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Feminist Film Theory and the Abstraction of Woman 2 The Notes 1 ‘Frozen in Showcases’: Feminist Film Theory and the Abstraction of Woman 1. Sophie Mayer (2009) considers in detail the production and reception of The Gold Diggers, looking particularly at why this visionary film seemed to disap- pear. Catherine Fowler (2009) also examines the film’s unfavourable recep- tion, and includes an interview with Sally Potter which features a discussion of how Potter felt ‘slaughtered’ by the hostility (115–16). 2. This is also similar to Richard Dyer’s analysis (2003) of Rita Hayworth’s per- formance in Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946). 3. For examples of these approaches, by critics such as bell hooks and Jane Gaines, see Feminist Film Theory: A Reader, ed. Sue Thornham (1999), Parts IV and VI. These approaches are also reflected in the collection Multiple Voices in Feminist Film Criticism, ed. Diane Carson, Linda Dittmar and Jamie R. Welsch (1994). 2 The Camera as an Irigarayan Speculum 1. Clearly Irigaray is not the first theorist to have suggested this. Jacqueline Rose (1986: 96) describes how, in the nineteenth century, woman was held wholly responsible for the social well- being of the nation, and that when she failed in this task she was seen as either disordered or diseased. Rose also sug- gests that the writing of George Eliot might have used the character of the hysterical woman as a form of masquerade (120). 2. This is similar to the writings of Emmanuel Levinas (1998: 37–58) on the fun- damental alterity of the other – in particular, ‘Time and the Other’. Irigaray responds to Levinas’s ‘Phenomenology of Eros’ in her essay ‘The Fecundity of the Caress’ (1993a), which I consider further in Chapter 5. 3. Irigaray has conducted linguistic studies of male and female use of language, written and oral, and the language of people suffering from senile demen- tia and schizophrenia. For a consideration of Irigaray’s work on language, see Margaret Whitford (1991: 29–52); see also Penelope Deutscher (2002: 23–41). 3 In the Cut: Self- Endangerment or Subjective Strength? 1. The role of the woman’s body in the horror/slasher tradition has been exam- ined by, among others, Kaja Silverman, Barbara Creed, Linda Williams, and Carol Clover. Examples of these analyses can be found in Part V of Sue Thornham, ed., ‘Fantasy, Horror and the Body’, Feminist Film Theory: A Reader, pp. 227–82. 206 Notes 207 2. Fincina Hopgood describes Frannie as a woman who ‘seems to desire her own subjugation at the hands of a powerful male’ (2003: 28–32); Mike Goodridge describes Frannie as ‘a sexually frustrated college professor who rediscovers her sexuality when she gets caught up in the hunt for a killer’ (2003: 24); and Leslie Felperin argues that ‘what makes the film so pro- vocative is that the more things point to Malloy being the killer, the more Frannie is drawn to him’ (2003: 38). 3. Kaja Silverman (1988: 81–4) conducts an analysis of Bree’s voice and its sig- nificance in Klute, in particular for the murderous Cable. 4. I use the term ‘voice-off’ rather than ‘voiceover’ to connote the existence of another place, off- screen, which the voice inhabits. In this way, the voice can be appreciated as occupying a place of its own, not simply supplement- ing or complementing the image. This terminology is used by Brigit Sjogren (2006) in her book Into the Vortex: Female Voice and Paradox in Film. 5. I discuss the impact of Ryan’s star persona in more detail in ‘Meg Gets Naked! Exposing the Female Star in Jane Campion’s In the Cut’ (2009a). 6. Brown (2005: 107) cites Pakula as having told his cinematographer that he wanted Fonda’s entrance to be photographed like von Sternberg pho- tographing Dietrich. Pakula wanted the scene to reflect the man’s point of view and his erotic fantasy. 7. Thornham discusses this image in the context of the Medusa’s head in ‘Starting to Feel Like a Chick’ (2007: 34). See also Sue Gillett (2004a), ‘Engaging Medusa’. 8. Alan Richter (1993: 61), defines ‘cut’ as referring to female genitals. Richard A. Spears (1981: 96) also defines ‘cut’ as the female genitals, with reference to the pudendal cleavage. 9. Tasker likens the character of the female prostitute in Hollywood to that of the male boxer – both exist within a corrupt and corrupting world in which they have only marginal control over their lives, with little but their physi- cal labour to sell: ‘Both are suffused with a certain romanticism, seemingly measured in direct relation to the damage that their work does to them and their ability to resist it.’ (2002: 5) 10. This beheading suggests the myth of Medusa. Sarah Kofman (1980) writes: ‘Woman’s genital organs arouse an inseparable blend of horror and pleasure; they at once awaken and appease castration anxiety.’ See also Gillett (2004a). 11. Two examples of such discussions are ‘Sex in the Movies’ by David Hudson, and Mark Kermode (2006). 