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What are the issues of watching and voyeurism in film? The intention of this essay is to discuss both films (The Truman Show, 1998 and Rear Window, 1954) alongside established theoretical criticism (Laura Mulvey and Norman K. Denzin) in an attempt to demonstrate how the issues of watching and voyeurism, as seen in todays mainstream Hollywood cinema, both engages and entices the spectator and to look at how the definition of the voyeur has changed. Before entering into a discussion about voyeurism in Rear Window and The Truman Show, an understanding of what is meant by ‘the dynamics of voyeurism’ in film must be attempted. The dictionary definition of a voyeur is: (1) a person who gains sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engage in sexual activity, and/or (2) a person who enjoys seeing pain or distress of others. Voyeurism is initially noted for the investigation of the woman, demystifying her mystery, however, I think this definition is a small interpretation of the word voyeur. So the intention of this essay is to explore further the meaning of voyeurism by looking at two films adjacent to, two critics with conflicting opinions of what voyeurism is represented by in film. But to understand what voyeurism means we need to look at the cinematic gaze and two types of looks; scopophilia and narcissism. Scopophilia is taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze by allowing the spectator to look into a secret diegetic world, a projection of desire onto the former. For example, Peeping Tom (1960) stimulates a direct connection with the audience between eye and phallus, through the form of a camera wielded by protagonist and serial killer Mark Lewis (Carl Boehm). He is equip... ... middle of paper ... ...988). Nichols, Bill., ‘Movies and methods’ An Anthology, Volume 1 (University of California Press: 1985). Sadar, Ziauddin ed., ‘The Rise Of The Voyeur’ (The New Statesman Essay: 06 Nov 2000). Sluyter, Dean 1st ed., ‘Cinema nirvana enlightenment lessons from the movies’ (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2005). Stam, Robert & Pearson, Robertson., ‘Hitchcock’s Rear Window: Refluxivity and the Critique of Voyeurism’ in Deutelbaum, Marshall & Poague, Leland A. ed., A Hitchcock Reader (John Wiley & Sons: 2009). Filmography Peeping Tom. Director: Michael Powell (Anglo-Amalgamated Film Distributors, 1960) Rear Window. Director: Alfred Hitchcock. (Paramount Pictures, 1954) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Director: Andrew Dominik (Warner Bros. Pictures, 2007) The Truman Show. Director: Peter Weir. (Paramount Pictures, 1998)
Mulvey, Laura."Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." The Sexual Subject: A Screen Reader in Sexuality/Screen. London: Routledge, 1992.
November 1998, written for FILM 220: Aspects of Criticism. This is a 24-week course for second-year students, examining methods of critical analysis, interpretation and evaluation. The final assignment was simply to write a 1000-word critical essay on a film seen in class during the final six-weeks of the course. Students were expected to draw on concepts they had studied over the length of the course.
Neill, Alex. “Empathy and (Film) Fiction.” Philosophy of film and motion pictures : an anthology. Ed. Noel Carrol and Jinhee Choi. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. 247-259. Print.
An example of the media degrading and objectifying women is Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ theory. In Laura Mulvey’s essay ‘visual pleasure and narrative cinema’; she discusses the term ‘Male gaze’. In film, the male gaze occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man, for example, a scene may focus with specific conventions such as slow motion or deliberate camera movements on a sexual aspect of a woman’s body, forcibly putting you as the viewer in the eyes of a male. This theory suggests that the male gaze denies women human identity, manipulating them to the standard of manifest objects to be appreciated solely for their physical appearance. The theory implies women can more often than not only watch a film from
Rowe, Lawrence. "Through the Looking Glass: Reflexivity, Reciprocality, and Defenestration in Hitchcock's"Rear Window"." College Literature 35.1 (2008): 16-37.
As the paradigm in which this curiosity is exposed inhabit the human being, that voyeurism that uncounted of us have inside. Hitchcock is able to use this element to catch the spectator, building a devilish and fascinating tale of suspense set in a microcosm. In which there reflects the intimate and daily life of the current man, where the protagonist observes from his window. The viewer sees what Jeff (the protagonist) observes, has the sensation of being the protagonist, observing through his window.
Hitchcock was a tenacious and dedicated director. He received his education at St Ignatius College and London County Council School of Marine Engineering and Navigation, which left him with an outstanding work ethic. Nevertheless, his Catholic upbringing instilled a fear of authority along with complications with intimacy, hence, gives one possible explanation of his opinions about women. He also fantasized about travel and exploration as a child, so his experience, curiosity and fear of the unknown produced his “Master of Suspense” personality.
