Scopophilia in Movie and Photography - Case Study Example

Introduction What is scopophilia and "voyeurism"? In case the latter concept is referred to in the dictionary it can be seen that there are close connections between these two concepts. In case a person wants to receive a sexual stimulation in the process of viewing or considering something he is a sexually charged person, who satisfies his fantasies and real intentions by viewing. In case we remove the word "sexual" from this description, we can see quite a different picture (Brennan, 1992). We can just observe something and to be stimulated for making some actions. In the majority of cases these descriptions are relevant to the American mass culture of 70s-80s, actually, as they are connected with the modern culture of XXI century too. People all over the world have been glued to their TV sets since 1950 (Blazer, 2006). Nowadays we are glued to our computers. But the "glue" is the same: these are sexually attractive female images. Of course, male images can be also met, but not so often in comparison with the former (Ben-Shaul, 2007).  In accordance with psychiatrists "scopophilia" stands for obtaining pleasure from looking at something sexually attractive. Further on we will focus our attention of scopophilia in media and movies of 70s-80s and we will develop our considerations on the basis of Freud's analysis of this phenomenon. Scopophilia in media Mulvey claims that "film engenders subjects as either "masculine" through the scopic drive, making them voyeurs in line with their dominant role in our culture, or as  "feminine," as objects of scopophilia, making them exhibitionists who passively invite the  male gaze" (Mulvey 1975). A phenomenon of scopophilia is well-known even nowadays. We are interested in images of naked persons and mass media attracts attention of potential buyers by introducing these images. It should be mentioned however that photographers and movie directors of the past have been also focused on positioning images of sexual images and bodies to attract the audience. Erotic ways of looking and spectacle present a favorable ground for development of attractive creative works, such as photographs and films. The ways of cinema development are interesting for the contemporaries. There is no doubt that in the modern cinema there are more sexual images, but in the past sex was found not in the nakedness, but in the eyes, looks, faces, signs and symbols. Film and photography structure can be analyzed in terms of psychoanalytical theory. In accordance with Mulvey: "a beauty in its exact rendering of the frustration experienced under the phallocentric order. It gets us nearer to the roots of our oppression, it brings an articulation of the problem closer, it faces us with the ultimate challenge: how to fight the unconscious structured like a language (formed critically at the moment of arrival of language) while still caught within the language of the patriarchy" (Mulvey 1975, p. 25). In these words we can see an obvious form of strong claims, when a woman underlines female oppression in the world. Nowadays the same things happen. Mulvey has predicted a situation we can see now. Modern video clips of the pop stars, advertising campaign, films and TV shows are focused on representation of sexual bodies either directly or indirectly. No one cares if it is always appropriate to show sexual and erotic images or no, because at the moment of viewing of a desired sexual object a person releases its inner feelings and emotions (Wallis, 1984). On the example of Hollywood movies it is obvious the way all films satisfy manipulation of visual pleasure. Erotic images were often transformed into the elements of the dominant patriarchal order. There were many depictions of memories and losses in the movies of Hollywood (Mabry, 2001). A formal beauty was the key element of attraction of the audience. Fraud was one of the first, who paid attention to the phenomenon of scopophilia in his "Three Essays on Sexuality". Freud claimed that scopophilia existed separately from sexuality in its general meaning. Fraud underlines that children are involved in the voyeuristic activities and they are interested in hidden and forbidden things. The same happens to grown-ups, when people are interested in sexually attractive images, or when they can think that something is hidden from them. Thus, different modes of eroticism are involved if we think about films with Monroe, Garbo or Dietrich. In these films a female body is considered as a veiled erotic object. Ego libido creates different mechanisms of sexual perception. A woman is a fertile ground for creation of sexual object. In illusionistic narrative film the audience has a perfect chance to create their own fantasies and think about hidden erotic motifs of the given characters. It is obvious that the