What if we gave a voice to women in cinema and on the small screen? Often dominated by a patriarchal vision of women, cinema and culture in general gradually manage to give way to the feminine point of view: the female gaze.
In 1973, Laura Muvley questions the look of the genre in cinema. Director and theorist, she is at the origin of the concept of male gauze defined by the way certain works bring a subjective and masculine point of view on our world. But what about a certain feminine vision of our society in cinema? In the series, the films, certain experiences of women are approached, but never from their point of view. Often in supporting roles, rarely asked about their situations, women have long needed to see themselves in the cinema. Change the tune, give them the floor on subjects that concern them directly … Here is what the female gauze, a feature that still struggles to find a place on our screens today.
From a biased view of women to an innovative and powerful gaze, how female gauze free the voice of women and change the situation with a different perspective on our world? We take stock of the male gauze facing female gauze and the works that change the game today.
The male gauze, this tenacious unconscious of the patriarchy
If the term of female gauze is becoming more and more democratic, it is important to know how to define the male gauze which could be what we would call its antithesis. In Visual pleasure and narrative cinema, Laura Muvley explains the male gauze as being a patriarchal vision of its female characters, whether the latter are in supporting roles or in leading roles: "The spectators who watch the screen are associated with the gaze of the male character" she explained. Something that the theoretician Iris Brey, author of the book The female gaze: a revolution on the screen, also states: "Each time a man takes pleasure in looking at this female character who is shown as an object" she said during a conference TEDx Woman Champs Elysées.
Game of Thrones or rape as a performance of virility
Whether the camera is filming Marilyn Monroe's legs in 7 years of reflection or even the way in which sexual abuse is perceived, the staging of male gauze are everywhere. We can especially mention the rape scenes from the series Game Of Thrones, broadcast by HBO in the United States and available on OCS in France. The victim suffers, obviously, but above all voyeurism is omnipresent. The rape scenes of Game Of Thrones are often seen as a spectacle and not as an experience by the viewer. The aggressor is often a director, subjecting the victim to his desires without us perceiving what the latter really feels. We face a performance of virility, contributing to this notion of male gauze theorized by Laura Muvley, switching to entertainment, according to Iris Brey.
In cinema, we can cite the essential films of Abdellatif Kechiche. The Life of Adele, which highlighted the emotional emotions of a young high school student with a girl with blue hair, films a male fantasy. The female characters are objectiveized and sexualized. The animosity of the sex scenes reveals a masculine take on this lesbian love story. The director, awarded a Palme d'Or alongside the actresses for this film, stages the bodies of these women for his pleasure and that of the spectator, one can imagine.
Without complex, Abdellatif Kechiche objectifies his women, like his last film Mektoub, My Love: intermezzo. This feature film unveils a staging where the camera films the buttocks of its heroines almost permanently. If French critics have struggled to associate this film with male gauze in its analyzes, the staging seems to speak for itself. And it is the same for the majority of Abdellatif Kechiche's films. So, how do you film desire, sexuality and even abuse with a different perspective, that of the characters identifying themselves as women?
The female gaze or how to bring a feminine look to the screen
A concept still very little developed by critics, the female gauze is, fortunately, more and more theorized. Iris Brey, who had discovered Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema during his studies, realizes that the study of genre in cinema is possible. According to her, it is even necessary to question the feminine point of view on the screen. So, is it really a revolution, as evoked by his book released last February? The author defines this term as follows: "If we had to define the female gaze, it would therefore be a look that gives a subjectivity to a female character, thus allowing the viewer and the spectator to feel the experience of the heroine without identifying with her."
Thus, unlike the male gauze, the female gauze is inclusive, it excludes absolutely no one. A male filmmaker is quite capable of making a film that brings a feminine point of view with relevance, finally giving the floor to the main interested party on a specific subject. The female gauze allows, not to identify automatically with a character, but to feel his emotions and to perceive what his experience brings to him. We are in the head of the main character and we move away from the point of view of those around him. Here, only the feelings of the woman matter.
The female gaze: A look giving a subjectivity on a female character
The female gauze can it then be considered as a militant act? By its way of interrupting the objectiveization of women, this concept could even, at first glance, turn out to be radical: "The majority of female gaze films are considered radical films, which will never become part of a conventional distribution and preservation system." explains Iris Brey. However, on closer inspection, the beginnings of female gauze is akin to a leading figure in the film industry. Alice Guy realizes Madame has desires in 1906. As this director came from Gaumont and her film was distributed by Pathé at the time, it was not at all with a militant or radical spirit that she decided to evoke the wishes of a pregnant woman.
These works that advocate the must-see female gaze
So how do you recognize the female gauze and what are its characteristics? To put it simply: the story must be told from the point of view of the main character, who must identify as a woman. Moreover, it is through his experience that the patriarchal authority will be questioned. The feminine experience is therefore truly felt, not to mention that the spectator's pleasure in watching is not voyeuristic. The female gauze does not sexualize the female body. Among the works that meet these criteria, there are many in the end since the work of Alice Guy and despite an undeniable dominance of male gauze.
Recently, Portrait of the girl on fire, which we had seen and about which we had discussed with its director Céline Sciamma, the feminine gaze is at its peak. The French filmmaker highlights two women, one promised to a man, the other, played by Adele Haenel, having to paint her before her marriage to formalize the union. From this meeting, we discover a feminine perspective on the world. If the two young women face the patriarchal pressure of the time, they protect themselves thanks to a passionate relationship, full of benevolence, love and sorority, showing their weaknesses as their ambitions. While the romance is inspiring and carnal, neither woman is sexualized here. With a nameless delicacy, we discover the fire of female bodies animated by a desire mixed with a powerful love, without judgment. Portrait of the girl on fire does justice to these forgotten female painters, erased from history. It highlights the rage and freedom of opinion on the society that oppresses these ladies.
But long before Céline Sciamma, Jane Campion democratized the female gauze on the screen. The New Zealand director, the only woman to have been awarded the Palme D'or at the Cannes Film Festival, is undoubtedly one of the pioneers. The film The Piano Lesson never makes the female character of Ada an object, quite the contrary, despite the scenes where she is naked. From start to finish, we contemplate the story through his eyes. Her gaze as well as her voice, although silent, gives the portrait of a woman facing the patriarchal pressure of the 19th century. Jane Campion reveals female desire and pleasure, as well as her emancipation, without passing judgment on it and without objectifying it for all that, thus refusing to comply with the male gauze and to position the viewer as a voyeur. Ada, in The Piano Lesson, expresses his desire and negotiates it.
Jane Campion reveals female desire and pleasure without objectifying Ada's body
Céline Sciamma and Jane Campion are examples among many others, of course. There are also the works of Marie-Claude Treilhou, Virginie Despentes or Charlotte Jansen who, if she does not make a film, evokes a work of photography that goes beyond the stereotypical image of the "female photographer" or that of "the feminist photographer." The same goes for artist Janette Beckman.
However, not all feminist films necessarily bring female gauze. Contrary to what critics generally think, rather reluctant to study gender, many feminist films do not provide a story from the point of view of a female character. The experience is contemplated, but not lived, made in such a way that it is understood by its spectator. Everything is therefore a question of staging.
To learn more about the female gaze:
The female gaze: a revolution on the screen, Iris Brey, Editions de l'Olivier
Visual pleasure and narrative cinema, Laura Muvley, Oxford Journal
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