Alfred Hitchcocks Rear Window Film Studies Essay Using Freud's thoughts, Mulvey insists on the idea that the images, characters, plots and stories, and dialogues in films are inadvertently built on the ideals of patriarchies, both within and beyond sexual contexts. Its ironic that Scottie Ferguson in Vertigo is presented as an accomplished detective but in the opening scene he lets the criminal get away and is presented as more and more inept as the movie goes on. A Feminist Introduction to the Humanities, p. 66-81. Doesnt that idea fundamentally go against the wish-fulfillment that Hollywood strives to satisfy? In all of her scenes, Midge is displayed as more capable than Scottie. (1953) Some reflections on the ego. Mulveys work has been overshadowed by this single piece of youthful polemic (the author was in her early thirties on publication) but Visual Pleasure does highlight issues of concern that continue to run through her subsequent work. As soon as Judy Barton is introduced into the narrative, matters only become all the more disheartening. Thedifficulty of interpretation would appear to be the ultimate impossibility of combining theory and practice. [1] Although Freud regarded castration anxiety as a universal human experience, few empirical studies have been conducted on the topic. : 261). Is it at all possible that a film made about straightforward, honest, hard-working, capable, independent, diligent, creative women who dont get into any kind of trouble or have any drama in their lives, because they are so sensible that they avoid it all, would be just dull and not dramatic? : xiv). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema Laura Mulvey Furthermore, Mulvey argues that cinematic identifications are gendered, structured along sexual difference. Queer theory, such as that developed by Richard Dyer, has grounded its work in Mulvey to explore the complex projections that many gay men and women fix onto certain female stars (e.g., Doris Day, Liza Minnelli, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland). [8], To feel so powerless can be detrimental to an individual's mental health. After this episode occurs with the portrait, Midge clearly feels remorse for what she does, as she gets angry at herself as soon as Scottie has left. She also incorporates the works of thinkers including Jacques Lacan and meditates on the works of directors Josef von Sternberg and Alfred Hitchcock. [8] Because of unconscious thoughts, as theorized in the ideas of psychoanalysis, the anxiety is brought to the surface where it is experienced symbolically. While Mulvey uses a seemingly complex psychoanalytic structure to explain the objectification of women, not only within the narrative but also within the stylistic codes of Hollywood film-making, it strikes me that her use of the term scopophiliais given too much weight, since Freud himself never really discusses the idea in much detail. This can also tie in with literal castration anxiety in fearing the loss of virility or sexual dominance. Laura Mulvey, Male Gaze and the Feminist Film Theory Foucault Judys fate is doomed to repeat itself in a world where drastic change is ultimately impossible. viii 3) Maurice Merleau-Pontys (1962, 1968) phenomenological concept of body image: not only a map of the material body but, like Freuds interpretation, a psychical representation of the body. She sums up her project in Death24x a Second thus: The cinema combines two human fascinations: one with the boundary between life and death and the other with mechanical animation of the inanimate, particularly the human figure (2006: 11). As regards camera work, the camera films from the optical as well as libidinal point of view of the male character, contributing to the spectators identification with the male look. Hitchcocks fetishistic need to mould such strong, morally upstanding men-folk in his films whilst literally rubbing dirt into the faces of anyone with a hemline is just dastardly. This anxious call to the real is a reflection of Mulvey s roots in second-wave feminism and the direct action of the womens movement in the 1970s and her own desire to bridge the gap between cinema theory and practice. In 1991, Mulvey returned to filmmaking with Disgraced Monuments, which she co-directed with Mark Lewis. Castration anxiety is an overwhelming fear of damage to, or loss of, the penisa derivative of Sigmund Freud's theory of the castration complex, one of his earliest psychoanalytic theories. For Mulvey, then, cinema functions much like the speech of the analysand on the psychoanalysts couch: what we see on the screen can be interpreted as containing a latent meaning that reflects the desires and problems of that cinemas contemporary society. Rather than examining the details of her argument in this book, which are perhaps even less clearly formulated than in her other episodic works, it may be worth noting Mulvey s rather world-weary tone and her emphasis on death. hooks, b. The films discomfort with active female characters is only strengthened when one takes into consideration the duplicitous Madeleine/Judy. The Artifice is an online magazine that covers a wide spectrum of art forms. [17] Deceiving Lilith into believing newborn babies were a girl letting the boy's hair grow and even dressing him in girl clothes were said to be the most effective means to avoid her harm, until they were ritually circumcised on the eighth day of life as part of a covenant with God. I find that generally summarizes my feelings on much of Hitchcocks body of work, many of which are some of my favorite films on the level of purely being