Comparative Essay. Perspectives of Identity through the Cinematic Gaze

Perspectives of Identity through the Cinematic Gaze
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Introduction
Laura Mulvey (1989) used psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud to rationalize the visual pleasures that are instinctively present when watching human bodies in films. Mulvey analyzed the perspective of visual pleasure as the "cinematic gaze" where the viewers take pleasure in seeing the form of a character (Narine, 2010). In particular, the "gaze" primarily satisfies the male’s visual interest in relating with the pleasures of looking at a human body or the "male gaze" (Narine, 2010). The male gaze is assumed to be from the influence of the patriarchal society that created conventions about the role of men and women about the way on how they should act (Narine, 2010). Added by Narine (2010), men are depicted as active, such as having conviction in their principles and beliefs, while females, on the other hand, should be passive and more obedient to the instructions of men.
These depictions are evident when the audience view a certain character in a Film. Depending on the perspectives of character that is being viewed, the audience will experience different visual pleasures (Mulvey, 1989). Added by Mulvey (1989) there are two ways on which an individual takes pleasure when looking to the human form: sexually and narcissistically. A person is taking pleasure from the human body sexually, when he/she is experiencing the excitement of the libido by looking (Mulvey, 1989). On the other hand, if a person is looking a human body and unconsciously rationalize the possibility that a character is showing or reflecting the viewer’s own characteristics or ideal characteristics, this reveals the narcissistic nature of visual pleasures (Mulvey, 1989).
The easily observable visual pleasures in a film is the sexual gaze of the viewer; however, the narcissistic aspect of visual pleasures should also be studied so that we can understand how a certain character in a film helps us viewers in shaping how we understand identity not just by seeing others but also by seeing ourselves. In this paper, the different perspective of visual pleasures or gaze will be analyzed in the films Cléo 5 to 7 (1962) by Agnes Varda and Citizen Kane (1941) by Orson Welles.
The Sexual Gaze in Cléo 5 to 7
In the film, Cléo 5 to 7 (1962) by Agnes Varda, Varda presents the female protagonist Cleo that is suffering from an existential crisis due to her diagnosis of cancer. Cleo was trapped in mental despair that lead her justify existence to be materialistic and superficial. After her emotional outburst in the office of the fortune teller, she stopped to look at a mirror and explained to herself that "as long as I'm beautiful, I'm alive" and "ugliness is a kind of death” (Varda, 1962). This scene sets the preliminary tone of the movie where the identity of a character is based upon looking at a person on the way she presents her external beauty as the source of pleasure. Cleo's beautiful face and perfect body is focused in the scene that triggers the gradual increase of sexual gaze of the audience throughout the film.
In another scene, Cleo went home with her maid and proceeded to remove her dress, thus, exposing the layer of her elaborately designed under garments. Cleo's body was the focus in the scene and her body was further emphasized when she grabbed onto the overhead iron bar for stretching. The curves of her stretched body, her bust, her waist, and her hips draws the attention of the male gaze to view Cloe's body to be a sexual object of desire.
In the theories of Sigmund Freud, the viewers are aroused sexually when looking at a sexually alluring body because of the limitations in satisfying our curiosity about the hidden body parts of a female body (Mulvey, 1989). This creates a craving that see what is behind the undergarments but only focused on looking since it is not allowed to touch (Mulvey, 1989). Additionally, women's body in the film tries to match the ideal beauty based on the depiction our society's historical culture (Neroni, 2016). Mass media is the primary source of these ideal depictions of beauty that targets the insecurities of the people by setting what should be the standard appearance to appear beautiful (Neroni, 2016).
In another scene, Cleo went to a sculpting studio where artists are sculpting the body of her friend Dorothee who is modeling in the nude. This scene is where the sexual gaze is most obvious. The scene was focused on her bare-naked body where her slim and smooth posterior features can immediately trigger the insatiable sexual desires of the viewer. Dorothee's body was exposed for about two minutes where on the latter half of her naked exposure was shifter from the backside of her body to the upper side of her torso, which also revealed the side potion of her breast. The clincher of this scene is that Dorothee is happy in nude modelling, which subtly implied that the female bod...