Mainstream Mulvey

Feature 08 BELOW Clem waves at Joel at the train station GENDER POLITIcS IN mAINSTREAm Mainstream Mulvey: Hollywood films have been at the center of cinematic debates at least since 1975 when Laura Mulvey wrote “Visual Pleasure and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Narrative Cinema.” In the essay, Mulvey criticizes film for its subjectification of women Mind and (500) Days of Summer as and affirmation of dominant patriarchal constructs and ideals. Mulvey posits that Alternatives to the Feminist the only place where these values can be eradicated is in radical avant-garde cinema, Avant-Garde which “provides a space for cinema to be By Brenna Claire Williams born which is radical in both a political and aesthetic sense” (Mulvey 716). However, since / Mulvey first wrote her essay, and especially KEYWORDS : Laura Mulvey, female gaze, gender in film, in the last decade, Hollywood films have created a new kind of female character that scopophilia, romantic comedy, independent film is able to hold the narrative and visual power that Mulvey said wasn’t possible. As seen in the films Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Gondry, 2004) and (500) Days of Summer (Webb, 2009), the female love interest in romantic comedies can not only be equal, but can also hold more power than her male counterpart. While these films were not widely released blockbusters, they were each distributed by the independent branches of major studios and earned decent box- office revenue, over $72 million and $60 million respectively (Box Office Mojo “‘Eternal Sunshine’”; “‘(500) Days’”), providing a compromise between the mainstream cinema that Mulvey loathed and the avant-garde cinema that wider audiences overlook. 43 Film Matters Winter 2012 ➜ Williams.indd 43 2/13/13 5:02:32 PM Feature 08 Brenna Claire Williams ABOVE Joel waits for Clem to come home ABOVE Clem and Joel on icy lake As seen in the films Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and (500) Days of Summer, the female love interest in romantic comedies can not only be equal, but can also hold more power than her male counterpart. Nontraditional narrative styles,1 self-awareness relationships. Clementine (Clem) in Eternal on an icy lake where she is able to push him and play with visual coding, and disregard Sunshine takes control in almost every aspect around because he is also physically passive. for and inversion of patriarchal gender of her and Joel’s relationship and, similarly, Additionally, Clem ends her relationship roles make these films realizations of what Summer is the one who begins, defines, and by walking out on Joel and ignoring his Mulvey said film could be in a format that can ends her relationship with Tom. attempts to get her back. Clem is anything communicate positive depictions of women to Throughout Eternal Sunshine, Clem but the “passive/female” character Mulvey a wider audience than the avant-garde allows. dominates her relationship with her strong attributes to Hollywood films. One of Mulvey’s most scathing criticisms will and opinions. Both times she and Joel Similarly, Summer is in complete of mainstream cinema is the divide “between meet – first on the train from Montauk control of her relationship with Tom from active/male and passive/female” (Mulvey and later on the beach – Clem speaks first, beginning to end. Like Clem in Eternal 719) with a woman’s “presence [tending] to pursuing Joel while he only looks at her from Sunshine, Summer follows her whims, even work against the development of a storyline” afar. Clem’s desires drive the beginning of moving across the country because she (Mulvey 719). Eternal Sunshine and (500) their relationship both times: initially when wants excitement, while Tom, like Joel, Days work against this trend by making she invites him to her apartment and later leads a relatively static, passionless, and their female characters the ones whose when they meet again and she leads Joel on disappointing life. Tom doesn’t admit that desires and actions further the plot while their excursion into the beach house. Joel he has feelings for Summer, even after she men take reactionary roles, particularly blindly follows her lead, listening to her when straightforwardly asks him. She is the driving when considering the directions of their she tells him to call her and risking his life force behind their kiss in the copy room The most interesting parallel between these two films is the fact that they are both nonlinear, a characteristic that signals a denial of male power (Silvey 139). While both films follow male protagonists, the nonlinear narratives make it difficult for audience members to situate themselves within their lives and the world of the film, which foregrounds the women’s importance in them. ABOVE Joel alone on ice