wonderful works of cinema, but also because they are so interesting to analyze and discuss. It is under the construction of patriarchy that Mulvey argues that women in film are tied to desire and that female characters hold an "appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact". "[16] These stills, larger reproductions of celluloid still-frames from the original reels of movies, became the basis for Mulvey's assertion that even the linear experience of a cinematic viewing has always exhibited a modicum of stillness. Although she is expressing her willingness to be passive, her means are too active, and so Scottie outright rejects her, even though they share a romantic past. The fact that a majority of movies are directed by men. Her stated aim in Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinemais not only to analyse the way in which pleasure has been organized and used by Hollywood in the service of patriarchy, but to destroy that pleasure (despite any lingering sentimental regret for the enjoyment that cinema had previously afforded), and not only to destroy past pleasure but to make way for a total negation of the ease and plenitude of the narrative fiction film This rebellion will transcend outworn or oppressive forms and will conceive a new language of desire (ibid). WebMulvey connects the situation and placement of the viewer within the cinema back to Freuds castration complex, relating to childrens fascination, voyeurism and instincts of sexuality. Before the emergence of VHS and DVD players, spectators could only gaze; they could not possess the cinema's "precious moments, images and, most particularly, its idols," and so, "in response to this problem, the film industry produced, from the very earliest moments of fandom, a panoply of still images that could supplement the movie itself," which were "designed to give the film fan the illusion of possession, making a bridge between the irretrievable spectacle and the individual's imagination. Schwartz, Bernard J. Likewise, the male gaze is the filter through which women are viewed in film and are styled accordingly in order to please the desires of the objectifying male subject (62). This view does not acknowledge theoretical postulates put forward by LGBTQ+ theorists -and the community itself- that understand gender as something flexible. Another point of criticism over Mulveys essay is the presence of essentialism in her work; that is, the idea that the female body has a set of attributes that are necessary to its identity and function and that is essentially other to masculinity. a good read. Alfred Hitchcock, in my opinion, was not only a master of suspense but also of satire. His women were multifaceted, as opposed to the empty headed pretties that were all the rage at the time. How can a supporting female character be more competent than our heroic male protagonist? For instance, she writes in 1989: As time passes and the historical gap between the films produced by the studio system and now, I feel that I overemphasized Hollywoods transparency and verisimilitude, and underestimated its trompeIoeil quality and its propensity to flatten the signified into the signifier(ibid. WebAccording to Mulvey, the female cinematic figure is an indispensable presence, yet a paradoxical one. Castration anxiety is the fear of emasculation in both the literal and metaphorical sense. In the later films at least they tend to be a seriously creepy lot, thanks to the depth of performances he got from the likes of Grant (going upstairs with a glass of milk, with a light in it, for Joan Fontaine, or pimping Ingrid Bergman) and Stewart (almost psychotic in his manipulation of Kim Novak). Castration Anxiety Freud, however, believed that the results may be different because the anatomy of the different sexes is different. That simple photo may say quite a lot. [7] As previously stated, the fear of castration is solved through fetishism, but also through the narrative structure. Mulvey is best known for her essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", written in 1973 and published in 1975 in the influential British film theory journal Screen. [1985]), is to a large extent dedicated to the skilled and satisfying manipulation of visual pleasure (Mulvey 1989: 16). [8], In another article related to castration anxiety, Hall et al. : 11). Prenez soin de vous [2] In Freud's theory it is the child's perception of anatomical difference (the possession of a penis) that induces castration anxiety as a result of an assumed paternal threat made in response to their sexual activities. The power imbalance between them is as disconcerting ever and perhaps even more so now since this is who Judy really is and not a part she is playing. I find the extrapolation of this so called male gaze idea being to objectify women and fear of castration more-or-less over-simplified nonsense at least as it applies to the character of Scottie Ferguson in Vertigo. This leads her to the conclusion that, since she is interested in the cinemas ability to materialise both fantasy and the fantastic, the cinema is phantasmagoria, illusion and a symptom of the social unconscious (ibid. In Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Mulvey characterizes the viewer of cinema as being caught within the patriarchal order and, in accordance with a certain feminist identity politics, postulates an alienated subject (ibid,:16) that exists prior to the establishment of such an order. [13], Additionally, Mulvey is criticized for not acknowledging other than white spectators. Male Gaze and Visual Pleasure in Laura Mulvey | SpringerLink