"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" by Laura Mulvey

In considering the way that films are put together, many feminist film critics have pointed to the “male gaze” that predominates in the classical Hollywood filmmaking. Laura Mulvey’s influential essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” expands on the conception of the passive role of women in cinema to argue that film provides visual please through voyeurism identification with the on-screen male actor. In the essay, Mulvey argues that the film creates such a space for female sexual objectification and exploitation through the combination of the patriarchal order of society, and ‘looking’ in itself as a pleasurable act of voyeurism, as “the cinema satisfies a primordial wish for pleasurable looking”.

Voyeurism: the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviours, such as undressing, sexual activity or other actions usually considered to be of a private matter.

Mulvey identifies three “looks” or perspectives that occur in film which serve to sexually objectify women; 

1. the first is the perspective of the male character on screen and how he perceives the female character.
2. The second is the perspective of the spectator as they see the female character on screen. 
3. The third “look” joins the first and second looks together: it is the male audience member’s perspective of the male character in the film. This thirst perspective allows the male audience to take the female character as his own personal sex object because he can relate himself, through looking, to the male character in the film.

Passion play

A passion play is a dramatic presentation, of the medieval origin, depicting the passion of Jesus Christ; his trail, suffering and death. It is a traditional part of Lent in several Christian denominations, particularly Catholic tradition. Performances of such plays are recorded in various parts of Europe from the early 13th century onwards. Some formed part of the cycles of mystery plays, others were performed separately, usually on Good Friday.

The prologue of Doctor Faustus

The chorus is telling the audience to patiently reserve their judgement of Faustus which is shown when it says “to patient judgements we appeal our plaud”, suggesting that the chorus is trying persuade them to emphasis with him and be open-minded, even though he sold his soul to the devil which would be seen as an unforgivable sin by an audience in the Sixteenth Century. Also, the chorus takes the audience through his journey from birth to adulthood, which is shown when it says “now he is born”, which perhaps is an attempt to make them feel sympathetic towards Faustus and his downfall as it allows them connect with him. Also, the fact that he was “born of parent’s base stock” yet he was “shortly graced with his doctor’s name” shows that he is intelligent and has achieved great things.

Why was there tension between Catholics and Protestants in the Elizabethan times?

Shakespeare sneakily employs religious references and symbolism that his audiences would have been aware of to talk about the way the Queen oversaw the nation's religious affairs. When Elizabeth was made Queen of England after the death of Mary Tudor, her people had good reason to be concerned. Within more or less the past decade the nation had gone from Protestant under Edward VI to Catholic under Mary and now back to Protestant (jeeeez make your mind up). Neither Elizabeth nor her government was very enthusiastic at first about religious reform, knowing the problems that would ensure. At first, she simply banned preaching altogether to try and keep the peace, desperately afraid of Catholic revolt. Most Catholics were equally optimistic, assuming that a Catholic husband was all Elizabeth needed. It was the Protestant population, in fact, who wanted revenge for their fellow Englishmen who were exiled, imprisoned and burnt at the stake under Queen Mary. 

The Bloody Chamber

There were few things in the bloody chamber which I found particularly effective. Firstly, the fact that the heroine (the narrator) is nameless, this suggests that she represents all women therefore this could be related to feminism. Also, In the story the heroine tells us how her suffering became the source of her enlightenment, meaning that she overruled the man who was dominating her life (in other words she killed him because he was planning on decapitating her) and became a strong female figure.  However, it can be argued that she shows weakness when she tells her mother that she may not be sure that she loves the Marquis but she is sure she "wants to marry him", suggesting that she only married him due to his riches and position. This means that she depends entirely on his wealth and is therefore vulnerable and ignorant.

The story also contains some eroticness. At the start of the story when she is on the train sexual verbs such as “pounding”, “thrusting” and “burning” are used to suggest that she is feeling aroused and the heroine (who is a virgin) seems excited to gain sexual awareness and is curious about the act of sex which she anticipates. There is also a gothic feel though out the story which is mainly created by the setting and the symbolisms of death, such as the ruby necklace which he forces her to wear as it symbolises the death which he has planned for her.

Right I shall carry this on in another post as I am tired and need sleep!

Hegel's Tragic Hero

Willy often attempts to act ethically which thereby causes him to not act ethically as he violates the comptementary ethical law whilst destroying himself. Through this self destruction, the original ethical unity of the polis is restored and affirmed. 


Some examples of Willy's unintentional self destructive actions are:

• He lies about how much he earns which is shown when the amount he claimed he earned decreases throughout the conversation which he has with Linda. At first he claims that he did "five hundred gross...”, however soon after we are brought back to reality when we realise he had actually earned a considerably smaller amount of "seventy dollars and some pennies". The fact that he exaggerates the amount he earns and then eventually ends up admitting to what he actually earns will affect his self esteem and make him feel emotionally worse.
• When Willy cheats this also makes him feel guilt and shame which is shown when Linda starts complimenting him by calling him "the handsomest". This is when The Woman (who symbolises Willy's guilt) appears in his mind and therefore shows that the affair which he is having, due to the fact it makes him feel special as The Woman "picked" him, leads to him feeling self destructive emotions whenever Linda shows attraction towards him as the love he has for her is not enough for him to stay faithful.
• When Ben is first introduced to the audience in Willy's imagination it could be suggested that Willy believes he is a character which contrasts with his characteristics and that Ben is his interpretation of success. This is because Ben says that "when i was seventeen i walked into the jungle, and when i was twenty-one i walked out. And by God i was rich..." which suggests that Willy not only doesn't understand mechanics but also that he is envious of Ben, therefore this envy will lead to him feeling worse about himself and his unsuccessful career.

Aristotle's Ideas About Tragedy

The philosopher Aristotle said in his work Poetics that tragedy is characterized by seriousness and dignity and involving a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune (Peripeteia). Aristotle's definition can include a change of fortune from bad to good, but he says that the change from good to bad  is preferable because this effects pity and fear within the spectators. Tragedy results in a catharsis (emotional cleansing) or healing for the audience through their experience of these emotions in response to the suffering of the characters in the drama. According to Aristotle, "the structure of the best tragedy should be not simple but complex and one that represents incidents arousing fear and pity--for that is peculiar to this form of art." This reversal of fortune must be caused by the tragic hero's hamartia, which is often mistranslated as a character flaw, but is more correctly translated as a mistake.

According to Aristotle, "The change to bad fortune which he undergoes is not due to any moral defect or flaw, but a mistake of some kind."The reversal is the inevitable but unforeseen result of some action taken by the hero. It is also a misconception that this reversal can be brought about by a higher power (e.g. the law, the gods, fate, or society), but if a characters downfall is brought about by an external cause, Aristotle describes this as a misadventure and not a tragedy.