In her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, Laura Mulvey discusses the subject of how female characters, through various methods, are subjected to erotic objectification, by both the characters on screen as well as the spectators within the auditorium. While Mulvey makes an excellent point in acknowledging female’s exposure in cinema, she fails to realize that male characters are just as likely to be subjected to the same kind of objectification, depending on what type of audience the motion picture is directed at. Mulveys claim depends on a generalization of a homogenous audience and characters that only consists of heterosexual men. When transferring Mulveys claim onto homosexual male characters starring in a production that is in first-hand directed towards a gay audience, the erotic objectification of male characters share several similarities with those Mulvey describe women to be exposed to in her essay. Consequently, erotic objectification is governed by different circumstances, in which the audience plays a large role.
Everybody knows Alfred Hitchcock is the master of suspense and is known for inciting fear in the hearts of his audience. His multiple, fast cuts directs his audience to what he wants them to see and feel. Close-ups of the actors faces clearly shows what the characters are feeling and forces the audience to feel the same emotions. With all his expert directing skills, is there any meaning behind what he chooses to portray in his films or is it all for show? Could there be a deeper meaning to his films? The answer to these questions is a firm yes. Hitchcock’s past experiences guided him to be the director he was. The inadequateness of the police, control of all details in his films, and long stretches of no dialogue all portrayed in his films are all directly correlated to Hitchcock’s early life and early professional life.
Performance artist Patty Chang creates pieces that deal with scopophilia or voyeurism, best described as “the love of looking”, a topic that goes hand in hand with the issues of gender roles in society that Chang also represents in her work. Chang particularly addresses issues of gender roles through her confrontation of female representation in art, film and popular culture as a whole. In Chang’s video clip entitled, “Shaved (At a Loss)”, she sits herself on a chair in front of her audience, hikes up her dress to expose her vagina and then proceeds to, very roughly, shave off her pubic hair. The entire duration of “Shaved (At a Loss), Chang is blindfolded. In this piece Chang presents consumer culture’s fetishization of the ”flawless” female figure, which is outlined by the unattainable body ideals that are portrayed not only in most mainstream pornography, but also in almost all media connected to our society’s popular culture sphere.
In Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Mulvey states that, “Traditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium, with a shifting tension between the looks on either side of the screen.” (Mulvey 40). A woman’s role in the narrative is bound to her sexuality or the way she
“of exhibitionist confrontation rather than absorption,” (Gunning, Tom 2000 p 232) as Gunning suggests the spectator is asking for an escape that is censored and delivered with a controlled element of movement and audiovisual. Gunning believes that the audience had a different relationship with film before 1906. (Gunning, Tom 2000 p 229)
An innumerable amount of movies involves forcing the audience to participate in the male gaze upon a feminine body. In Robert Altman’s The Player (1992), the audience experiences the hard realities that are associated with the Hollywood/film industry. However, during this story of betrayal and murder, the audience becomes exposed to the male gaze, an act that men perpetrated against women. Early on in the movie, the protagonist, Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins), has a friendly conversation with June Gudmundsdottir (Greta Scacchi) while watching her from outside of her house. Examining the staging, sound, and acting displayed in this sequence contributes to the understanding how The Player normalizes the male gaze and reinforces the power imbalance between men and women.
In recent times, such stereotyped categorizations of films are becoming inapplicable. ‘Blockbusters’ with celebrity-studded casts may have plots in which characters explore the depths of the human psyche, or avant-garde film techniques. Titles like ‘American Beauty’ (1999), ‘Fight Club’ (1999) and ‘Kill Bill 2’ (2004) come readily into mind. Hollywood perhaps could be gradually losing its stigma as a money-hungry machine churning out predictable, unintelligent flicks for mass consumption. While whether this image of Hollywood is justified remains open to debate, earlier films in the 60’s and 70’s like ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) already revealed signs of depth and avant-garde film techniques. These films were successful as not only did they appeal to the mass audience, but they managed to communicate alternate messages to select groups who understood subtleties within them.
Voyeurism also known as scopophilia is the act of deriving sexual pleasure from looking at something (dictionary reference). Scopophilia starts out mainly in childhood; Laura Mulvey says that “the voyeuristic activities of children, their desire to see and make sure of the private and forbidden” (170 A Critical and Cultural Theory Reader) comes from a strict up bringing and strong sense of media censorship. Growing up Alan was not allowed to wa...