Álex Pina, the creator of the cult “La casa de papel” has unveiled his new series “Sky rojo”. An explosive female trio where male gauze and voyeurism are unfortunately present.
In the series Sky rojo, released on Netflix on March 19, 2021, Coral, Gina and Wendy are prostitutes who try to escape Romeo, pimp and owner of the Las Novias club. But they are finally drawn into an explosive chase … The style of La Casa de Papel is recognizable among a thousand. From the very present soundtrack to completely blocked situations, Álex Pina wanted to apply his perfect recipe for guaranteed success. And it’s won: Sky rojo is among the most watched content on Netflix. But if the success is at the rendezvous, the quality, it sins: we are far from the feminist Casa de Papel that we hoped … It would have taken more than guns and chases to make Sky Rojo a “badass” series, a term overused here with tight shots on the buttocks of actresses.
Three heroines tell their story
In a semblance of female gaze, this feminine gaze that urgently needs to be honored in cultural productions, Coral, Gina and Wendy tell their own story in voice-over. Through the episodes, we discover what brought them to the Las Novias club. Gina, for example, a Cuban forced into prostitution upon arriving in Spain, is a victim of sexual slavery. These experiences, very dark, lift the veil on strong subjects: systemic oppressions, the fantasies that are projected on Latin women and the horror that certain sex workers suffer. Some scenes also manage to illustrate intelligently the way in which the heroines detach themselves from the sexual relations they have with their clients, and during the flashbacks, some slow-motion on their frozen faces express beautiful outbursts of sorority. However, this feminist breath is quickly cut in its tracks.
To see also: Cinema, series and feminism: How female gaze brings a liberating gaze
When the male gauze comes back at a gallop
The problem is that it is not enough to put three heroines in the foreground, gun in hand, to claim girl power. The realization is carried by a male gauze (dominant male gaze) seen and reviewed and above all, voyeuristic. Despite everything the series is about, women are reduced to the status of sexual objects through a gritty staging. It’s impossible not to roll your eyes while watching these famous scenes at the Las Novias club. The camera follows the sulphurous swaying of these neon-lit ladies. Worse still, she does not forget the close-ups on the buttocks and breasts… Result: you end up wanting to go and have fun in a strip club more than to understand the daily life of these young ladies. Not better outside the club: if during a sequence, the girls are having fun at a car wash, the camera can not help but come closer to their soaked cleavages. Did you say cliché for a straight basic man?
To see also: 5 films directed by women who celebrate female gaze
Discover our Newsletters!
We have so much to tell you: news, trends and all kinds of exclusions.
I subscribe
The feminist ambition of the series Sky rojo is therefore completely in contradiction, using the methods that it denounces elsewhere. This Spanish Netflix production unwittingly proves the importance of detaching yourself from the male gaze to serve the cause of women. On the same theme, other works succeed, such as the film Girls of Joy, produced in 2020 by Frédéric Fonteyne and Anne Paulicevic, which addresses prostitution through a female gaze so precious on our screens. Series Sky rojo, she did not go to the end of this idea and if the intentions of the scenario are laudable, the realization unfortunately serves to reinforce the male hetero fantasies. Coral, Gina and Wendy deserved much better.
Melanie Bonvard
Mélanie deciphers pop culture from a societal angle and questions the female gaze in films or even series, because everything is a question of gaze, she …