So I suppose the thing about this section that most captured my imagination (that's a bit of a stretch, but anyways) is the part where the narrator discovers the bloody chamber itself. Her discovery is opened by a quote from her husband's favorite poet- "There is a striking resemblance between the act of love and the ministrations of a torturer", which seems to suggest that the bloody chamber is an extension of the bed chamber. Furthermore, he has the position of a torturer in both worlds; that of his public image (his mask) and that of his true self which he takes great depths in order to hide. As a 'torturer' he is able to maintain dominance through inflicting pain, an in the bed chamber this 'pain' can be seen as the dishevelment of his young wife's virginity.
This room is described as his 'soul' so it is a reflection of his true self. It is dark, indicating this secret has to be hidden, but it is within the confines of the castle walls (although it has to be reached by a long, winding corridor) so it is still in his 'territory'- it is simply out of the way and is (normally) only accessed by the husband. The "absolute darkness" of the chamber is juxtaposed by the actions of the wife in switching on every light in the castle, which alleviates some of her fear. This may represent the contrast between her world and his, that she welcomes daylight and wants to see everything, while he wants to hide his true self in the dark recesses of his world of the castle.
Tuesday 21 February 2012
Thursday 9 February 2012
Mulvey's visual pleasure and narrative cinema
Laura Mulvey is a feminist film theorist best known for this paper on visual pleasure and narrative cinema which has an emphasis on psychoanalysis. Frankly I don't believe a word of it, but that's psychoanalysis for you. So according to Mulvey a patriarchal society has structured the form of film. In narrative cinema, the women portrayed represent a castration threat with their lack of a penis. Furthermore, it is because they cannot escape this position of causing men to have a fear of this castration that they develop a desire to have a penis- 'penis envy' Freud calls it. Mulvey goes on to say that the erotic aspect of cinema is found through scopophilia, which is when the audience experiences the pleasure of looking, rather than being the object looked at. This is where people begin to be treated as objects as has a tendency to lead to perversion as some may gain sexual gratification from watching a person and treating them as an object.
The separation of the film and the audience plays for the audience a voyeuristic fantasy and the position of the audience watching the film allows exhibitionism where the film being watched is 'repressed' by the viewing audience. Mulvey argues that cinema is essentially a primordial wish for pleasurable looking and that film shows a love affair/ despair relationship between image and self-image (in other words, what we are versus what we see in the mirror). There is an identification with the on-screen image, though there is also the experience whereby the erotic identity of the image becomes separated from the image itself.
Mulvey mentions that women in film basically have an exhibitionist role and that men have an active role while women remain passive. The 'show-girl' imagery signifies male desire, which is found in many films where the hero/heroine develop a romantic relationship; Mulvey points out that in certain 'buddy movies' there is a case for homosexual eroticism between the lead male roles so no such distraction interferes with the story. Nevertheless, women are seen as the erotic object for both the characters and the audience as the (male) audience are able to link themselves with the power of the male protagonist since his power is similar to the active power of the erotic look. As a result, the audience are able to indirectly possess the heroine, as the hero does when they develop a romantic relationship. There is a view that, as the female figure represents the castration complex the male unconscious wants to escape this fear through sadism, by investigating the woman (if you know what I mean) or by developing a fetish by giving the female star cult status. There is an example of this in the films of the German actress Marlene Dietrich, where the erotic imagery occurs whilst the love interest is off-screen.
Examples of scopophilic eroticism can be seen in some of Hitchcock's films, where the erotic drives of the male characters put them in compromised situations. The power of the male characters is evoked by the guilt of the woman because of the castration complex and the legal right- men are (mostly) seen to be on the right side of the war (eg. a policeman in Vertigo) whilst the women are on the wrong side.
Overall, women are passive raw material for the active gaze of men. As a representation they signify castration which can be circumvented by voyeurism or developing this scopophilic view. As cinema has the effects of the camera and distance between the audience and what it sees, the erotic look towards a scene can be varied or exposed, which makes it different from the more direct viewing of theatre, strip-tease and shows. Cinema meets the neurotic needs of the male ego, though the verisimilitude presented by the camera deny the erotic look of the audience the intrinsic power. Additionally the camera's ability to be able to conceal the castration fear and display a direct erotic image freezes the look of the spectator and prevents him from distancing himself from the image he sees.
