Surrealist film often relies heavily on symbols especially Freudian symbols in order to create meaning in their work. Often these symbols are phallocentric and feed into what MacCormack refers to as the “phallic regimes” or the patriarchal structure in which women are seen as less-than men and female sexuality is seen as a void to be filled. Possession both combats and plays into this system of symbolism with its use of the monster, which is both mucosal and phallic. Mucosal and viscous material can be made to represent a female orgasm. MacCormack describes the how in film women’s “sexual fluid as mucosal is a monstrosity” because it doesn’t take a clear shape and is not easily defined, just as the monster is something not understood or understandable …show more content…
The Maries attempt to reenter society, as hard workers after they have “gone bad” and find themselves drowning. However their attempts to clean up the mess they have made at the banquet, piecing together broken plates turns out to be a bad imitation of the original banquet. The Maries have caused so much destruction they are unable to return to society. In the end this leads to them being crushed by the chandelier and imagery of atomic bomb explosions. Anna and Mark also end in a series of explosions in Possession. Their doppelgangers, more idealized versions of each other that adhere better to patriarchal social roles take their places. Neither of these films shows their protagonists as martyrs or heroes for the cause of feminism. They do not implement or fight for any larger societal change. In fact it may be useless to even question if these films are feminist or not. In Possession Anna’s repressed sexuality take on the form of a monster because monsters are often used in film to represent something that is indefinable, that doesn’t exist in a communicable form in our current system of representation (MacCormack). The monster is neither good nor evil but it exists as an intangible and uncontrollable force that can be more easily felt than described. Likewise the Maries are not explicitly good nor evil, it is up to the audience to implement their …show more content…
She points out that sometimes the best art cannot be described in terms of language or symbols. Sontag finds value in “works whose surface is so unified and clean, whose movement is so rapid, whose address is so direct that the work can be… just what it is” (8). Maybe this is the ultimate goal of both Daisies and Possession. Not to make a film that female sexuality in a way that is understandable and describable to a system in which it can never fully be understood. The films aim to address it in a way in which it can be felt. Surrealism attempts to reject oppressive societal constraints that cause us to repress true perception of reality. In order to have a clear understanding of female sexuality it may be useless to present it in a way that is easily and conventionally analyzed and interpreted. What Daisies and Possesion both aim to do is make this sufacing of repressed urges felt and experienced by their
Not all people have the same definition of evil. Evil can be expressed in many ways. Whether that be describing a person or giving a place a scary setting. Most though, think of evil as a person rather than a place. Those true qualities of evil help show if a person is a human monster.
This is suggested by Helen Simpson who stated that Carter centralises ‘latent content of fairy-tale’ is that women are objects of male desire hence patriarchal discourse establishes male supremacy to which Carter does this to challenge contemporary perspectives on the place of women by revealing the oppression that society inflicted. The Marquis is an overt example of male ownership of female bodies. Similarly, where Atwood exposes the harsh realities of oppressive patriarchy through the female body, Carter utilises the construct of the Marquis in the eponymous story ‘The Bloody Chamber’ as a grotesque embodiment of patriarchal control. In her essay ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ Laura Mulvey coined the feminist term ‘male gaze.’ She argues that men are the audience and women are to embody the male perspective of women as objects of satisfaction.
All throughout modern literature many different types of critical perspectives can be found while reading. Of the different critical perspectives (such as; Cultural, Feminist, Historical, and Marxist) the Feminist critical perspective provides society with the most compelling view when reading literature. Through the Feminist perspective displayed in literature we are able to see things such as the discrimination and exclusion of women solely based on their gender, the objectification of women, the power and oppression that others hold over them, as well as the different gender roles and stereotypes that women face. In the play, “Othello” written by William Shakespeare as well as the book “Frankenstein” written by Mary Shelley, we are able to see the way the Feminist perspective is displayed, the way it allows readers to have a basic understanding of the struggles of being a woman, and why it provides the most compelling view when reading literature.
There is also some flowing and soft movement in this section which represents flowing rivers “it’s the flowing rivers she cleanses in”. Other sharp movements and serious facial expressions symbolize the day to day struggles of being a female, looking for food from the earth, giving birth and raising children. Lying on each other represents sleeping and leaning on each other represents strength in unity and females helping each other within their culture. Animalistic movements represent the earth, Mother Nature and how animals were important to their
To Klimt, women are there to be passive and are only used as symbolism for birth and fertility. This is even more present in Klimt’s drawings, which portray women in more of a sexual nature than
Both good and evil can exist in the same person. This was shown in Jekyll and Hyde and it is seen again in To Kill a Mockingbird. None is all good nor all evil. There are several characters in To Kill a Mockingbird that show us examples that someone who appears to be good might just have a little evil in him and someone who seems completely evil may have a bit of good. Sometimes people seem to be either really good or really bad but when you really take a closer look, you may learn that that person is not exactly as they seem.
