Is Beauty a Problem? the Problem?

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Is Beauty a Problem? the Problem? Is Beauty a problem? The Problem? • In Vertigo is the object of the male gaze less empowered because she is beautiful? • Are the characters of Sex and the City enslaved by their own ideals of beauty--by their costumes or their self image? • What about the beauty of cinematography? • Do the aesthetics of film and television (impossible ideals) alienate us from our real life? Leni Riefenstahl Triumph of the Will, 1934 Used by the Third Reich as a powerful propaganda film Film career ended after Germany’s defeat in WWII She was arrested and not found guilty for war crimes Later published still photography of the Nuba tribes in Africa Biography Continued • Born in Working Class Berlin • started out as a self-styled and well-known interpretive dancer • she injured her knees and became interested in in film • The Blue Light, 1932 a romantic and mystical tale • Riefenstahl heard Adolf Hitler speak at a rally in 1932 and was mesmerized by his powers as a public speaker • Hitler wanted Riefenstahl to create an image of a strong, proud Wagnerian Germany radiating beauty, power, strength and defiance--to sell to the world---wikipedia Aesthetics • while the propaganda value of her earlier films repels many, her aesthetics are cited by many filmmakers as outstanding • Riefenstahl brought a perfectionism to filmmaking that allowed for exceptionally polished films • Her view: “I can simply say that I feel spontaneously attracted by everything that is beautiful...It comes from the unconscious and not from my knowledge...Whatever is purely realistic, slice of life, which is average, quotidian Doesn’t interest me. I am fascinated by what is beautiful strong, healthy, what is living. I seek harmony.” • Meticulous shooting including use of a dolly--technical development This perspective is evident in her Nuba tribe books which show the self inflicted violence of the tribesman arising from rituals, but fails to deal with any of the hardships that characterize the real life of primitive forms of society. About Hitler: • “ To me Hitler is the greatest man who ever lived. He is really faultless, so simple yet so filled with manly power...He is really beautiful, he is wise, Radiance streams from him. All the great men of germany have all had faults. Hitler’s followers are not spotless. Only he is pure.” Role as Propagandist • Disputed the significance of her role • she claimed to be naive, a non-political person who never joined the Nazi party and was only interested in her art • the only driving force in her life was beauty and harmony • reality did not interest her Reality and Triumph of the Will (1934) • “Not a single scene is staged...It is history, pure history.” • thorough preparations which lasted an entire week • Large elaborate stage structures were created • choreographed crowd scenes were rehearsed • Created a staged unity where none existed Opening Sequence of Triumph of the Will • opens with aerial shots suggesting Hitler’s arrival, a hero stepping down from the clouds • Suggests people have traveled from all over the country • “proud Wagnerian Germany radiating beauty, power, strength and defiance-- to sell to the world”---wikipedia Is beauty the problem? Dorothy Arzner Dance Girl Dance • One of the few women who established herself as a director in the film industry of the 1920’s and 30’s. • Even with extreme sexism she was able to create the largest body of work in the Hollywood system of any woman in history. • Arzner’s life in Hollywood, Cafe • Studied medicine at USC, ambulance driver, a visit to a movie studio inspired her to go into the film industry • She had connections to DeMille and to Paramount Studios. • she started out as a typist • within 3 years moved up to screenwriter then editor---positions frequently held by women • Blood and Sand, 1922--She brought in stock footage and saved the production a bunch of money. She impressed director James Cruze and he employed her for several films. • After working on 50 other films she threatened to leave Paramount for Columbia unless given a directorial position. • They conceded and let her direct Fashions for Women which became a commercial success. • The Wild Party 1929, important contribution to sound technology, she put the microphone on a fish-pole to allow Clara Bow to move around more freely • In 1932 she left to begin work as an independent director producer and created some of her best known films: Christopher Strong (1933), Craig’s Wife (1936), Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) • In the 60’s and 70’s, she was a popular professor at the UCLA film school and taught screenwriting and directing until 1979 when she died. Essentialism • It has been tempting (especially during 70’s feminism) to look at Arzner’s work as being essentially female • this belief suggests that a female artist will make distinctively different work than a male, because of some “essential and unmediated” relationship between gender and art. • nature over nurture • the idea states that what makes a woman a woman is stable and coherent regardless of cultural and historical contexts • Basically, a woman’s artistic style is written somehow in her genetic code and has nothing to do with her environment • instability of identity, post- structuralist, • auteurism (paradigm of film analysis) • from essentialist to social constructionist • “how do her films represent a female world view?” • how do her films interrupt the dominant masculine ideology of dominant Hollywood cinema? • Is Arzner just a female making Hollywood studio system films or a feminist rebel in male- dominated system? • She considered herself a Hollywood director • Arzner has been categorized as a director concerned with the cinematic representation of women • Female virginity or asexuality allow women’s communities to survive • In Christopher Strong the heroine’s undoing is a result of her love affair. • In Dance, Girl, Dance same sex friendships and connections are limited by opposite sex relationships • the film also shows a contrast of social paths for women--two central, but opposite characters. This opposition is a result of class distinctions • a scene used as a case study of the male gaze as represented in film • refusal of the male gaze • return of the gaze to the diegetic audience--feminist critique of voyeurism • exchanges of the female gaze--not represented in feminist theory.
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