The separation of the film and the audience plays for the audience a voyeuristic fantasy and the position of the audience watching the film allows exhibitionism where the film being watched is 'repressed' by the viewing audience. Mulvey argues that cinema is essentially a primordial wish for pleasurable looking and that film shows a love affair/ despair relationship between image and self-image (in other words, what we are versus what we see in the mirror). There is an identification with the on-screen image, though there is also the experience whereby the erotic identity of the image becomes separated from the image itself.
Mulvey mentions that women in film basically have an exhibitionist role and that men have an active role while women remain passive. The 'show-girl' imagery signifies male desire, which is found in many films where the hero/heroine develop a romantic relationship; Mulvey points out that in certain 'buddy movies' there is a case for homosexual eroticism between the lead male roles so no such distraction interferes with the story. Nevertheless, women are seen as the erotic object for both the characters and the audience as the (male) audience are able to link themselves with the power of the male protagonist since his power is similar to the active power of the erotic look. As a result, the audience are able to indirectly possess the heroine, as the hero does when they develop a romantic relationship. There is a view that, as the female figure represents the castration complex the male unconscious wants to escape this fear through sadism, by investigating the woman (if you know what I mean) or by developing a fetish by giving the female star cult status. There is an example of this in the films of the German actress Marlene Dietrich, where the erotic imagery occurs whilst the love interest is off-screen.
Examples of scopophilic eroticism can be seen in some of Hitchcock's films, where the erotic drives of the male characters put them in compromised situations. The power of the male characters is evoked by the guilt of the woman because of the castration complex and the legal right- men are (mostly) seen to be on the right side of the war (eg. a policeman in Vertigo) whilst the women are on the wrong side.
Overall, women are passive raw material for the active gaze of men. As a representation they signify castration which can be circumvented by voyeurism or developing this scopophilic view. As cinema has the effects of the camera and distance between the audience and what it sees, the erotic look towards a scene can be varied or exposed, which makes it different from the more direct viewing of theatre, strip-tease and shows. Cinema meets the neurotic needs of the male ego, though the verisimilitude presented by the camera deny the erotic look of the audience the intrinsic power. Additionally the camera's ability to be able to conceal the castration fear and display a direct erotic image freezes the look of the spectator and prevents him from distancing himself from the image he sees.
Tuesday 7 February 2012
Bluebeard in exactly 314 words
Bluebeard is a French aristocrat who, though he was immensely wealthy and charming, was feared because of his blue beard. He had been married a few times before to young, beautiful women who had all died suddenly, so the local girls became afraid of his ‘bad luck’ and would not marry him, despite his charms. Eventually, he asked a neighbour if he could marry one of her two daughters, but both were reluctant to go near him. However, he managed to persuade the youngest sister to visit him at the castle where he laid out a tremendous feast which helped persuade her to marry him. Shortly after her arrival at the castle he told her he must leave the country for a few weeks, but gave her the keys to every room in the house- including one to a small room beneath the castle which he made her swear that she will not enter. She is overcome with curiosity to find out what is in this room, and (despite her sister’s warnings) opens the door. She finds the bodies of Bluebeard’s wives hanging on hooks and drops the key onto the blood-soaked floor, staining it with blood that will not wash off. She tells her sister and they decide to flee, but Bluebeard returns and sees the blood on the key which proves his wife had disobeyed him. He immediately resolves that he must kill her but before beheading her he allows her fifteen minutes to say her prayers, which allowed time for her two brothers to arrive. Just before Bluebeard reaches the sisters with his axe, the brothers enter the castle and kill him. His wife, as his only heir, inherits his vast wealth which she uses to pay a dowry for her sister, her brothers’ captains’ commissions and to marry a good man who makes her forget her terrible encounter with Bluebeard.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)