Nymphomaniac vol. I & II directed by Lars Von Trier marks his third and final installment of his “Trilogy of Depression”. The film opens up with Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg), laying on the ground, beaten and bloody, as a man, Seligman, (Stellan Skarsgård) returning from a store passes her and offers her help. She refuses any sort of medical help, and insists that he does not call the ambulance and instead asks for a cup of tea. Seligman tells her he does not “serve tea on the street” and escorts her back to his house. Joe then tells him the story of her life, mostly focusing on the aspects of her sex life since she is, as she describes herself, a nymphomaniac.
Throughout vol. 1, we see the adventures of a young Joe (Stacy Martin), talking about how she discovered her “cunt at age 2” and leading us through her life from losing her virginity at fifteen 15 to Jêrome (Shia Labeouf), who becomes a central figure later on, to her sex filled life as an adolescent with her friend B (Sophie Kennedy Clark). As she tells her story, Joe continuously points out how promiscuous she was and how she destroyed so many lives. She in a way feels responsible for being sexually free, Seligman tries to confront her, telling her there is no judgment.
What’s most revealing throughout vol. 1 is how Von Trier decides to shoot the sex scenes, and how they’re played out. The scenes are dull, mundane, and Joe seems to receive absolutely no pleasure from intercourse. The close ups of her face further refine this, she never orgasms and she receives no joy from it. Even during her college year, when she’s part of “little flock” with B, the orgasms she achieves, as we are led to believe, are faked. Throughout her promiscuity she achieves nothing from it, it is ...
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...tioned but maybe she never pulled the safety mechanism, saying he had seen it in many movies before. Joe opens up to him by telling him he is her first friend she has ever made, he tells her to get some rest and leaves the room. Only to return shortly but naked and with other intentions to which Joe pleads with him begging him not to which he says “but you’ve done it with a thousand other men” by now the screen is black and you hear the gun firing.
Throughout the story Von Trier creates this character, who’s only real purpose is to please men, and when she cannot because of her own personal health, she is punished over and over again. He destroys her completely, allows her to be betrayed by anyone she’s ever cared for, and for what? The story has no real closure to her character, we can only assume she went back to her life, in hopes of continuing to please men.
She didn't like herself (low self-esteem), or others. She was both futile and helpless. The only way she displayed her anger was by giving a whimper. She obviously had a lot of pent up feeling, for she reveals a lot later in the movie through self-disclosure.
The climax is illustrated and clarified through the symbolic tearing or exposing of the bare walls. She wants to free the woman within, yet ends up trading places, or becoming, that "other" woman completely. Her husband's reaction only serves as closure to her psychotic episode, forcing him into the unfortunate realization that she has been unwell this whole time.
Janie seemed to appreciate small gestures from Joe and admire his every move, was this because he saved her from Logan or because she really loved him? Maybe the two put together was enough for Janie to at least feel loved, as she knew how terrible it was to be with Logan. She has a hard time excepting Joe’s flamboyant and jealousy. Janie has to wear a head rag to cover her hair for all the town people admired it. Joe was demanding, Janie didn’t have to work any longer but she had to be obedient to Joe. She tried to speak her opinion many times, but was shot down. Joe felt that giving Janie money and status was everything, “I built a whole town for us. But that ain 't good enough for you” Janie knowing not better, just yet, had agreed with him. The transformation of Janie in this relationship comes as Joe strikes her for preparing his dinner incorrectly and as he lays on his death bed she finally voices her thoughts freely “even now, you got to die with me being obedient, instead of just letting me love you”, Janie is finally realizing that loving someone cannot change who they are, she never had to accept that just because he was a provider for them. Joe’s definition of love grew so different from Janie’s , Janie comes to a conclusion that she wants acceptance and love, not money and the title
When Janie first met her second husband, Joe, he was very caring and reassuring - an ideal husband. Joe was an ambitious young man with many goals set out for him. And like Janie, he was raised around a white background. Joe strived to be and have the best at everything. However, once Joe got Janie as his wife, he became a jealous and demanding man, just as Logan had been. Joe saw himself as a god, his sentences began with " I god..." ...
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.
After dealing with “double-consciousness” of being seen as having no voice, Janie’s choice to speak up against Joe Stark’s stereotypical view on women leads to feminist empowerment, where she breaks his gender identity by emasculating him and wounding his pride, as she gains self-determination and, most importantly, the freedom of
Oprah significantly changes Joe’s character in her production of Their Eyes Were Watching God. Throughout the movie, Joe’s character becomes continually weakened by his actions and the things he allows Janie to do. Joe controls every aspect of both Janie and the people of Eatonville’s lives in the book. “Jody depends on the exertion of power for his sense of himself; he is only happy and secure when he feels that he holds power over those around him...He needs to feel like a ‘big voice,’ a force of ‘irresistible maleness’ before whom the whole world bows” (Analysis). This puts him on a level above the rest of the townspeople and grants him his leadership. In the movie however, Joe does not control or assert himself over the people of Eatonville nearly as much. This lack of power over the people in his life consequently weakens his character. Through the weakening of his character Joe loses a key aspect of his personality in the movie.
