GENDER AND FILM

Introduction to film studies

Today’s lecture

To understand the notion of ‘male gaze’ To critically evaluate the sex/gender dichotomy Analyse popular culture (re)presentations of

gender To discuss sexual / gender identities in the work

of Pedro Almodovar (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown), David Cronenberg (Crash)

To analyse the representation of ‘masculinity’ in Fight Club

To analyse the representation of women in Legally Blonde

Starter

Annotate the body outline with the features, signifiers of traditional masculinity/femininity.

Be as creative as you like.

Sex/Gender

First wave mid-C19th to C20th: rights (including to property, divorce, and the vote), but also life-style choices (education, sexuality etc).

More or less ended with the vote (1917 in Britain) – because equality had been won, women could now do everything men could etc, or at least the battles were now smaller, winnable; also fatigue.

Second wave – 1960s till??? rights in the workplace, to equal consideration in health, education,

reproduction etc; but life-style and self especially: ‘the personal is political’.

Third-wave – critique of 2nd wave (too white & middle class) Post second-wave feminism: - feminist ideas have won, they’re part of the mainstream; women

are equal with men now (or fast approaching); young women can do whatever they want.

Sex/Gender binary – 2 perspectives

1. The first - insists that gender differences are based in biology

2. The second draws on postmodernist arguments to claim that even biology does not provide the basis for classifying people into two fixed and mutually exclusive sexes.

Sex/Gender

Radical feminist analysis has shown that gender is not simply about individual attributes, but it is also a basic principle of social organisation.

“In societies as they exist today, this means that it is about power. To learn masculinity or femininity is therefore to learn about subordination and domination; it may also entail learning about resistance” (Connell, 2005: 47).

Femininities / Masculinities

In everyday language, femininities and masculinities do not map onto biological sex.

In any one culture, certain behaviors or practices may be widely recognized as “feminine” or “masculine,” irrespective of whether they are adopted by women or men.

Femininities and masculinities are not descriptors of sexual orientation

Femininities / Masculinities

Femininities and masculinities are plural—there are many forms of femininity and many forms of masculinity.

What gets defined as feminine or masculine differs by region, religion, class, national culture, and other key social factors.

How femininities and masculinities are valued differs culturally.

Where do gender systems come from?

shirt t-shirt skirtdress shopping jeans

feminine testeshandsome energetic

sportsnurturing sari muscles

breasts guy pretty

girl engineeringarchitecture parenting

oestrogen artsscience

sissy muscularbreasts tall petite

exotic aggressive

bodies

Dispositions

signifiers

activities

clothes

Where do gender systems come from?

shirt t-shirt skirtdress shopping jeans

feminine testeshandsome energetic

sportsnurturing sari

breasts guy pretty

girl engineeringarchitecture parenting

oestrogen artsscience

sissy musclesbreasts tall petite

exotic aggressive

bodies

Dispositions

signifiers

activities

clothes

A Gendered Structure

A Two Gender System:

Binary Oppositi

ons

GirlShoppingOvariesmake-updressnurturinggentlepetitesariskirtoestrogenshoppinghomeartsgentle woman

manguyboymasculineaggressivet-shirttestesjeansmuscleshandsomeworkengineeringtallarchitecturesports

Three gender system

Kathoey (‘lady-boy’) - males that dress and carry out their identities as women. Although they are born genetically as male, kathoeys claim to possess a female heart which is the gender they truly are

Two-Spirit (native americans) individuals were viewed as having two spirits occupying one body. Their dress is usually a mixture of traditionally male and traditionally female articles.

Hijra (India) - physiological males who have feminine gender identity, adopt feminine gender roles, and wear women's clothing

‘Doing Gender’

Gender is something we do (a performance) not something we are (an identity) cf. Judith Butler Gender Trouble

Masculinity and Femininity are beliefs and guidelines for appropriate behaviour – they are beliefs that guide us into doing gender.

Because gender is something we do all the time, we experience it as identity

Hegemonic Masculinity

Not necessarily ‘normal’ but ‘normative’: it sets the standard of what a man should be

Not a fixed idea, differs over time and from place to place

The power of hegemonic masculinity requires men (and women) to act in relation to the set of beliefs that are hegemonic adoption complicity, privilege, defence of

status

Hegemonic Femininity?

Hegemonic Femininity vs Emphasized Femininity Debate over whether forms of femininity can be called

‘hegemonic’ (because feminity is more often than not culturally devalued compared to masculinity)

Can we assume that masculinity is always hegemonic (powerful) and femininity ‘emphasized’ (subordinate)?

As with Hegemonic Masculinity, emphasized femininity is normative – it sets standards in relation to which everyone in society must act.

The Male Gaze – Laura Mulvey The concept behind the creation of the

“Male Gaze” is to identify the way the audience view the female characters presented on screen as well as how they are portrayed.

The “Male Gaze” is a rather feminist approach. It can be thought of in three ways when watching a sequence.How men look at womenHow women look at themselvesHow women look at other women

Male Gaze

Common features Include the camera lingering on the curves of the female body and highlights revealing areas such as the midriff, bust, and legs. This supports the idea that the females are represented as “sexual objects”.

Women are represented within the context of a mans reaction, therefore insinuating that female characters are passive and dependant on males.

The majority of protagonists are male which allows male audiences to experience the view of the character.

Female audiences must also experience this narrative and therefore identify with the male gaze.

Film Analysis

Outline the plot/story how does the film deal with gender?

how does it speak about women/men? Are different ‘kinds’ of women/men represented? is a heterogeneous femininity/masculinity

established? What ‘myths’ is the film (re)producing? Outside of the narrative, what cinematic

codes are used? construction of characters, mise-en-scene,

cinematography, editing, sound.

Almodóvar and Gender

Pedro Almodovar

Artificiality and anti-naturalism Parody and Intertextuality Excess and exaggeration ‘Woman’s director’

Women on the Verge of a Nervious Breakdown

MASCULINITIES

“We’re designed to be hunters and

we’re in a society of shopping”

- Tyler

Masculinity: Social Context Feminism

Traditional male roles: Cowboy; Hunter; Defender; Achiever; Warrior; Breadwinner

Exposed as myths by the feminist movement Men left without a clear identity after Feminism

questioned the role of man Traditional Male roles/unachievable images of

strength ALSO imprisoned men • Repressed male rage – Frustration about:• The Feminization of Man and an increase in

‘consumption’• Repressed ‘Raw’ Masculinity• The dehumanizing effects of corporate

consumer culture

CRASH