psychoanalytic background is favourable in development of ideas in this field. The cinema has numerous mechanisms to shift accents of the audience's attention in the films. There is a different voyeuristic potential in films in comparison with other types of art, such as strip-tease or theatre (Mulvey 1975, p. 21). To my mind, one of the biggest advantages is the ability of a viewer to make a pause and to release one's fantasy. The mainstream cinematography creates various cinematic codes and in the relationship with other formative external structures these films create a feeling of external pleasure. The voyeuristic-scopophilic look is one of the key components of a traditional filmic pleasure. This claim was developed by Mulvey in 1975, but even nowadays we can see its appropriateness. The conscience of the viewer should be released and he should have a chance to have a feeling of camera absence. Erotic image on the screen is available and evident for the audience. That is why it is easy to interpret the issue of fetishisation. Female images can be pleasant for the audience and people want to have an option to interpret a given state of events with their own interests (Hobson, 2002). Cindy Sherman is a female photographer, who has managed to develop the game-changing black-and-white strategy and created “Untitled Film Stills” (late 70s). She is a master of self-morphing and she presents different interpretations and visions of extraordinary alter egos and shows multiple identities. These images reflect cultural identities of the modernity. She is the one, who creates the image-saturated culture. Her photos reflect her iconic style. She is a model for her own photos and she wants to show a developing nature of gender (Hoban, 2012). This female photographer underlines an unstable nature of gender development. Both the nature of representation and identity revelation are interesting in the works of Sherman. “Each identity is fluid" and it is changing and there is no doubt about that. For example, on this photo Sherman shows inability of a modern woman to put up with the social pressure exerted on her. In the ‘Film Stills’ Sherman uses cinema for promotion of people's portraying of themselves. A theatrical camera vision is one of the main advantages and distinct features in a creative work of Sherman. Her work is her separate performance. There is both improvisation and theater in her works. Laura Mulvey develops the main concept that in Hollywood cinematography man performs an active role, while women are passive and are subjected to actions and influences of men. Hollywood films were more focused on authoritative role of men. Sherman in her photos uses herself as a model and she underlines her passive subjection to a power of men. Women stand in a passive position, so what is left for them? What kind of observation can experience a woman, actually? Sherman's photography indirectly implements this claims and she reflects a woman' presence on both sides of the camera. Her compositions are focused on spectatorship, issues of identification, the image of a female body and posing a woman as self-portrait subject. Sherman implies more reflexive critique in her creative photographs. Appearance and reality are often in conflict in photos of Sherman. The main ideas of her photos border with sarcasm. On the one hand she shows a passive role of a woman, but at the same time, she acts as a model for her own photos. She unites the following principles in her works: she shows a person's identification and she evokes the audience to think about "subjectivity and gendered processes of identification, cultural memory, and fantasy in postmodern visual culture" (Hoban, 2012). Dianora Niccolini is another famous female photographer, who challenges the world with erotic images of men. Dianora was born in 1936, but she experienced echoes of war. It was very difficult for her to deal with her childhood reminiscences about war. After war she came to America and wanted to work as a photographer, but no one wanted to hire woman as a photographer. She worked as an assistant for famous photographers, but she developed her own unique vision about men and their depiction on photos. Male nudes were unusual at that time. Moreover, her photos reflected as much idealization as possible. Representation of sexual images is more like depiction not of men, but rather of "archetypes….They are like the figures the ancient Greeks placed on their temples to represent the sun god or the god of the oceans. As such, they are mythic embodiments of nature’s powers” (Kirkpatrick, 2011). From this perspective it can be claimed that scopophilia of Nicollini reflected more profound meanings and features then just emphasizing on sexual images. It was focused on representation of a powerful nature and its relation to a power of a male body. At that