first minutes of the movie lost in translation related to Sofia Coppola They serve to introduce the two heroes. The first image is of a woman lying on her side in bed with her back to the camera, what looks like sheer pink panties and a blue sweater. The second garment is barely discernible, because in a dim environment only the part of her body from her hips to her knees can be seen. the second is Bill Murray Sleepy in a taxi driving through the streets of central Tokyo. Her face expresses emotions and is in a recognizable space. While we actually know who the actor is, the actor could be anyone (we’ll find out later) for someone who encounters the film without prior knowledge of the cast. Scarlett Johansson). She is the observing active subject, the woman the observed object. These two shots intensify the thesis of gender bias in cinematographic language, set out in director Nina Menkes’ impressive documentary. Brainwashed: The Power of Sex Cam (Manipulation: sex cam power).
Channel TCM Within the cycle it is published on the occasion of March 8, International Women’s Day. they create planned throughout the month. Originally premiered sundance festivals It’s in 2022 and it created quite a stir that brought a lot of joy to the director but also led to some conflicts. Speaking via video call from the Prensa Ibérica group to EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA, Menkes said, “Most of the women who saw this at the festival are members of the DGA (Directors Guild of America), which is very powerful.” “Some of them were on the organization’s Women’s Executive Committee and decided to hold an event for it to be screened at their headquarters, but the DGA said no, with unconvincing arguments. We eventually learned it was because they didn’t want to bother their members in their own homes,” says the filmmaker Los Angeles. having fun from his home in taki.
Documentary is the third format in which Menkes spreads the message that offends industry creators, many straight cis white men (only 9% of the top 250 films released in the United States in 1998 were directed by women, compared to 8% in 2018). It was announced that he fell brainwashed to remove any hint of doubt). The source of this study is an article titled. Visual Language of the Edition: Harvey Wasn’t Working in a Void (Visual Language of the Edition: Harvey Wasn’t Working in a Voidpublished by Menkes in the journal movie productor It was so successful that the author began receiving invitations to lecture and eventually used videos of these talks to create this movie. Inside Shows lots of absolute movie classic clips to support your explanationsalso excerpts from interviews with other filmmakers.
‘The male gaze’ [la mirada masculina] It dictates ways to appear so specific to us that they almost seem like the law”.
Machismo in the film industry is a subject that has been discussed many times, such as the roles that are usually assigned to women, the demands of young people or salary differences. However, Menkes approaches them from a more technical point of view in his documentary. Laura Mulveyfeminist film theorist explained in her 1973 essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema: what is known as the ‘male gaze’, namely the male gaze. In his film, Menkes says, this point of view translates into a visual language that “dictates to us the ways we appear so specific that it almost seems like laws.”
The keys are as follows. HE The design of the shots determines who is the active subject, the viewer (male) and the passive, the observed (female).. Framing shows men’s entire bodies, while women’s are dismembered, and nudes can appear at any time, even if they’re not necessary in the plot. The movement of the camera and image is also decisive: in the case of women, slow motion is used to show their bodies to emphasize their sexuality, while in the case of men it is used in scenes. action or violence. The light that illuminates the male protagonists in close-ups is always harsh and direct, giving them depth, but the females are dimmer and ‘flattening’ them: they are three-dimensional and the female two-dimensional.
Framing shows men’s entire bodies while women’s are dismembered, and nudes can emerge at any time, although not necessarily.”
It is possible to see obvious examples of this language among the clips selected for the documentary. One of the most striking is Carrie (Brian DePalma, 1976): after the first scene in which the protagonist is seen playing volleyball badly, the camera enters the locker room, where he and the other actors take a shower without this collection of nudists at all relevant. A ‘Bond girl’ at a time –Ursula Andres, Halle Berry– leaves the sea very slowly and lady from shanghai (Orson Welles1947) Rita Hayworth spends most of her time in a bikini surrounded by well-lit, dressed men. Certainly, Alfred Hitchcock could not be missing from the list with rear window (1954), a kind of involuntary ode to the male gaze in the cinema.
“I started thinking about this 25 years ago, when I started making my own films. I realized early on that my perspective as a woman was not represented in the movies,” Menkes explains. “No one at film school believed there were female directors. Godard was God, and if you said anything about the way he portrayed women, they would look at you like you were crazy.”. “Now it seems that after the move Me too “People are better prepared to hear that,” he says.
If that’s what we see all the time, it’s invisible, it’s air. You don’t notice the mood, so it’s just as possible for a woman to reproduce this trope as it is for a man to do it.”
His filmography is well fed. first movie A Soft Warrior (1981), starring his sister Tinka Menkes appearing in other titles such as Magdalena Viraga (1986), Bloody Boy (1996) or Crazy Bloody Women Center (2000). In addition brainwashedMenkes signed a short contract in 2022 Female lion. “I am also the cinematographer of my own works. My way of thinking about framing or where the camera will go is very automatic,” he says, describing how he got rid of the “male gaze”. This affects other filmmakers like the aforementioned Sofia Coppola. How is it possible for a woman to have the perspective of a heterosexual cis man? Amy Zieringproducer and director Allen V. farmexplains it very clearly brainwashed: “If that’s what we always see, it’s invisible, it’s air. You don’t notice the mood, so it’s just as possible for a woman to reproduce this trope as it is for a man to do it.”
Menkes develops that this visual language used in cinema directly affects sexual abuse and violence against women as well as employment discrimination. Rape culture is constantly fueled from the screen – the sex scenes where the woman finally says no to give in and be satisfied with the man’s wishes, the beautification of aggression – and is actually sustained. In fact, MeToo has uncovered that 94% of women in Hollywood have been victims of sexual harassment or assault. “A well-known cinematographer I worked with on my film ghost love (2007) told me that all young women are in danger on movie sets,” recalls Menkes.
“It is true that he has changed and his appearance has changed. Figures like privacy coordinators are groundbreakingThese allow the actors to feel comfortable filming the sex scenes and there are no unexpected situations such as nudity or unscripted movements. Despite everything, there are news about it in the media every day. But hey, at least now we’re aware of what’s going on without anyone talking.”
movie bodies
On Thursday, March 9, Movistar Plus+ is releasing its documentary movie bodiesgoverning Kristy Guevara-Flanagan. Premiering at the Tribeca Festival in 2022, the film also focuses on the objectification and hypersexualization of women in the cinema due to the ‘male gaze’ Nina Menkes refers to (even some interviewees like the actress). rosanna arquette It is included in both works, although it does not deal with it from a technical point of view. The film showcases, among other things, digital touch-ups to rejuvenate actresses, the reality of body pairs, education followed by privacy coordinators, or how the sexuality of transgender or disabled people is portrayed in cinema.
There are some points that both documentaries hit, such as the many rape scenes on the screen. Actress Rose McGowancondemned in 2017 harvey weinstein She continues in the documentary, as she raped herself and is one of MeToo’s most important voices. “Writers often believe that the only way for a female character to become powerful is to rape her for no apparent reason. These are not strong women. They’re battered women who have to survive and look beautiful while doing it.”
The director also uses movie scenes and interviews with other characters as examples. Jane Fondahis testimony as the protagonist barbarella It’s crucial to understand actresses’ historical fears of nudity. But all the explanations, clips and theories from the work of both Menkes and Guevara-Flanagan come to the same conclusion: as long as the gaze of the cinema is that of patriarchy, women will remain passive. object of history.