12. Doane (1991: 27) writes that ‘Glasses worn by a woman in the cinema do not generally signify a deficiency in seeing but an active looking, or even simply the fact of seeing as opposed to being seen’. Gillett (2004b: 87), however, argues that Frannie’s look is possibly reactive, and that ‘the spectacle invades her’. 4 Lost in Translation: The Potential of Becoming 1. Kiku Day (2004), however, considers that anti- Japanese racism is the very spine of the film: she considers that ‘the Japanese are one-dimensional and dehumanized in the movie, serving as an exotic background for Bob and Charlotte’s story’. 208 Notes 5 Morvern Callar: In a Sensory Wonderland 1. See, for example, E. Ann Kaplan (1990: 128–42); Creed (1998: 78), who describes Marnie as a powerful example of what might happen if a girl fails to resolve the Oedipus complex; and Mladen Dolar (1992: 37), who locates Marnie in Hitchcock’s ‘maternal universe’. 2. Molly Haskell writes about Hitchcock’s use of the contradictions between the images of blonde and brunette women: at its simplest, the ‘bad’ icy blonde and the ‘good’ voluptuous brunette (1987: 348–51). 3. There are several other significant differences between the Winston Graham novel and the film – most notably the relocation to America, which empha- sizes the English- ness of Mark and his father and the American- ness of Marnie. For a detailed consideration of the development of the screenplay, see Tony Lee Moral (2005). 4. For further discussion of this point, see Lucy Bolton (2009a). 5. It is interesting here to note that Samantha Morton, who plays Morvern, has played other roles where her character is a mystery and her body ‘speaks’ at least as much as her voice: Sweet and Lowdown (Woody Allen, 2000), Minority Report (Steven Spielberg, 2002). See Maximilian Le Cain (2002). 6. See, for example, Colin Kennedy (2002), Kristin Marriott Jones (2002), and Bec Smith (2002). 6 Architects of Beauty and the Crypts of Our Bodies: Implications for Filmmaking and Spectatorship 1. For further consideration of this point, see Lucy Bolton (2007). 2. Bainbridge (2008) analyses films from other national cinemas in her frame- work of Irigarayan cinematics, including The Silences of the Palaces/Samt el qusur (Tunisia) and The Apple/Sib (Iran). She also considers the production, distribution and reception contexts of these films in comparison with the work of Sally Potter, Jane Campion and others. 3. Sue Gillett, however, draws upon Irigaray to argue the opposite: that Ada’s silence emanates from a position of strength (2004b: 41–54). 4. Interview with Susanna Moore, 2003, ‘In the Cut’: Behind the Scenes, Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment. 5. See Brian Pendreigh (1999), and Annette Kuhn ‘Lynne Ramsay’, Screenonline. 6. See Toril Moi (2003: 100–8); and Margaret Whitford (1991: 9–11, 38). As Whitford explains, Irigaray’s terms are not about writing: she is concerned with speaking as a woman and the sexualization of discourse. Concluding Remarks: The Object is Speaking 1. My Summer of Love, Helen Cross; Fur, Erin Cressida Wilson and Patricia Bosworth; A Mighty Heart, Mariane Pearl; and La Môme, Isabelle Sobelman. Bibliography Althusser, Louis (1971) ‘Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses’, in Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays, trans. by Ben Brewster, New York and London: Monthly Review Press, pp. 121–76. Andrew, Anthony (2009) ‘Life of Ryan’, Observer, http://www.guardian.co.uk/ film/2003/oct/05/londonfilmfestival2003.features, date accessed 21 February 2009. Astruc, Alexandre (1968) ‘The Birth of a New Avant-Garde: la caméra stylo’, in The New Wave, ed. Peter Graham, London: Secker and Warburg, pp. 17–23; first published in Ecran franςais (1948), 144. Axelrod, George (1953) The Seven Year Itch, New York: Random House. Babington, Bruce and Peter William Evans (1989) Affairs to Remember: The Hollywood Comedy of the Sexes, Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press. Bainbridge, Caroline (2002) ‘Feminine Enunciation in Cinema’, in Dialogues, ed. Luce Irigaray, Paragraph, 25.3, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp. 129–41. —— (2008) A Feminine Cinematics: Luce Irigaray, Women and Film, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Balázs, Béla (1999) ‘The Close-Up’, in Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, ed. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen, New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 304–11. Barlow, Helen (2009) ‘A Cut Above’, The Age, http://www.theage.com.au/articles/ 2003/11/06/1068013321192.html, date accessed 21 February 2009. Bazin, André (1967) ‘The Ontology of the Photographic Image’, reproduced in What is Cinema? Volume 1, Berkeley and London: University of California Press, pp. 9–16. Bellour, Raymond (1977) ‘Hitchcock the Enunciator’, Camera Obscura, 2, 68–71. blackamazon (2006) ‘Sofia Coppola Feminism: Dependent on Class, Race, and Cultural Subjugation’, Racialicious, http://www.racialicious.com/2006/11/03/ sofia-coppola-feminism-dependent-on-class-race-and-cultural-subjugation, date accessed 21 February 2009.
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