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Showing posts from January, 2021

Male Gaze in Suicide Squad

 Suicide Squad contains one of the most prominent examples of the existence of the male gaze in modern cinema; the portrayal of Harley Quinn.  The female villain only exists as arm candy for the Joker and they make that very clear within this movie. She started off as a doctor curing the Joker but then ended up being fooled by love and giving up her normal life to become someone's object, in one scene within the movie, Harley danced in a cage within one of the Jokers club. The scene is set so that we are viewing Harley from behind the drapes of the Joker's booth, Harley looks directly towards the camera which is posed from the Jokers point of view, it is as though we are viewing her in the same scopophillic nature as the character in the film. When she looks towards the camera it is as though she is looking towards the Joker seeking approval. The Joker even offers Harley as "a gift" to a man in the club, this reinforces the idea that she is a mere object in the scene ...

My Film

What is my Film About? Summary of Movie Concept My film will be based upon Laura Mulvey's theory on the presence of a male gaze in cinema. I want to depict the sexualisation and pressure put onto females to conform with traditional gender roles. Mulvey's theory suggests that females audiences are passive, they gain no pleasure from looking at the sexualised females however, they compare themselves to the "ideal" women from a male point of view. In this film I want to reflect the build up of pressure caused from trying to become this mainstream idealism of what beauty is. Mulvey suggests that the use of fragmentation of the body, slow shots and close ups of erotic areas such as the lips and eyes are used in order to satisfy the scopophilic view of the male audience. I intend to shoot close ups taking off and putting on clothes in order to show the unnecessary sexualisation of the female body within the film industry. I believe that lighting has a strong effect on the a...

Lacanian Analysis of The Double

Although "The Double" isn't directly exploring Lacan's theory of lack it definitely shows evidence of truth in his theory. The double is based upon the concept that a man can be so unnoticed that if a doppelganger of him was to appear no one would even notice. Throughout the film the ideas of a doppelganger reflects the originals desire to become the better version of himself. The doppelganger is everything he wants to be, he is funny, charismatic and above all, he is liked by everyone. The film is based upon desire the main character desires to develop in his career, he wants to have a chance with his love interest, he wants he mother to actually like him, the doppelganger offers him a chance to make all of his desires come to life but as they do he realises that it is not right which relates to Lacan's theory in which he suggests that once we achieve our goals and get our desires we do not feel fulfilled or complete.  Within the first scene of the movie we see a...

Jacques Lacan

 What is Lacan's Theory? Lacan theorises when a person is an infant it enters a mirror stage, in this stage it looks at its fragmentary self as an imaginary whole (Lacan, J., 2006), film theorists would see cinema functioning as a mirror to its spectators in the same way. Cinema allows us to project our fantasies onto the film we are watching in order to fulfil a desire through the production. Cinema reflects onto us the idealistic image of ourselves, rather than the person we truly are. Lacanian psychoanalysis begins with the tripartite system,  imaginary, symbolic and real, these are a system which form one's sense of awareness. The imaginary is derived from perpetual and fantasied mental processes, the symbolic order is derived from culture and through language and the real is a derivative of our senses (Gerson, M.J. Accessed 2020). The main idea from Lacan's theory is the we create unrealistic fantasies because once we achieve a fantasy we do not feel complete, we like ...

4 Hour Film Challenge - Obsession

What is the Task? The task at hand is to produce a production based on Jacques Lacan's theory of lack and desire within a 4 hour timeframe.  What do I Want to Produce? I am going to produce an interview style production talking to the Alexa speaker. I am staging the interview with a speaker as I believe this will help me reflect the obsessive nature behind Lacan's theory, the idea of someone talking to a speaker is quite insane however, it reflects them going mental due to their fixation on a desire to fulfil endless goals which don't make you feel happier. My character in this production is going to be a very modern feminine character that is very fixated on their appearance. All over social media in recent years the idea of "miracle" products are sold to a mainly female audience to supposedly help with weight loss. A lot of them are drinks a majority of which are teas, I intend to add a comical spin to this idea, instead of advertising the weight lost from ...

4 Hour Film Challenge - Freud

What is the Task? The task at hand is to create a film in four hours which links to Sigmund Freud's theory on the Id, Ego and Superego. The film should show the difference in the three different forms of consciousness through the use of one character to show that all three are present in each person. What I Want to Produce? As I will be shooting at college I am going to show a reflection of the Id, Ego and Superego in a college student. I will try make it as relatable to college life as possible however, the video will very short therefore, I will only have a short timeframe to convey the idea that it is set at college. The use of props and outfit will be used to suggests that it is a student for example, the student will be wearing a college ID lanyard around their neck. Many teenagers at college are smokers therefore, the student may mention smoking in some form to link to being an average rebellious teen, the idea of an average teen links to the ego, the have some form of morali...