Film Studies Seven: Stars

This week in class I studied the stars in film, how they come to have meaning throughout the public and how their personalities reflect through the lifestyles they live.

Johnny Depp was a main talking point throughout the class, the characters he plays and how audiences throughout the world manage to easily identify with this star.  Studying Pirates Of The Caribbean and Edward Scissorhands shows there is definitely an on-going theme with the characters he plays, besides the rogue pirates or strange/unique individuals there is a child-like, fun loving nature about his personality which shines through his character traits.  There is also a cross-gender admiration for him even in a non-attractive way, which evolves his performance fluidity.  An unstoppable joy seems to be a key feature in Johnny’s character no matter what situation his character seems to be in.

Mila Kunis is an actress who has risen to stardom and to a celebrity status within the past few years.  She had been in a number of films during the start of her career, some major roles as well as minor; however it is believed that her first shoot to fame was during That 70s Show.  Today, she is well known for her skills as a voice actor on Family Guy.  Kunis is a definite sex symbol across the world as she has been ranked as the “Sexiest Woman Alive” by Esquire whilst remaining in the top ten women of many other magazines.  She is seen in the public eye as an object of desire:

“Images have to be made.  Stars are produced by the media industries, film stars by Hollywood (or its equivalent in other countries) in the first instance, but then also by other agencies with which Hollywood is connected in varying ways and with varying degrees of influence.  Hollywood not only controlled the stars’ films but their promotion, their pin-ups and glamour portraits, press releases and to a larger extent the fan clubs”.

Kunis and her lifestyle are becoming more and more influenced by Hollywood and how she is expected to be viewed by the public eye.  Her appealing appearance seems have a great reliance on her star image and her success in her career.  As Hollywood and other relating franchises are creating these idols for the public to be basing themselves on it could leave one wondering if this is having any effect on these stars’ personalities and drive to continue with this sort of career/lifestyle. Three main aspects which are seen key factors or a stars’ image and how successful they are depend on their sexuality, ethnicity and their sexual identity.  

“Many critics have criticized Mulvey’s tendency to neglect the pleasure of female spectatorship.  As should be clear, she suggests that spectators are addressed as though they were male, and that, as a consequence, women are only in a position either to assume an identification with the male protagonist or else identify with the position of passive sexual object”.

As these types of figures are being constructed, the majority of the time it is solely for the consumer, it could be thought that these idols are strategically made for profit, possibly due to the clothing, cosmetics or fragrance that these types of people would flaunt to the public. The acting side to her career is viewed by two different meanings; one being the knowledge of roles she has successfully established on film and the “stage-managed” public appearances Kunis is seen in (talk shows, award shows and magazine shoots).

It is rather troublesome to relate with a stars’ personal lifestyle outside of film and behind closed doors unless you are somehow affiliated with the star in a personal level.  Many people try to establish as much knowledge as possible about a star through the characters they play in film and how they generally act, attributing to their generic personality:

“As a result, recent psychoanalytic film theory has seen a move away from the assumption that the spectator only identifies with a single narrative figure, and towards the claim that he or she engages in a more complex identification with the overall narrative.  It has developed a theory of fantasy which suggests that any narrative provides the spectator with multiple and shifting points of identification…Desire, then, is played through the progression of the narrative, with the spectator seemingly within the scene, occupying many and various associations with the stars”.

Fans who idolise and adore these film stars tend to form an obsessive and seemingly incessant relationship between them, this has indeed become more popular and is seen a lot more in recent years within the public.  More so with reality television “celebrities” as fans make it their goal to represent and act like them, which merely seems foolish.  The public form a metaphorical bond with these film stars, giving them the idea that these stars are an acquaintance to them.  This evolves their desire and attraction to them as the narrative gives a false connection between the viewer and the stars’ character.

“Fetishism also figures in the spectator’s relationship to the star.  For psychoanalysis, fetishism originates in the child’s Oedipal anxieties when it perceives the sign of sexual difference as the mother’s symbolic castration.  This situation is supposed to result in ‘splitting of belief’, the child unconsciously knows that the mother lacks the phallus, but fetishizes other objects so that they will compensate for that lack.  These objects acquire ‘magical’ qualities for the child who is then able to disavow the mother’s castrated state”.

This cinematic image and the image this creates through film also seems to function in a similar process of fetishism contradiction, as if the viewer is blocking out reality and fully believing in themselves that the portrayed character is a living being.  Knowing that these characters are completely fictional, subconsciously, they are ensuring that they are in fact, reality. 

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References:

Richard Dyer, Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars And Society, (New York, St. Martin's Press, 1986)

Paul McDonald, 'Star Studies', in Joanne Hollows and Mark Jancovich, eds., Approaches to Popular Film, (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1995)

Film Studies Four - The Male Gaze

This week our film studies class revolved around the subject of the male gaze, looking into the portrayal of gender in film and how it is informed by the author.  I have noticed this technique in a wide variety of film genres which work very effectively when trying to captivate a viewer into a story or situation.  The gaze attracts the viewer whether they are male or female, seducing them with the use of images and sound.  An example of this is from a film we were shown in class entitled, Gilda.

