Gender and Sexuality in European Cinema - Movie Review Example

Gender and Sexuality in European Cinema Cinema has been greatly utilized to explore and express issues surrounding gender and sexuality. These issues have been considered controversial for a long time. In the 20th century, the controversies about gender and sexuality took to high heights to an extent that there were massive and contagious debates and views resonating across men and women advocating for women liberation and gender equality. The majority of people supported the idea from individuals to governments. The European movie industry took this to a next step and portrayed their views on the matter extensively in their cinema (arts and film). Male dominance and superiority in nearly all the domains of life has been the major agenda behind gender wars. Additionally, how the feminine sexuality, appearance and perceptions among men have stirred the issue of discussion. One Czech filmmaker, Vera Chytilova, came up with a movie plot that hit at the very middle of the controversy. In the feminist cinema, Vera Chytilova’s Daisies became an anesthetically and politically adventurous cinema to be considered among the greatest works on the subject. In film, women have always been shown in a manner that insinuates their capability of giving visual pleasure. In fact, women have been portrayed in the European Films as beings designed to sexually satisfy men; and use their sexuality as a tool for manipulating the way men think and make decisions. Psychoanalytically, there is a manner of which films and cinema can be plotted and produced to induce fascination that is reinforced by the existing and the past fascinations in a person and his social formations (Mulvey 833). The mivie created by Vera Chytilova, Daisies, depicts two women, who are actually sisters, and who have resorted being on their worst behavior: taking food, clothes, men, and other significant things in life for granted. The reason behind their choice is that the world is already spoiled and there is nothing good to treasure in the world. They live by a simple yet incomprehensible attitude that, ‘if you don’t like a thing or the prevailing circumstances, then one should break the rules’. Meaning there is no need to please the world when the world itself never pleases you in the first place. The whole concept behind this plotting is feminism, depicting that the world is not an interesting place for females since it is dominated and ruled by men. There is a common phrase that has been created to express this feeling – ‘it’s a man’s world’. On the other side, it is interesting that men are the keepers of women and are more pleased with the existence of a feminine form. It greatly contrasts the way women feel and this could be the reason misunderstandings have always prevailed between men and women. The European filmmakers, to grab men’s attention and boost film sales, have extensively exploited this phenomenon. There is this fascination men have with the feminine form and that they cannot resist (Mulvey 835). Therefore, the European filmmakers, to get men purchasing the films, have tactfully incorporated this concept. This phenomenon is innate in every man and can be witnessed even in children; they would like to notice the presence or absence of their private parts and how this applies to the members of the opposite sex (Mulvey 835). This is the curiosity that leads to the human sex drive that they finally come to realize, as they get older. The film industry in Europe has therefore optimized the concept of pleasure in looking to attain success in their cinemas. There are numerous explorations of sexual perception in the film Daisies. Traditionally, the female gender has been portrayed to exploit sexual pleasures in order to gain material favors from the male gender. As the girls depicted in the film get more destructive and disruptive, they tend to overlook their rationality and intentionally pull actions that would attract men’s attention. Most of the scenes are set on locations that exhibit the physical (sexual) rather than the intellectual aspects of humanity. The European cinemas are set in enjoyment places that allude or insinuate bodily and sexual functions. The adolescent girls visit their bedrooms six times; they play physically provocative games and eat sexually suggestive foods. These aspects without doubts would get any man glued to the screen while obtaining all the physical pleasure that is inducted from sight. They appear seven times in a banquet hall and restaurants; places associated with enjoyment of food, and indication of the pleasures they intend to obtain from men. They ware bikinis and other sexy clothes and pictured hanging freely about and watching men (Frank 47). The movie entirely depicts the sexual power women posses and hoe they can use it to allure and attract men in a bid to make men do, think and act as they want. A woman’s sexuality therefore is a very requisite part of them that must always be properly maintained and attended to. From the cubicles, the girls attend to their appearance, always making their faces and the pier is used five times to ensure they appear as pretty as possible. The beauty of a woman is therefore depicted in this European film as a vital part if their existence unlike men who are portrayed as hard-workers and women chasers; always not having enough of the female being. This creates a socially vicious circle where one thing leads to another and vice versa, in a never-ending chain of events. For example, when a woman looks beautiful, men will tend to do anything within their capabilities to catch the woman’s attention and keep her as his own. Keeping her means provision, hence, the man will put more efforts in his work to ensure the woman is pleased and held tight by his side. On the other hand, the woman will do anything to look more beautiful in order to make a man admire and lust for her. The more beautiful she looks, the more the man is contented and never tempted to seek for another feminine being elsewhere. This circle goes on and on to what perhaps could be reasoned as the future of humanity. Sexuality and gender differences can be sensitive issues but are also the essence of being humans. Women are the most utilized gender in this scenario. Traditionally, a woman has always been regarded as the most pleasurable to look. In other words, a woman is regarded as the image while men are regarded as the bearer of the glance/look. This is the difference of the active male from the passive female as directed by a world of sexual imbalance (Mulvey 837). Therefore, men tend to be the victims of this set up cinematically. Traditional cinemas were very successful in fulfilling the men’s primordial need for a pleasurable looking using beautiful and sexy women as part of the cast. These women also acted in a manner to evoke sexual or sensual feelings in men. Women are considered as the flowers of the world whose presence is always adored by men. One can only imagine how films could ever make sales without exploiting this powerful nature of women. On another scene in Daisies, numerous allusions ate featured on various cliché. This is achieved by use of objects. There is a cliché demonstrated at an onset of any scene of seduction. In Czech culture, butterflies symbolize sex and this is what Vera artistically applied in one scene of seduction where butterflies appeared in galore. Chytilova also uses other clichés as the use of flowers to express female beauty, youthfulness and wilting ones to symbolize death (Frank 49). The butterfly scene happens between a man and one of the girls. The man admires the girl and approaches her with adoration; but his allure is suddenly turned into frustration when the girl appears to object. Then he breaks into playing a piano and dead butterflies appear in a movement that synchronizes with the music. The girl walks down the straps of her brassiere and the man again approaches her. This time the girl cooperates and live butterflies appear to the sound of the music to symbolize that the man is eventually close to his admiration. What the scene depicts and from the beautiful use of cliché is that the world is hardly complete without female sexuality. Men constantly pursue it and failure to obtain it makes men miserable and frustrated. This is the sense behind the dead butterflies and the reappearance of the live butterflies. Additionally, this scene clearly demonstrates the power of sexes. The male is powerful when it comes to leadership and regulatory duties, but the woman is powerful sexually. This traditional reasoning is hardly seen in the world today. The active man desperately follows the passive girl in a bid to win her trust and love and when this is achieved, the man’s frustration subdues. The same is emphasized given the fact that the man is twice the age of the girl (Frank 47). This active and passive heterosexual behavior is not only cinematically explores though sexual orientation but is also explored in the European cinemas throughout the broad spectrum of life that entails the division of labor as well. Traditionally, women were supposed to remain at home and do the daily domestic chores and care for the children as the male leave the house to look for daily bread. The women are then expected to cook, wash dishes and clothes, and ensure that the male is satisfied in the stomach. Classical European cinemas exhibit this phenomenon very well. However, women have since advocated for a change in this norm and called for liberation; that would see to it that they go to work just like men and be assisted in the house chores by the male. The issues in sociology are very dynamic and contemporary European films today depict the set up in contrast to the conventional one. Works Cited Frank, Alison. Reframing reality: the aesthetics of the surrealist object in French and Czech cinema. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006. Print. Mulvey, Laura. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Rood Walsh: Edinburgh, 1989. Print. Read More