Contemporary Visual Culture: Representation of Women - Term Paper Example

Contemporary Visual Culture: Representation of Women Introduction Various women artists are up in the fight to overcome the power of male gaze arms in the representation of female sexual and gender identity. Some of the artists include Laura Mulvey, Julie Rrap and Yvonne Todd. To that effect, these artists have produced works such as Laura Mulvey’s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema of 1975; Marjorie Rosen’s Popcorn Venus: Women, Movies and the American Dream of 1973; Molly Haskell’s From Reverence to Rape: the Treatment of Women in Movies of 1974 (Armstrong and Catherine 2006, pp. 23-34; Barnet 1993, pp. 45-51; Mulvey 1989, pp. 46-57). Kjell (1999, pp. 115-128) and Pointon (1994, pp. 25-33) state that these works are simply a reflection of the society’s view by analysing how the women portrayed in film relate to the broader historical context, the stereotypes depicted, the extent to which the women are shown as active or passive beings and the amount of screen time given to them. The early works of Marjorie Rosen and Molly Haskell on representation of women in film was part of a movement to make depictions of women more realistic both in documentaries and narrative cinema. According to Armstrong and Catherine (2006, pp. 23-34), the growing female presence in the film industry was seen as a positive step towards realisation of this goal by drawing attention to feminist issues and putting forth alternatives and more true to life views of women. However, these images are still meditated by the same factors in the tradition film such as moving camera, composition, editing, lighting and all varieties of sound (Barnet 1993, pp. 45-51; Pointon 1994, pp. 25-33). It is important to acknowledge the value of inserting positive representation of women in film but real change would only be realised by considering the role of film in society from the semiotic point of view. It is important to understand the role of women as defined by the male gaze is central to understanding the position of women in society (Armstrong and Catherine 2006, pp. 23-34). A woman’s position in social stratification is defined by her outward manifestation and thus a person is identified first by their gender (Kjell 1999, pp. 115-128). The film is a major form of visual popular culture and it is associated with visual representations and the gaze (Barnet 1993, pp. 45-51). In film, the gaze is basically the outlook of the camera (Kjell 1999, pp. 115-128). The gaze can be used as a powerful discourse because the outlook of the camera fosters identification with the audience. Armstrong and Catherine (2006, pp. 23-34) and Pointon (1994, pp. 25-33) assert that representation of women, particularly in popular culture has been dissected. This dissection in the film allows women artists to realise the extent to which the controlling discourse flows over popular culture and affects every day issues. The foregoing discussion looks at the tenets of Laura Mulvey’s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema and the works of contemporary Australian women artists such as Julia Rrap and Tracey Moffatt. The Tenets of Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema In 1973, Laura Mulvey wrote the ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ which was published in 1975 in the influential British film theory. This essay is what Laura Mulvey is best known for. Psychoanalysis is a major tool to discover the patterns of fascination that have moulded us (Mulvey 1975, pp. 6-18). Psychoanalysis is used as a political weapon to unfold the ways in which the patriarchal society structures the sexual object (Griselda 2006, pp. 56-65). In other words Mulvey’s work is indicative of a psychoanalytical theory as a political weapon and demonstrates the way in which unconsciousness of the patriarchal society has structured the film form. This essay is the starting point on the way in which sexual differences and sexual pleasure is represented by Hollywood cinema style. Laura Mulvey’s essay is quite helpful in understanding what the cinema has been and how it has worked in the past while attempting a theory on a practice which challenges the cinema of the past. Mulvey incorporates the idea of phallocentrism into Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema and she relates this theory to film. Film and cinematography are structured upon the ideas and values of a patriarchy, the world of men (Mulvey 1975, pp. 6-18). In this essay, Mulvey brings out several types of spectatorship that occur viewing a film. According to Mulvey (1975, pp. 6-18), viewing a film involves subconscious engagement in the understanding of male and female roles. Films are viewed in relation to phallocentrism which can be explained by three different ‘looks’ (Mulvey 1975, pp. 6-18). The first ‘look’ refers to the camera as it captures the actual events of the film. The second one describe the nearly act of the audience as one engages in watching the film itself. The third one is termed as the characters that interact with one another throughout the film. From the above analysis, the main idea that brings together these actions is looking. This is seen as an active role of male while the passive role of being looked at is adopted as a female character (Mulvey 1975, pp. 6-18). Mulvey argues on the basis of patriarchy that women in film are tied to desire and that female characters hold an appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact. The female actor is never meant to signify a character that directly has an impact on the outcome of a plot or keep the story line of the film going, but is involved in the film as a way of supporting the male role and bearing the burden of sexual objectification that the man cannot bear (Mulvey 1975, pp. 6-18). Representation of Female Sexual and Gender Identity Cinema is a system of representation that poses the question of the form and manner in which the collective subconscious structures find ways of seeing and looking (Sue 1999, pp. 13-24). Hollywood cinema represents the erotic realm using the language and images of the patriarchal culture. It goes on to satisfy and reinforce the