ABOVE Joel and Clem on TV 44 Film Matters Winter 2012 Williams.indd 44 2/13/13 5:02:36 PM Feature 08 Mainstream Mulvey ABOVE Clem and Joel at the flea market ABOVE Joel and Clem at the movies The films are able to create a safer screen space for their main female characters by noting visual and narrative elements like fetishism, scopophilia, and the gender constructs to which those in a patriarchal society are accustomed. and defines their relationship when they within their lives and the world of the film, Clem’s haunting personality wouldn’t have kiss again at IKEA. Summer’s view of their which foregrounds the women’s importance been as effectively communicated if this relationship wins even after Tom is hurt in them. In Joel’s case, Clem permeates every scene had appeared at the end of the film, as at the bar and tries to assert himself. Like part of his mind and memory, and in Tom’s it would have had it played chronologically. Clem, Summer ends her relationship with case, Summer defines 500 Days of his life. Throughout the rest of the film, Clem Tom, operating as an active character from Eternal Sunshine opens on the morning not only does what she wants to do, but also the beginning to the end. following Joel’s procedure and situates him affects the narrative structure of the film This active/passive division, according and the audience in his bleak apartment by operating as the catalyst for most of the to Mulvey, goes beyond gender power plays and life, both devoid of the color Clem things that Joel does, both while conscious and is found even at the core of the narrative brings to them. Here, the film adds a visual and during his procedure. She is the first to structure of films, with men “forwarding component that works with the nonlinear get Joel erased from her mind, doing so in the narrative, making things happen” and narrative structure in order to signal to the an impulsive pursuit of her desires. In his serving as “main controlling [figures]” audience how important Clem is in the film. mind, he tells her that he is only erasing her around whom films are structured (Mulvey The colors are neutral until Joel sees Clem because she did it to him first. Within Joel’s 720). The most interesting parallel between in Montauk, which signals her as a strong mind during the procedure, it is his mental these two films is the fact that they are both visual and narrative element since she stands manifestation of Clem who has the idea nonlinear, a characteristic that signals a out from across a desolate beach. By the end of going “off the map” (Eternal Sunshine of denial of male power (Silvey 139). While of the nonlinear film, the audience knows the Spotless Mind) when Joel doesn’t have a both films follow male protagonists, the that it is Clem’s imagined last words to Joel plan. Clem’s hold on Joel’s life, while they’re nonlinear narratives make it difficult for that brought him to the beach, affecting him together, after they’ve split, and even while audience members to situate themselves and controlling the plot from the beginning. he is unconscious, continually reverses Perhaps the thing the films communicate most strongly is the idea that strong, unique, and independent women are unforgettable. They are something to hold onto, something that, despite what Dr Mierzwiak tells Joel, you will miss, for better or for worse. BELOW Joel and Clem on the couch BELOW Clem sticks up for Joel 45 Film Matters Winter 2012 ➜ Williams.indd 45 2/13/13 5:02:41 PM Feature 08 Brenna Claire Williams BELOW Clem overpowers Joel on the beach ABOVE Joel from afar at the beach Mulvey’s assertion of male power Tom and his audience miss the warning signs Mulvey spends much of her article throughout the film. of Summer’s unhappiness, but this gives focused on the male gaze and accuses men Likewise, the nonlinear narrative style way to the realization and regret of missing of “taking people as objects, subjecting them of (500) Days serves to deconstruct male them when both Tom and the audience to a controlling and curious gaze” (Mulvey power, but in a different way than it does in replay memories more accurately during 717) and deriving pleasure from looking, Eternal Sunshine. From the opening credits, Tom’s healing process. The film poignantly which gives them power. Both Eternal Sunshine the focus on and importance of both Summer and self-consciously highlights this interplay and (500) Days consciously play with this and Tom is introduced by their parallel between reality and Tom’s expectations by “scopophilia” by sharing the gaze with their montage sequences, visual signals of the splitting the screen between them when female characters and by robbing the men fact that it is a story about both of them, Tom goes to Summer’s party.

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