The Gaze in Freudian Terms - Movie Review Example

Part A Essay The Gaze For this particular essay lesson, I have decided to answer question number 2 which asks “Some people have felt that the staging of an event such as this one is deceptive and unjustified. They believe that spectators’ trust is being exploited and that some explanation should be provided. How do you feel about this? Why?” I feel that this question deserves to be answered because if the way the so-called “civilized” people in the video were acting towards the native Amerindians. I strongly agree with the belief that there is a trust being exploited in this video but it is not the trust of the viewers that is being violated and the explanation of the actions of the people who staged the exhibit does is not required for the spectators but rather for the natives who were placed in the cage. They were put in display like wild animals in a cage, their human rights were violated as they were viewed like specimens meant for study and ridicule. It is my belief that they did not understand why they were offered to be brought on tour and what was expected of them. What I saw in their eyes translated into a gaze of sadness and question. The native man who was being laughed at by the children was not reacting because he was hurt emotionally. Had the cage no divided him from the ridicule of the spectators, I bet that he would have done something about it. On the other hand, the start of the video also showed that The natives were also just as interested in the spectators as they were of them. Therefore, the gaze worked both ways. However, since their language is one not known nor understood by us, they could actually have been communicating with each other through their exchanged glances. Part B Essay: The Gaze in Freudian Terms When one watches the film clip of the movie “The Gaze”, one cannot help but be drawn into the various lessons we have studied in class pertaining to visual studies. Sigmund Freud developed a few psychoanalytical theories that could be used to best discuss this concept and message that the writer, producer, and director of the documentary film tried to convey. By opting to view the film as part of the pleasure visually looking in on the people in the cage, one is able to observe and understand the concept of the fascination with the human form one is exposed to both sides of the coin. In a sense, the viewer allows himself to view the events in the film from the point of view of the spectator and then again, from the point of view of the people in the cage. Thus allowing for a closer study of the psychoanalytical concepts presented in the film. The video clip itself draws its viewers into two modes of film viewership. The concept of Voyeurism and Fetishism. The Voyeurism concept in the film is used to represent the “castration anxiety” that the native male in the cage may have been feeling as he was jeered at, gazed, and observed by the public. Leaving him feeling helpless and less of a man if he had been viewed in his native setting sans the steel bars that separated him from those around him. He had no control over the situation and was left with a sense of guilt for being different from whose gaze he perceived to be superior to his. (Chandler, D. 2000) The gaze that the viewers set upon the woman though was not one of judgment or question as she was still viewed as a sexual object. The woman in the cage was portrayed as the stabilizing force that was necessary for the psychological stability of her male partner in their current setting. In the point of view of the spectators, the woman was the sexual object that brought a semblance of normalcy to a situation and a culture that they did not understand and had questions about thus objectifying the woman in the process. The concept of Scopophilia as presented by Freud is used in this film to depict the gaze of the people both in and outside of the cage as a reverse formation. In essence, Freuds definition of Scopophilia as one that continues to exist “... as the erotic basis for pleasure in looking at another person as object. At the extreme, it can become fixated into a perversion, producing obsessive voyeurs and Peeping Toms, whose only sexual satisfaction can come from watching, in an active controlling sense, an objectified other.” (Gallese, S. 2009). The above definition of Scopophilia clearly plays out in this particular documentary film the viewers watch the native Ameridians in their cages, going about what they perceive to be their normal life routine, although what is normal about their actions in the cage remain questionable, and using the visual representations as their definition of the life of the people they were watching. The viewers are part of the voyeurs who are the predators in the situation that was set up. This particular cinematic concept is, just like the Scopophilia theory of Freud, one of the most relevant concepts to use in discussing this documentary. Indeed, there is a pleasure to be derived from ridiculing and watching the people behind the cage. It is almost a primal urge that drives the curiosity of everyone when it comes to things that they do not understand or seems forbidden in concept such as the native Amerindians whose way of life, actions, and clothing are strange to those from the “civilized” world. The people in the video, based upon this concept, show the beginnings of a perversion that could be considered as bordering on the extreme. Whether they know it or not, the viewers have an erotic basis for their excitement at viewing the people. This is because the natives in the cage are naked and feeding the unknown phallic instincts of human beings. They are viewed as an object by unintentional voyeurs who gain a sense of satisfaction from viewing the caged individuals and making eye contact with them. Thus creating a sense of power and control over them. Using this concept, we come to understand how the gaze as depicted in the film becomes more than just a simple film that presents a group of natives in a cage, being viewed by judgmental people. It is a study of the concept of the unfairness of life. These natives were taken from their natural environment and brought on tour in the guise of “teaching” the others in the world about their own. Instead, they are actually unknowing victims who were placed in a steel cage to be viewed, ridiculed, and studied by those who consider themselves above them. In this instance they start to become unwilling victims who have lost their voices. Forcing them to resort to eye contact with the public and amongst themselves in order to try and get their message and sentiments across. Sadly, this oftentimes fall upon deaf ears and unfeeling spectators. The presentation of this documentary is less cinematic than the mainstream films thus offering a straightforward look into what is actually happening to the people int he cage. There is no sugar coating the events and turning it into some sort of fairytale. based on the cinematic and Freudian concepts mentioned previously, the film now becomes a dark study in contrasts without the isolation that glossy Hollywood films present. The narrative is clear in its message, the concepts chosen for use in the film were spot on. All the concepts used in the film perfectly convey the message of the film makers. It provokes the viewer into deeper study and thought of the events as depicted in the film. Making one ask the question: “What if it were me in there?” Sources Chandler, D. (2000). Laura mulvey on film spectatorship. Notes On The Gaze. Retrieved from http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.html Gallese, S. (2009). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. Brown. Retrieved from https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/ MarkTribe/Visual+Pleasure+and+Narrative+Cinema Read More