of desire needs to be constructed
II. Pleasure in Looking/Fascination with the human form
Scopophilia
Taking other people as subjects and subjecting them to controlling and curious gaze
The ego is such that this is its instinct and basis for erotic pleasure
Voyeuristic separation: A sense of separation from others in the dark auditorium provides voyeuristic position
Repression of exhibitionism and desire are projected on to the performer.
Fascination with likeness and recognition
The ideal ego is represented and that leads to misrecognition.
The love and despair between image and self-image
Recognition/misrecognition and identification- subjectivity takes form; “I”
Cinema creates temporary loss of ego and at the same time reinforces the ego
Two structures of looking: active scopophilia (separation of erotic identity of subject from the object on screen)-function of sexual instincts- and identification of the ego with the object- function of ego libido.
III. Woman as image and Man as the bearer of the look
Pleasure of looking split into : active/male and passive/female
Woman as an erotic object –male fantasy projected on female body
The visual presence of woman is used to ignite erotic contemplation but has no part to play in the storyline per se
Erotic object for characters within the scene and for spectators.
Its representative of power- his body cannot be sexually objectified- man’s role as active - controls the film- and thus the films fantasy is controlled by him.
The spectator equals the male movie star (perfect/ideal/complete)with their ideal ego (just like how they confront their ideal ego in the mirror stage).
The male protagonist articulates the look and creates the action.
Camera techniques, camera movements, editing (realism) all aid in creating the male gaze
The woman is represented in isolation, sexualised and on display-in relation to the male he possess her/ exclusive to his control or power only- she then loses her glamour; “show girl”.
Films- ‘Only angels have wings’ ‘To have and not to have’
Sternberg- pictorial is more important than the narrative. Thus, image and what gets represented via that image becomes very crucial in terms of this critique.
Hitchcock-plots oscillating between voyeurism, fetishistic fascination and scopophilic eroticism. Film- Rear Window. The Hitchcock hero is the symbol of patriarchal super-ego. Thus the spectator identify with this figure acts as an influence causing a moral ambiguity of looking.
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