Laura Mulvey- Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema 1975: Task 2

I used this in my essay last year and was very pleased to see we were studying this piece in today's class as I'm passionate about feminist theory and think it will be interesting to revisit this text and see other people's analysis.

Diegesis- narrative
Verisimilitude- appearance of genuine/ true

A Political Use of Psychoanalysis
First paragraph arises the issue of the pre-existing patterns of fascination, the male gaze is used as a political tool.
The second paragraph focuses on the obsession with the phallus, the idea the woman is the bearer, not the maker or the meaning in terms of linguistic command imposed on them by males who may live out their fantasies and obsessions.
The third looks at the vagina, the sexing of the female infant and the overriding fact that we're stuck in this patriarchal mindset and will find it hard to analyse when stuck like this.

Destruction of pleasure as a radical weapon 
New cinema has the ability to change, politically and aesthetically avant-garde cinema is possible.
It then goes onto focus on the holywood style, the dominant patriarchal order and coded erotic language. "Analysing beauty or pleasure destroys it". Revealed intention of the article

Pleasure in looking/ fascination with the human form
Look into Freud's theory of Voyujrisitic scophophilia- activities of children, their desire to see and make sure of the private and forbidden- active. The narcissistic form then develops which is the perversion.

Speaking about how this is relevant nowadays I brought up how the new BladeRunner is supposedly sexist, not that I've seen it but it's said all the women are sex robots or we see die horrific graphic deaths, with all the lead roles as men, this coincides with Mulvey when she says that women often break up the story line, roles such as strippers/ show girls, this is done fluidly and cunningly without interrupting the flow of the diegisis.
Developing on this point men secure their power, ego and authority by controlling and positioning the women into something less then a man: 'her lack of a penis, implying a threat of castration'. Men are scared of the female form so they diminish into to something erotic that they can control.

We then looked at texts:
Storey J. (2001) Cultural Theory and Popular Culture
A reflection of Laura Mulvey's text, a condensed text book version highlighting key points and simplifying theory.

Dyer  R (1979) Stars
Queer writer based on the eroticisation of the male body, he offers a counterargument without contrasting Mulvey, more to fill the gaps which are left when looking at the male and offers suggestions for the female gaze, and sexualisation of the male form. He also looks at masochistic (punishing the self) as opposed to just sadistic that Mulvey focuses on (punishing others). The look is disabled by pointing desires inwards in a masochistic fashion, Dietrich added her 'idiosyncratically cool sensuality which represented her indifference to male desire.' So the power is not completely given unto the women but she's certainly not punished or victimised.

1. Her use of psychoanalysis as a feminist critical tool

She uses psychoanalysis as a political weapon, women are given power through this threat of castration and she also uses it to understand oppression as many feminists completely deny this and link it to the patriarchy.

2. The opportunity in contemporary cinema for more radical forms that break away from patriarchal influence

There is great opportunity for modern cinema to deviate from patriarchal influence however this has always proved quite difficult, for example the recent release of the new BladeRunner, the only women featured are killed off early or sex robots. 

Emerging from classic Hollywood cinema

3. Explanation of scopophilia ... how it relates to cinema

Scopophilia is the sexual pleasure derived chiefly from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity; voyeurism. is especially relevant in cinema, the cinema theatre itself offers viewers anonymity, a room desired to be for gazing. Therefore when women are represented as a sexual object throughout cinema, audiences often can't help but encourage scopophilia. 

4. Explanation of narcissistic pleasure ... how it relates to cinema

Narcasstic scopophilia is developed through voyuerisitic scopophilia and relates to the identification of shape, ego of libido. It demands "identification of the ego with the object on the screen through the spectator's fascination with and recognition of his like".

5. Summary of the two forms of visual pleasure ... and a discussion of the castration threat

Scopophilia is a function of sexual instincts, whilst Narcassistic Scopophilia is developed through constiution of the ego and narcassim, however both overlay each other; this was crucial for Freud. This is due to both visual pleasures being aims in "indifference to perceptual reality", construction of the image, eroticized and a mockery of empirical objectivity.

The Castration Threat is offered by women to due to her physical lack of a penis as well as through the offering of her child into the symbolic. It is all about the male fear, castration complex arises from the moment of birth. While cinema explores identification through voyuerism and narcissism through ego libido, it will always come back to this castration complex, while the women may be "pleasurable in form, can be threatening in content, and it is woman as representation/ image that crystallizes this paradox." 

6. The roles that men and women play in cinema and spectatorship - active/male, passive/female

Men play the active role in spectatorship while women are passive, male sexual desire is played out and represented as women are presented in a sexual objectified manner, she "holds the look" and plays up to this role suited to satisfying the male gaze throughout mainstream cinema. For instance the utilisation of the 'show girl', the use of such allows not only an erotic object for those within screenplay, but also means of satisfying the male gaze of the audience. 

7. The constant threat of castration and how the male unconscious relinquishes it.

The male unconscious relinquishes the threat of castration by 'demystifying her mystery' the female, thus having sex with her to uncover the original trauma. The other means of doing so is they turn their fear into fetish, fetishising the thing they fear (women as they offer fear of castration) enables them to yet again take control of the situation transforming the threat. The first avenue is named voyeurism which has associations with sadism, the pleasure is demonstrated through guilt which is linked immediately with castration, asserting control and subjecting the guilty party through punishment. The latter is fetishistic scopophilia which builds up the physical beauty of the object so it can be transformed into satisfaction. 

8. 2 x case studies - Sternberg and Hitchcock

Sternberg once said he would rather his films be projected upside down  "so that story and character involvement would not interfere with the spectator's undiluted appreciation of the screen image." He introduces the fetish as the powerful male gaze is broken, the woman is at her most erotic when her on screen love has gone. Sternberg further plays down the illusion of screen depth, using foliage, lighting and so forth to give the screen a one-dimensional aesthetic, his films demand the presence of a woman, notably actress Dietrich. The beauty of women as an object is no longer the bearer of guilt, she's shown through close -ups as content of the film for the spectators gaze. Stenberg argues his stories are irrelevant, time lines are never linear and are more lighthearted, focused on misunderstanding as opposed to conflict.

On the other hand you have Hitchcock explores the side of voyeurism as the male protagonist does see exactly what the audience sees. He utilises identification process to portray women through scopophilic eroticism, he's also never been shy of expressing his love of voyeurism; his heroes Vertigo a policeman and Marnie a wealthy dominant male embody his love of law and order, despite the fact both men end up in compromised situations due to their own sexual drive. As well in Rear Window the level of voyuerism is somewhat uncomfortable and outright perversion is barely hidden, while the woman is on the wrong side of the law and threatened with punishment. This male power is backed by law and established guilt of the woman evokes castration fear. Character Jeffrie becomes somewhat a member of the audience as Lisa's exhibitionism is watched by the audience and male protagonist who is solidified in his role as he's a photo journalist and as is she thanks to her obsession with dress and style. The roles are inbuilt and explored without shame. 

9. Summary

Laura Mulvey's study into visual pleasure and narrative cinema highlights many issues still apparent in modern day cinema, the Male Gaze is definitely still relevant, women are sexualised throughout modern cinema. Mulvey highlights through this research that women can be subject to two different kinds of scopophilia, voyueristic and fetish.