Thoughts and Reflections on Lesson 3

Muses and Mirrors-5th October


Set Reading: 
 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'-Laura Mulvey  
Mulvey, L. (1975). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. pp.57-68.
Online Article on Amalia Ulman: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/photography/what-to-see/is-this-the-first-instagram-masterpiece/

Thoughts on the readings: The Laura Mulvey text was interesting to read about how women are represented in film as well as learning about the Male Gaze: "The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly"(Laura Mulvey, 1975) This led me to think about many films, especially those prominent in the classic Hollywood/Golden Age cinema. I thought about how women were part of framing and how often, women were used as more of an object to possess or use for visual pleasure, whereas men were seen more as a controller, has power, usually always the protagonist etc. 

When reading the Amalia Ulman online article, at first I didn't quite understand what she was doing or what the point of the images were as her images weren't really any different to how many others act on Instagram e.g. selfies/visual art and glamour shots. But after reading the article fully and reflecting, she as an artist proved some very interesting points: It's about how people choose to represent themselves to the outside world. Ulman suggests she was creating a character "I dyed my hair. I changed my wardrobe. I was acting: it wasn’t me.” (Ulman, 2016)

To me this seemed like a representation of some women in real life. When people, especially women come on to social media and they take pictures of themselves they're someone else, they're acting for everyone else and I think maybe presenting themselves in a sexualised way because of pressure as the media can often control how we feel about the way we look based on seeing unattainable looks of celebrities, airbrushing etc. Society and its people feel this is how they should look because of stereotypes and perhaps the influence of cinema and how maybe this has been a factor in the way women in particular present themselves. 

Lecture: The first lecture was centred around the Laura Mulvey reading, discussion on this and how Mulvey clearly states how women are used for the visual pleasure. Analysis of images of females in films also took place in the lecture. From most of the images we looked at it was clear that women were mostly represented in a sexual way e.g. skimpy clothing that would show off legs, exposing the neck showing vulnerability, the way women would be framed in a scene, never really central, used as more of an object. Reflecting on this, I thought of modern day film and how this is still common in some aspects e.g. Superhero films such as Wonder Woman and Black Widow, the woman are dressed in a certain way that shows off their bodies in a sexualised manner.

I paid particular attention to the image of the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho.' The female character is presented in an erotic way e.g. her posture, mouth open, naked which I think are key aspects in the representation of women in film. I think it was especially quite subtle in the way she was presented due to the time the movie was made but still visible. Looking at these images really opened my eyes to something that seemed quite normal that actually was designed that way specifically for a purpose by the Male Gaze. 

First Task: Create a sound piece for an image from Instagram. In this task my group and I used exterior sounds such as traffic to display the outside world and it's isolation. This helped me to understand how sound can influence how we feel about an image and the thoughts we can draw from what we experience. 

Second Task: Create a short film piece that incorporates Mulvey's text. My group and I created a piece that uses the female as a visual piece but as soon as a male is introduced into the scene, she becomes his visual pleasure and he also becomes the centre of the story whereas the female character is slightly out of frame. I wanted to demonstrate how a male dominates a scene. 

Independent Research: In terms of independent research I looked at different forms of media and the way they represent women in music and film. After searching around and looking at music videos it was clear that Mulvey's research and writing was still a factor in today's media. 

I first looked at the music video for Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDUC1LUXSU
This is song is a clear example of how women are represented in the media and particularly the music industry. The women in the music video are used for visual pleasure and are over sexualised, a prop and for the male performers to use and look which refers back to Mulvey's theories of the 'Male Gaze'. Even by decoding the lyrics in the song it's clear that the female is fetishized in the man's eyes as one of the lyrics states 'You're an animal' and 'That's why I'm gonna take you'. Even though Mulvey wrote her theory in 1975 it is obvious that these findings are still evident in modern society.

After reading the article based upon Amalia Ulman, I was interested in finding other articles and journals that discuss the way women are portrayed in media, looking more specifically at film, and how many films include a woman as a main role. I found an article on Variety that was a study on whether women were under-represented in film:   http://variety.com/2014/film/news/study-female-characters-under-represented-in-movies-1201129236/
 The article states "female characters are less likely than males to have identifiable goals or to be portrayed as leaders of any kind" (Variety, 2014) This again relates to Mulvey's theories as men are usually the main focus and women are usually used as a prop to motivate the male. Another article:
http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/baby-drivers-women-problem
 discussed this issue relating to the new film Baby Driver by Edgar Wright and how there are only three female characters and they are all used only as "driving forces for the male characters’ motivations." (K. Donaldson, 2017)

Ideas/Development for Project: I'm not really sure how I could implement the representation of women in my film so I will be sticking with my initial idea of an in-depth diary film that reflects my new experiences. In terms of development for my idea, my short film is going to be of my perspective of being in a new place. There will be a character on-screen exploring the different places around Plymouth and their feelings about being homesick and lonely. I want to explore my feelings an emotions through colour and landscapes.It will be similar to what we are trying to capture through the diary films as it really is more of visual diary of exploration and emotion through locations, colour, light etc. 

Bibliography: 

Donaldson, K. (2017). Baby Driver's Women Problem. Syfy Wire. 

  Littleton, C. (2014). Study: Female Characters Under Represented in Movies. Variety. 

Robin Thicke. (2013). Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines ft. T.I., Pharrell [Online Video] 20 March 2013. Available From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDUC1LUXSU

Sooke, A. (2016). Is this the first Instagram masterpiece?. The Telegraph.

'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'-Laura Mulvey  

Mulvey, L. (1975). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. pp.57-68.