One particular example is a 1942 film, Cat People, where a race of women turns into murderous panthers when sexually aroused or are driven with jealously. She describes numerous scenes in the movie which depict the strength feminine monsters have by expressing particular anxieties that different people have. I can perfectly discern the purpose of using this specific movie and it is astounding. A particular scene she describes is when a cat person named Irena Dubrovna meets with Dr. Louis Judd (a psychiatrist who attempts to cure her of her unfortunate curse) for her appointment. The significance of this scene is that Dr. Judd, who is again a physiatrist, tries to take complete control of Irena by using hypnosis and finding out everything she knows which eventually fails due his urge to kiss her.
We all like to think that evil is not born within us, but rather nurtured into us; while this may be true for some, others have evil born directly into them. When man toys with the powers reserved for only God, God strikes back with a wicked evil to show man the power that they truly lack. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein contains a prime example of a being born of unnatural causes and thus having these evil urges that they cannot control. Frankenstein’s monster is a highly intelligent being, and hence he is very manipulative.
The movie Casablanca has similarities to World War II. The movie begins by the viewer meeting Rick Blaine. He is the owner of a club that helps people from other countries receive their letters of transit. This club was a safe haven for many of the refugees. This club would allow for the refuges to obtain their letters of transit as well as earning some quick cash for traveling from gambling in the secret room.
Not Just a Bowl Beauty is one of the main foci in society today where selfies, beauty enhancement or plastic surgery, celebrities, and the media reign over society—constantly defining what people should aim for in terms of appearance. Appearances are everything to many people rather than inner beauty such as character and values. In turn, this beauty-obsessed world has led to people becoming more shallow, superficial, and unaccepting towards anything besides the “norm.” It is quite ironic to have a “norm” considering how each individual is different and live in different cultures and such. People are not meant to be or look the same neither should they adhere to a certain standard in which someone else has established.
The characters demonstrate their side accurately, but the good versus the evil is what gets the best out of all of them. Bram Stoker effectively describes which characters are truly evil or truly good that brings forth "holy war" instances throughout the many heart pounding and gruesome events that happen in the novel. In Dracula from the beginning chapters, Bram Stoker adequately describes Dracula as evil. Dracula is
In the Realm of Senses is one of the foremost controversial movies in the history of cinema, with critics and fans still debating if it is of high artistic value or just pornography. Osima based the film on the true story of Sada Abe, a woman, who in 1936 erotically asphyxiated her lover and subsequently proceeded on cutting of his penis and testicles and carrying them in her kimono. The motion picture describes the relationship between Sada Abe and Kichizo Ishida, a hotel owner, through a plethora of erotically perverted scenes, up to its tragic conclusion. Furthermore, solely excluding the mutilations scene, the rest of the erotic ones incorporated actual sex, including fellatio and an orgy with geisha using sex aids.
In The Divine Ryans sexuality is illustrated as something to be ashamed of and even feared. This notion of sexual repression is represented through the Momary dreams. Draper Doyle uses descriptions such as “top-heavy, sewn together” (42), and “witch-like” (110), to
Evil is a simple word that we learn at a young age and that we understand is bad. However, our youth and innocence prevents us from knowing the weight the word holds. As our understanding of evil develops, we begin to see evil all around us. Although we hold common societal definitions of evil, each person is bound to view evil slightly different from others. Someone might consider alcoholism evil, while others consider it normal: someone might believe racism is evil, while others believe it is natural.
The media has long been recognized as important source of gender related information, television and cinema specifically influences its audience in a considerable way. (Denmark and Paludi 2008). With regards to the concept of gender cinema can offer a space where ambiguities of identities are played out; understanding the play of the categories of femininity and masculinity is very important in evaluating our own understandings of gender and how we react to different representations of it (Tasker 2002).If a film can show different individuals and we can recognize how social forces shape and constrain the individual according to classifications of gender it narrates an experience where we experience the film as gendered viewers. Film reflects and generates out own experience of gender over and above out own recognition and observation of it. (Pomerance 2001).