time it was unusual to idealize a male body and what was the main reason to do that for Niccolini? Supposedly, it was the only way to discard perverted role of woman in the society, which was very tiny and she wanted to positions a female photographer as a creative innovator. Lute ©D Niccolini Another form of scopophilia can be found in cinematography. In the film "Chilly Scenes of Winter" (1979) Charles (John Heard) meets Laura (Mary Beth Hurt) and they experience a storm of emotions. Laura leaves her husband and starts living with Charles. Nevertheless that man does not want to turn her back. There are many moments in this film, when the audience has an opportunity to think about something more and release their fantasy. Exposition of erotic and sexual relations can be seen in depiction of refreshing and fun relations between people, when they could drink a little on the job, or touch a female co-worker, or a woman could invite a man she likes to her house and there was no stress. The director shows to us era of trusted relations. People were not labeled as been psychos from the very beginning. Attention of the audience is paid more to appearance, to a person's jacket and not to his soul (Daley, 2001). It is very attractive for the audience to look at realistic relations at the real course of events. These real characters are universal. Moreover, in the movies with Marilyn Monroe as the leading actress her physical assets were intriguing for males. Even nowadays this woman is an idol of beauty. It is obvious that no one was interested in her talent of actress, because everybody was pleased with her appearance, her tender physical appearance her beautiful face, sensual lips and full breasts. This woman suffered almost all her life, because she wanted to play dramatic roles, but she was always invited to play the roles of sexual objects in different films. She was involved in the patriarchal system and she felt a great oppression.            Conclusion After consideration of different perspectives about reflections of gender issues and scopophilia it is relevant to refer to Laura Mulvey's essay again: "In a world ordered by sexual unbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy unto the female figure, which is styled accordingly". Mulvey claims that photographers and directors intend to develop a concept of "to-be-looked-at-ness" (Mulvey 1975, p. 19). Mulvey argues that males develop modern movies and they release their heterosexual potential there. A heterosexual viewer has a chance to satisfy his needs and desires while watching these types of films. Women like these films also, but they imagine themselves to be male viewers. Scopophilia for women is relevant in case the male is a passive subject, but very often everything happens vice versa. Males have been always dominant in their ability to look. There are a few films and photos, when women can be satisfied with a good quality scopophilia, because women are more often sexual objects then men. Males consider women very aggressively and sexual looks of women they need underline only erotic and sexual side of women. References Ben-Shaul, N., 2007. Film: The Key Concepts. New York: Berg. Blazer, S. M., 2006. Rear Window Ethics: Domestic Privacy versus Public Responsibility in the Evolution of Voyeurism. The Midwest Quarterly, 47(4), 379+. Brennan, T., 1992. The Interpretation of the Flesh: Freud and Femininity. London: Routledge. Chilly Scenes of Winter, 1979. [online]. ScopophiliaMovieBlog. Available at: http://scopophiliamovieblog.com/tag/obscure-movies/[Accessed December 29, 2012] Daley, C., 2001. The Body Builder and Beauty Contests (1). Journal of Australian Studies, (71), 55+. Hoban, C., Feb. 14, 2012. The Cindy Sherman Effect [online]. Available at: http://www.artnews.com/2012/02/14/the-cindy-sherman-effect/ [Accessed December 29, 2012] Hobson, J., 2002. Viewing in the Dark: Toward a Black Feminist Approach to Film. Women's Studies Quarterly, 30(1/2), 45+. Ingersoll, E. G., 2001. Desire, the Gaze and Suture in the Novel and the Film: The Remains of the Day. Studies in the Humanities, 31+. Kirkpatrick, C., Nov. 29, 2011. Of Myth and Men: The Photography of Dianora Niccolini. [online]. Available at: http://www.pwponline.org/blog/2011/11/29/of-myth-and-men-the-photography-of-dianora-niccolini/ [Accessed December 29, 2012] Mabry, R., 2001. Fighting Fire with Fire: Reclaiming Phallocentric Conventions in Feminine Costume Dramas. West Virginia University Philological Papers, 47, 107+. Mulvey, L., 1975.Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. [online]. Available at:http://imlportfolio.usc.edu/ctcs505/mulveyVisualPleasureNarrativeCinema.pdf [Accessed December 29, 2012] Wallis, B. (Ed.). (1984). Art after Modernism: Rethinking Representation. New York: Museum of Contemporary Art. Retrieved from http://www.questia.com Read More