The scene reveals two male characters walking towards a room where the viewer hears a woman singing with a soft heavenly voice.  Immediately the viewer is hypnotized and transported into the scene, intrigued.  When Gilda is introduced to the scene for the first time, Jonny’s facial expression, silent and paralysed, tells the viewer that he is mesmerized by her beauty.  It can also be seen that Gilda is aware of her natural beauty and this is expressed thoroughly to the viewer with the way she flirtatiously addresses Jonny in this scene:

“I want all the hired help to approve of me”.

Gilda expresses this desire directly into Jonny’s eyes, as if she is speaking directly to him instead of referring to the public in the casino.  Further evidence of these emotions are when the two gentlemen leave the room and a close-up of Gilda’s facial expression transforms to a more calmer and neutral state, as if the cute charm and interesting personality was solely for Jonny – as if she is thinking about what she has done.

“A beautiful face, is the most beautiful of sights.  There is a legend who invented the close-up in order to capture it in greater detail.  The simplest close up is also the most moving”

I feel that the author portrays the character of Gilda very well as it attracts me into the film with the use of images and sound whilst making me curious as to how these character’s relationships will unfold.  The use of close-ups in this scene is very powerful.

Over the last few decades women have become more independent, intelligent and rather superior to the male gender:

“One might reach the conclusion that women have escaped the sphere of production only to be absorbed the more entirely by the sphere of consumption, to be captivated by the immediacy of the commodity world no less than men are transfixed by the immediacy of profit…Women mirror the injustice masculine society has inflicted on them – they become increasingly like commodities”.

Adorno compares the two sexes with their desires, and rather, clichéd aspects of the gender’s personality.  Women desire men to lust over them and to be gazed upon as beautiful whilst men desire wealth and power in the world.  I find it fascinating and effective that he uses the term “consumed” by the viewer because this metaphorical term really describes men’s lust and attraction to the female form, as if it is a requirement in everyday life and they have transformed themselves into an asset.

A section of the reading that I completely agreed with spoke about the Miss World competition and how it affects women:

“Their condition is the condition of all women, born to be defined by their physical attributes, born to give birth, or if born pretty, born lucky; a condition which makes it possible and acceptable, within the bourgeois ethic, for girls to parade, silent and smiling, to be judged on the merits of their figures and faces”.

Miss World Competition can only be viewed as a positive process through the male gaze. Feminist thoughts from the 1970s forced women to reassess their position within the world, with many choosing to reject the objectifying view of patriarchy. These Miss World competitions effectively reduce women to their physical features, ignoring their intellectual merits entirely.

Women who take part in these competitions accentuate their visual aesthetic in order to capture the attention of the viewer. “Now I’m looking for the ideal man to marry,” a statement from Miss Grenada, exemplifies the material gain which the majority of these women wish to achieve through the performativity of their aesthetic beauty. In an especially feminist stance, one could argue that women play upon the vulnerability and consuming nature of the male gaze in order to achieve their goals. Modern women seem to monopolise the patriarchal gaze to their advantage whilst superficially appearing to submit to established gender normativity.

   

Mulvey distinguishes two approaches in which cinema produces pleasure, both representing psychological desire of the feminine form.  The first is in relation to scopophilia, pleasure acquired from subjecting someone to one’s gaze whilst the second is identification with the character in question.

A great example of this monopolisation is Jessica Rabbit from the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, a human cartoon character who is perceived as one of the sexiest female characters in animation history. The scene shown in class exemplified the female form of Jessica, emphasising her hourglass figure and showing us the reaction of the male crowd who are captivated by her. Jessica uses her sexuality to bribe Eddie’s character by flaunting her femininity; guiding her walk using her chest and her long legs, pressing herself up against Eddie and looking in her hand mirror a lot. 

Her performativity and mystique is what is so alluring to Eddie and he is utterly captivated. This shows the viewer that she is fully aware of her beautiful attributes and it fascinates the viewer to ponder what is going to happen next.  I believe that the author portrays Jessica Rabbit’s character perfectly in this scene alone as she is knowingly performing to her male audience in a pretence of submitting to the male gaze whereas in reality she is exploiting this male weakness to her own advantage.

The use of the male gaze in film is a very effective technique and I consider it to be crucial due to the way the author characterizes individuals in their pieces of work, which helps the viewer understand the personalities and general attributes of characters.  I feel that imagery and sound play vital roles in the success of these techniques and they harmonize with each other to help create a great character which encapsulates the audience.

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References:

Laura Mulvey, Visual And Other Pleasures, (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1989)

Laura Mulvey, Fetishism And Curiosity, (Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1996)