The first time Janie had noticed this was when he was appointed mayor by the town’s people and she was asked to give a few words on his behalf, but she did not answer, because before she could even accept or decline he had promptly cut her off, “ ‘Thank yuh fuh yo’ compliments, but mah wife don’t know nothin’ ’bout no speech-makin’/Janie made her face laugh after a short pause, but it wasn’t too easy/…the way Joe spoke out without giving her a chance to say anything on way or another that took the bloom off things” (43). This would happen many times during the course of their marriage. He told her that a woman of her class and caliber was not to hang around the low class citizens of Eatonville. In such cases when he would usher her off the front porch of the store when the men sat around talking and laughing, or when Matt Boner’s mule had died and he told her she could not attend its dragging-out, and when he demanded that she tie up her hair in head rags while working in the store, “This business of the head-rag irked her endlessly. But Jody was set on it. Her hair was NOT to show in the store” (55). He had cast Janie off from the rest of the community and put her on a pedestal, which made Janie feel as though she was trapped in an emotional prison. Over course of their marriage, he had silenced her so much that she found it better to not talk back when got this way. His voice continuously oppresses Janie and her voice. She retreats within herself, where still dreams of her bloom time, which had ended with Joe, “This moment lead Janie to ‘grows out of her identity, but out of her division into inside and outside. Knowing not mix them is knowing that articulate language requires the co-presence of two distinct poles, not their collapse into oneness’ ” (Clarke 608). The marriage carries on like this until; Joe lies sick and dying in his death bed.
The beginning of Janie’s marriage to Joe shows promise and adventure, something that young Janie is quickly attracted to. She longs to get out of her loveless marriage to Logan Killicks and Joe’s big dreams captivate Janie. Once again she hopes to find the true love she’s always dreamed of. Joe and Janie’s life is first blissful. He gives her whatever she wants and after he becomes the mayor of a small African American town called Eatonville, they are the most respected couple in town. Joe uses his newfound power to control Janie. When she is asked to make a speech at a town event, she can’t even get out a word before Joe denies her the privilege. He starts making her work in the store he opens and punishes her for any mistakes she makes. He enjoys the power and respect her gets when o...
Her husband Joe’s search for identity was different from his wife’s. He started of the play with a strong will towards certain perspectives. We eventually learned that Joe was struggling to find his inner self. He was torn between a marriage with Harper and a secret relationship with Louis. His d...
Janie’s first attempt at love does not turn out quite like she hopes. Her grandmother forces her into marrying Logan Killicks. As the year passes, Janie grows unhappy and miserable. By pure fate, Janie meets Joe Starks and immediately lusts after him. With the knowledge of being wrong and expecting to be ridiculed, she leaves Logan and runs off with Joe to start a new marriage. This is the first time that Janie does what she wants in her search of happiness: “Even if Joe was not waiting for her, the change was bound to do her good…From now on until death she was going to have flower dust and springtime sprinkled over everything” (32). Janie’s new outlook on life, although somewhat shadowed by blind love, will keep her satisfied momentarily, but soon she will return to the loneliness she is running from.
Janie’s life with Joe fulfilled a need -- she had no financial worries and was more than set for life. She had a beautiful white home, a neat lawn and garden, a successful husband, and lots of cash. Everything was clean, almost too clean. A sense of restraint is present in this setting, and this relates to the work as a whole due to the fact that this is the epitome of unhappiness for Janie.
...her to feel despair. Her misery resulted in her doing unthinkable things such us the unexplainable bond with the woman in the wallpaper.
She seems to believe that manhood is the ability to perform acts of “direst cruelty” without remorse. Throughout the play we see that she worries her husband will not be man enough to do what she and him deem necessary to attain the throne. “Yet do I fear thy nature; / It is too full o' th' milk of human kindness . . .” She says. Constantly we see her telling her husband to “man up” - to stop feeling remorse or guilt or fear and to start behaving like she believes a man should; like a being with no guilt or remorse. However, it is this wish for her to lose all “passage to remorse” that eventuates in her death - her corruption - from the madness that comes upon her i...
Alfred Hitchcock, the incredible director who brilliantly integrated sex, humor and suspense in his movies passed away over three decades ago. Despite the thirty years since his death, the legacy of films he made continues. His work has influenced many of the great directors today, and inspired the foundation of the spin off television series Bates Motel. To better interpret the films he created, it is essential to understand the creator of them and examine how his past life traumas and deep inner-thoughts in reality transpired through the fictitious worlds that he created on the big screen. Hitchcock, whether consciously or subconsciously, portrayed his frustrations, fears, and fantasies with the opposite sex through his leading actors and films. This ultimatley allows us to take a look at his past.