Charliepaulcmp's Blog

Session 8 Wed 24 Nov: Psychoanalysis in film, feminism and cultural reading:

Butler, Sherman, Pollock, Mulvey, Mitchell, Rose, Freud,  Zizek, Lacan

The gaze, narcissism, voyeurism, advertising, masquerade, identity, ‘the subject’.

Viewing: Tomb Raider/ Cosmetic Surgery Live, Guerilla Girls, Thriller Michael Jackson +look-alikes(Naomi Harris):

Women’s lives are represented by the roles they either choose or have imposed on them.

Women have always been disempowered due to their gender in modern and ancient times alike. In Corinth they are expected to run the household and conform to social expectations of a dutiful wife.

Lara Croft, played by Angelina Jolie, clearly shows the influence of male filmmakers behind the scenes. Although the narrative follows the actions of a female heroine who is both intelligent and physically strong, aspects of both the story line and mise-en-scene present her from a ‘male gaze’. She is clearly presented as an erotic object for the male audience, as can be seen in her costume for the majority of the film and on the film’s promotional posters. She wears a tightly fitting vest and tiny shorts, which emphasise both her exaggerated breast size and her feminine curves, thus supporting Mulvey’s theory of voyeurism within the representation of women in films.