masculine ego and represents the desire of women (Rrap 2006, pp. 46-55). Cinema offers a number of possible sensual pleasures such as love of looking and the opposite of this which is derived from being looked at. The Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality by Sigmund Freud cites scopohilia as one of the components of sexuality (Sue 1999, pp. 13-24). Although scopohilia responds to sexual drives, its existence is independent. It is part of sexuality because it is from it that erotic pleasure is derived and it is also associated with taking people as objects and subjecting them to a curious gaze (Sue 1999, pp. 13-24; Rrap 2006, pp. 46-55). Julia Rrap draws on key feminist ideas and explores how the gaze of the viewer is traditionally constructed as heterosexual and male. This, as supported by Mulvey and Tracey Moffatt, is associated with the construction of femininity as passive and masculinity as active (Rrap 2006, pp. 46-55). Women artists question the long history of images made predominantly by male artists for male patrons and in which women are primarily presented as objects for visual consumption and pleasure. Unlike males, females rarely find themselves in the role of spectator and in the case of a film; they never find themselves in the role of control. According to Rrap (2006, pp. 46-55), women form the spectacle. This is in support of Tracey Moffatt’s idea that women are the objects while men are the subjects (Rrap 2006, pp. 46-55). In film, the camera almost always focuses on the gaze of the male and as a result, it is the male who moves the action while the woman has little access to the camera and /or control of the story line. The ideas and strategies of feminists such as Julia Rrap and Tracey Moffatt have an aim of challenging power relations and hierarchies in the society (Armstrong and Catherine 2006, pp. 23-34). They look at the distinctions between public and private space such as the workplace and at home (Sue 1999, pp. 13-24). They also look at the public and private aspects of the body such as the construction of masculine and feminine as fixed gender concepts; the construction of women as ‘other’ which means marginalised subjects in the society and in history; the rights of control over the body such as reproductive rights. Leornado da Vinci’s drawing of the Vitruvian Man and its image of scientifically ‘perfect’ proportions is considered by women artists as male. Therefore, women’s bodies are considered as ‘other’ for the reason that they are excluded from the idea of perfection (Rrap 2006, pp. 46-55). According to Armstrong and Catherine (2006, pp. 23-34), in the past years, the stereotypical woman in film has always been cast a supporting role for a male heroin. Usually, it is thought that the woman should only be there to exaggerate the strength of the male counterpart. In addition, the female beauty is idealised as a classical form that is forever youthful, virginal and passive (Studlar 1993, pp. 37-67; Sue 1999, pp. 13-24). This depicts Tracey Moffatt’s work as it involves the slickness of advertisements and the mass media and accurately diverse artistic representations of women. The world over, women have been assaulted with images from the media that prescribe what we can and what we should be and to add salt to an injury, girls growing up today face similar representation. Movies and television continue to portray women as weak and helpless beings in the society and this can be interpreted to be a form of oppression. This is evident in Hollywood cinemas which have not progressed much on how they characterise women. Women are stripped to be weak, easily frightened, crying, shrieking, screaming and sobbing (Pointon 1994, pp. 25-33; Rrap 2006, pp. 46-55). In most films, the woman is portrayed as one who cannot throw a strong punch whereas the same films portray the man as the strong one and in most cases, as the protector of the woman (Pointon 1994, pp. 25-33). This draws the line between the two sexes and as it creates different sexual identities. This is clearly indicative of gender oppression and unfortunately, women rebel against this and yet they submit to prevailing messages in the mass media about what a desirable and worthwhile woman should like (Rrap 2006, pp. 46-55). According to Studlar (1993, pp. 37-67) this has resulted to a cultural identity crisis that has been engendered in many women. Conclusion Conclusively, women have been used in the film industry in a negative way and they are made to bear the burden of sexual objectification, a burden that men cannot bear. This has prompted various female artists, notably Laura Mulvey, to critique such acts. The battle is not yet won but the attempts are good enough to inform the film industry on the representation of female sexual and gender identity with a major goal of overcoming the power of male gaze. It is important that women filmmakers work towards more integration of alternative forms and experimental techniques to encourage audiences to critique the seemingly transparent images on the screen and to question the manipulative techniques of filming and editing. There is a dire need for women to re-define themselves in the society in order to begin the reversal of gender oppression. References Armstrong, C & Catherine, Z 2006, Women artists at the millennium, October Books, pp. 23-34. Barnet, S 1993, A short guide to writing about art, 4th ed., New York, Harper Collins, pp. 45-51. Griselda, P 2006, Psychoanalysis and the image, Oxford, Blackwell, pp. 56-65. Kjell, S 1999, “Fatal women,” Journal of the centre of women’s and gender research, Vol. 11, pp. 115-128. Mulvey, L 1975, “Visual pleasure and narrative cinema.” Screen, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp. 6-18. Mulvey, L 1989, Visual and other pleasures, Bloomington, Indiana University Press, pp. 46-57. Pointon, M 1994, History of art: A student’s handbook, 3rd ed., London and New York, Routledge, pp. 25-33. Rrap, J 2006, “Artist’s statement,” Fall out, Exhibition Catalogue, Roslyn Oxley 9 Gallery, Sydney, pp. 46-55. Studlar, G 1993, In the realm of pleasure, Columbia University Press, pp. 37-67. Sue, T 1999, Feminist film theory. A reader, Edinburgh University Press, pp. 13-24. Read More