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Representation of gender in media
Representation of gender in media
Representation of gender in media
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Introduction
Post-modernist critique points to the destabilization and fragmentation of the idea of the coherent, unique subjectivity that has led western culture, and subsequently its critique, through time. Cultural objects seem to correspond with the processes of naturalization of gender divisions and the female body. On a literal level, Black Swan gives the impression that it follows this tradition. In this paper I argue that the use of allegory in Black Swan is a conscious choice that emphasizes the discrepancies between the film and its original source Swan Lake, in order to contest the notion of a stabilized female subjectivity. I am also going to contrast stereotypical ways of looking at the female body in the film, exemplified by feminist film theory, and how pleasure derived from the act of looking at the female body is disrupted through specific visual elements. Finally, drawing from Butler’s theory of performativity I contest the idea of the essential female body, while bringing together the notions of performance and performative acts.
Allegory and Postmodern Subjectivity
In the first part of his essay “The Allegorical Impulse: Towards a Theory of Postmodernism” (1980) Owens discusses how allegorical elements are being employed in postmodern art, parting ways with the romantic and modernist obsession involving originality and the self-proclaimed “genius”. Postmodernism is not preoccupied with originality; in fact it creates art which recites its own eventuality, insufficiency, lack of originality. Since the allegorical work “is synthetic; it crosses aesthetic boundaries producing a ‘confusion of boundaries’”(Owens 75), it corresponds to postmodern needs, where the crossing of boundaries and the conflation of genres le...
... middle of paper ...
...terally-as in corporeally-, before the fatal performance, can be read as an open mockery towards the possibility of herself ever “being” a “natural” in the role.
Works Cited
Black Swan. Dir. Darren Aronofsky. Perf. Natalie Portman. Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2010.
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Routledge, 1990. Print.
Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism :
Introductory Readings. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP,
1999: 833-44.
Owens, Craig. ‘The Allegorical Impulse: Toward a Theory of Postmodernism Part 1’. October, Spring 1980, vol. 12, pp. 67-86.
Salih, Sara. "On Judith Butler and Performativity." Judith Butler. London: Routledge, 2002. Sage Publications. Web. 24 Mar. 2013. .
Butler, Judith. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory." Theatre Journal 40.4 (1988): 519-31. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Web. 11 May 2011.
Halberstam, Judith. The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. from Masculinity Studies & Feminist Theory. ed Judith Kegan Gardiner. New York, Columbia University Press. 2002
Irigaray, Luce. "This Sex Which Is Not One." Feminism: An Anthology of Literary Theory and Criticism. Ed. Robyn R. Warhol and Diane Price Herndle. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 1991.
Gender Trouble published in 1990 by Judith Butler, argues that feminism was and still relaying on the presumption that ‘women’ a...
Butler, Judith. Ed. Case, Sue-Ellen. "Performative Acts and Gender Constitution." Performing Feminisms: Feminist Critical Theory and Theatre. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990.
hooks, bell. "Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression." Feminist Theory Reader. Ed. Caroline McCann and Seung-Kyung Kim. New York: Routledge. 2003, 50-57.
Bloomfield, Morton W. New Literary History. Winter ed. N.p.: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972. Print. Vol. 2 of Allegory as Interpretation. 3 vols. First.
...e multiplicity of meaning embedded in these works suggests the importance of the body as a liminal site, a site of inscription and meaning making, in both historical-contemporary and more recent feminist work. It is, of course, unlikely that Antin or Kraus draws directly upon any singular theory explicated in this essay. Both artists are, however, undeniably interested in the formations, constructions, and shifts of subjectivity. Both Carving: A Traditional Sculpture and Aliens and Anorexia address the body’s uncontained boundaries, exploding the dual Cartesian model of interior/exterior self. As feminist artists, both Antin and Kraus are also surely aware of the complexity of discourses around food, self, and the body. Through the artists may not be speaking “to” or “through” any particular theoretical model, they are contributing to these discourses all the same.
... imagination is sometimes more excessive than the action on the screen. After the application of Williams’ “theory” to David Creonenberg’s film Shivers, it is apparent that the spectator’s personal perception of the action (or inaction) is more the cause of the bodily reaction that Williams is referring to, rather than the objective excess on the screen. Ultimately, various characteristics of Williams’ arguments are true, but as a film theory in general, “Film Bodies: Gender, Genre and Excess” needs further research and flexibility in order to be both relative to all “body” genre films, and applicable to all unique spectators.
This essay argues that the film Bridesmaids transcends traditional representations of feminine desire that exhibits women as spectacles of erotic pleasure, through the symbolic reversal of gender identity in cinematic spaces. By discussing feminist perspectives on cinema, along with psychoanalytic theory and ideological narratives of female image, this essay will prove Bridesmaids embodies a new form of feminine desire coded in the space of the comedic film industry.
Shaw, Susan M., and Janet Lee. Women's Voices, Feminist Visions: Classic and Contemporary Readings. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012. Print.
Udayagiri, Mridula. (1995) “Challenging Modernization: Gender and Development, Postmodern Feminism and Activism”, in Marchand, Marianne and Parpart, Jane (eds) Feminism Postmodernism Devlopment, London; New York: Routledge: 159-179.
Through discourses in theatrical, anthropological and philosophical discussions, Butler portrays gender identity as being performative rather than expressive. Gender, rather than being drawn from a particular essence, is inscribed and repeated by bodies through the use of taboos and social
Haslanger, Sally, Tuana Nancy and O'Connor, Peg, "Topics in Feminism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Web. 21 Mar. 2014
Hooks, Bell. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2000. Print.