I just pre-ordered the final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for our niecelings. And for ourselves, of course. The deluxe edition. I wonder who’s going to die in this one? Which brings me to today’s topic.
In class on Friday, we discussed Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist manifesto The Second Sex, and Laura Mulvey’s foundational work of feminist film theory, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. While the first is certainly exciting, it’s the second that I want to think about a little bit here.
In class I mentioned a few examples from classic Star Trek of men looking & women being looked at, every time Kirk (it’s usually, but not always, Kirk) finds a new space-girlfriend, the camera zooms in on her in a soft-focus choker shot. Compare these two shots from the classic Trek episode, “The City on the Edge of Forever.” The first time we see Joan Collins’ character, Edith Keeler, we get this:
The very next shot is of Kirk trying to explain his presence in her basement:
Notice the grittiness of the frame with Kirk, and the haziness surrounding Keeler? This is almost always a visual tip that Kirk has just fallen in “love.”
Kirk, being the active captain-type guy that he is, is active. His female love-interest, on the other hand, becomes not merely passive, but is actually reduced to the status of a painting, a thing.
Mulvey, writing in 1975, argues that “An active/passive heterosexual division of labor has similarly controlled narrative structure. According to the principles of the ruling ideology and the psychical structures that back it up, the male figure cannot bear the burden of sexual objectification. Man is reluctant to gaze at his exhibitionist like. Hence the split between spectacle and narrative supports the man’s role as the active one of advancing the story, making things happen.”
This, of course, was before Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, and the rise of the Calvin Klein -esque beefcake model. These guys have made a living being beautiful and being objectified even while they’re being active male “bearers of the look” that objectifies their female love interests. (When, that is, there is a female love interest. One could make a fascinating counter-example of the dueling objectifications at play in movies like Top Gun - in which Val Kilmer has no female love interest — or Fight Club — in which Edward Norton’s character seems even more enchanted by Brad Pitt’s chiseled physique than by Helena Bonham Carter’s lady-parts.)
Which brings me back to today’s topic. Not quite Harry Potter, but instead young Daniel Radcliffe, the (currently) 17-year-old actor portraying Potter in the films of the books. Mulvey talks about cinema, and it’s important to think about the ways in which cinema creates voyeuristic spaces for us all, but what about the Internet? Without a director or cinematographer to choose the shots, close-ups, pans, and dissolves, who is responsible for where we look online, and at what we look? Does the power dynamic of the objectifying gaze still apply?
Radcliffe, you may be aware, is about to make his debut in London’s West End (it’s the British equivalent of playing on Broadway) in a revival of Peter Shaffer’s play Equus. If you’re not familiar with the play, it’s about a messed-up teenager who has a … erm, very special … relationship with the horses he cares for. The action of the play mostly follows his relationship with his psychotherapist, Martin Dysart, who tries to understand and help the boy, while simultaneously reflecting on his own dysfunctional life. It’s a powerful play, but, as you might guess, not the most uplifting one.
At this point I think it may be important to introduce the concept of the “unicorn chaser.” I’ve blogged about unicorn chasers before, and I’m about to give you another one to help wash any unpleasantness from your mind. Here you go:
This image was brought to us courtesy of Bill in Portland Maine. Ain’t it cute?!?! If you find yourself disturbed by what follows, just click the “Back” button on your browser and bask in the amazing cuteness of this picture.
Because, did I mention that the teenager in Equus spends most of the play naked? And there are already promo pictures from the Radcliffe revival. Brace yourself and then click the link below to continue.
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February 28th, 2007 by 
Richard Parent 
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