Mulvey, Metz and Bellor - Male gaze: the woman is the subject
Kaplan - submissive female gaze: looking at the film through the eyes of the secondary female
Williams - Dominant gaze: the woman gets punished for having sexual control
Crazy/Beautiful
-This 2002 film contrasts these theories of how characters are viewed by spectators.
-In some respects, the main character Nicole is seen as the subject but very rarely sexualised, excluding the ideas of the male gaze being over-powering in this film
-The film does follow Kaplan's theories of the submissive female gaze, as the story is partly told through the eyes of Nicole and we side with her as an audience, we are also shown the story through the perspective of Carlos, her other half
-Williams' theory of the dominant gaze is not-existant in this film; Nicole does not get punished for having sexual control - the only part of this film that she is punished for is her reckless and rebellious behaviour which results in under-age drinking
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
Wednesday, 7 January 2015
How is the spectator effected in A Clockwork Orange?
In A Clockwork Orange, directed by Stanley Kuberick, the spectator is heavily affected by the explicit content that is exposed and presented throughout the film. As the story follows a psychologically damaged main character, spectators are involuntarily siding with this character as his journey unfolds, despite how disturbing and morally wrong it is.
The start of the film explores Alex, the main character, and his gang causing havoc and indulging in reckless behaviour such as assaulting a homeless man, breaking into a writer's home, damaging his belongings, beating him mercilessly and then making him watch as they rape his wife. Another disturbing event that Alex finds pleasure in is when he breaks into another woman's house to rape her and as she retaliates he ends up killing her without remorse. At this point in the film, the spectator would be increasingly uncomfortable and have a firm decision that they are not going to side with this character. An oppositional reading would have been adapted by the spectators due to the fact the film shows an explicit depiction of rape, gang culture, delinquency and violence. The diegetic and non-diegetic sounds in the first part of the film would also affect the spectator; Alex sings "Singing In The Rain" as he breaks into the writer's house, beats him and rapes his wife, making it impossible for the audience to listen to that song in the same way without feeling disturbed. Another song that changes the spectator's perception on how they listen to it is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony which is played throughout the film and what Alex views as his theme music as he indulges in violent and immoral acts.
As Alex spends time in prison, he is experimented on with what's called the Lodovico Technique, forcing him to watch videos of the immoral behaviour he used to live by whilst having Beethoven's Ninth Symphony playing over it - eventually resulting in him hating these acts of crime and the music that he once loved. As Alex's perception of the world is changed and he apparently changes his ways, the spectator is obligated to feel compassion for him as they've seen him on the journey of averting from his old way of life. When Alex is released from prison, he is kicked out of his parents' house due their discovery of his immoral behaviour, attacked by the homeless man whom he assaulted in the beginning of the film and nearly drowned by his former gang members. These events would cause divisional opinions between spectators; some spectators would feel sympathy for Alex seeing he is now a reformed man whereas some spectators would feel no sympathy whatsoever and have the idea that he deserves the torture from his previous victims. When Alex accidentally stumbles across the writer's house, the writer recognises him when he sings "Singing In The Rain" again, and when Alex passes out the writer locks him in a room and plays Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, driving Alex to insanity and a suicide attempt. At this point, the spectator opinions would still be divided between feelings of sympathy and hostility.
The style of the film is dream-like and abnormal, exploring the ideas of abstract art and different depictions of sex. The film itself is a representation of Alex's distorted and disturbed frame of mind in terms of how violence is displayed as enjoyable and that sex is tangible, despite whatever form it comes in. An example is when Alex kills the woman with a penis-shaped statue - combining both violence and sex, representing his inner thoughts and desires. The animation as he impales the woman makes the film more surreal and abstract, further symbolising that Alex has a very distorted and controversial frame of mind. In the first part of the film there is a vast amount of sexual symbolism; the art-work in the cat-woman's house, the mannequins at the start of the film, the rape scenes, Alex masturbating to the statues of Jesus and Deltoid grabbing Alex at the crotch when he wants him to listen. These depictions of sex may cause the spectators discomfort seeing as the year the film was released (1971), such explicit content was seen as a taboo which resulted in this film being banned from cinemas seeing as it could offend, damage and influence audiences and society.
The start of the film explores Alex, the main character, and his gang causing havoc and indulging in reckless behaviour such as assaulting a homeless man, breaking into a writer's home, damaging his belongings, beating him mercilessly and then making him watch as they rape his wife. Another disturbing event that Alex finds pleasure in is when he breaks into another woman's house to rape her and as she retaliates he ends up killing her without remorse. At this point in the film, the spectator would be increasingly uncomfortable and have a firm decision that they are not going to side with this character. An oppositional reading would have been adapted by the spectators due to the fact the film shows an explicit depiction of rape, gang culture, delinquency and violence. The diegetic and non-diegetic sounds in the first part of the film would also affect the spectator; Alex sings "Singing In The Rain" as he breaks into the writer's house, beats him and rapes his wife, making it impossible for the audience to listen to that song in the same way without feeling disturbed. Another song that changes the spectator's perception on how they listen to it is Beethoven's Ninth Symphony which is played throughout the film and what Alex views as his theme music as he indulges in violent and immoral acts.
As Alex spends time in prison, he is experimented on with what's called the Lodovico Technique, forcing him to watch videos of the immoral behaviour he used to live by whilst having Beethoven's Ninth Symphony playing over it - eventually resulting in him hating these acts of crime and the music that he once loved. As Alex's perception of the world is changed and he apparently changes his ways, the spectator is obligated to feel compassion for him as they've seen him on the journey of averting from his old way of life. When Alex is released from prison, he is kicked out of his parents' house due their discovery of his immoral behaviour, attacked by the homeless man whom he assaulted in the beginning of the film and nearly drowned by his former gang members. These events would cause divisional opinions between spectators; some spectators would feel sympathy for Alex seeing he is now a reformed man whereas some spectators would feel no sympathy whatsoever and have the idea that he deserves the torture from his previous victims. When Alex accidentally stumbles across the writer's house, the writer recognises him when he sings "Singing In The Rain" again, and when Alex passes out the writer locks him in a room and plays Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, driving Alex to insanity and a suicide attempt. At this point, the spectator opinions would still be divided between feelings of sympathy and hostility.
The style of the film is dream-like and abnormal, exploring the ideas of abstract art and different depictions of sex. The film itself is a representation of Alex's distorted and disturbed frame of mind in terms of how violence is displayed as enjoyable and that sex is tangible, despite whatever form it comes in. An example is when Alex kills the woman with a penis-shaped statue - combining both violence and sex, representing his inner thoughts and desires. The animation as he impales the woman makes the film more surreal and abstract, further symbolising that Alex has a very distorted and controversial frame of mind. In the first part of the film there is a vast amount of sexual symbolism; the art-work in the cat-woman's house, the mannequins at the start of the film, the rape scenes, Alex masturbating to the statues of Jesus and Deltoid grabbing Alex at the crotch when he wants him to listen. These depictions of sex may cause the spectators discomfort seeing as the year the film was released (1971), such explicit content was seen as a taboo which resulted in this film being banned from cinemas seeing as it could offend, damage and influence audiences and society.
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