The Nude, Conceptual Approaches to Fine Art Photography, by Jennifer (Zivolich) Emery, published by Amherst Media, ISBN: 978-1682032527
This is a paperback fully illustrated book offering ideas for images of nude females. The book was okay, it described lighting layouts for the studio subject matter illustrated and tips on health and safety if using a fire eater, but it wasn’t very technically detailed nor did it offer a comprehensive range of poses that could help inspire fresh ideas. Only good if you want to copy the ideas presented but not much use in helping you find inspiration.
I have received my marks and confirmation that I have passed! Which is great!
I am however, a little disappointed at the marks I got as I did my very best and read as many books as I could lay my hands on to fully understand the theory and concepts behind this course and put them in to practical practice.
I found my photographic assignments very challenging, and I spent a great deal of time reading for research and brainstorming for ideas which my blogs illustrate with my handwritten notes, sketched ideas. I was disappointed that as a result of all that my images are criticized as being ‘stock-photography’. It is also very ironic because at one point when I really couldn’t come up with any ideas I tried looking for stock-photos for inspiration but found nothing of any use. So clearly their is a great stock-photography web-site I don’t know about, or maybe I’m just not good at asking the right questions to find them. Anyway, these images came out of my head not anyone else’s but as I keep reading in every book OCA lists, “There is no such thing as a new idea” (unless you are an Assessor of cause) Maybe, my ideas were cliche; I don’t know, I haven’t seen enough photos like mine to know, but I guess the assessors have. I bow to their experience. My images were considered too obvious, hopefully in time my experience will teach my imagination to be more sophisticated and in turn more subtle. My new course is also helping with ideas of motifs and the rule-of-three which I can use in photo essays to be able to put over an idea in subtler ways as they do in Hollywood. Art like science works best with cross-fertilization of ideas, theories and practices. For example, Geologist and Paleontologists have a better understanding of their work by being aware of the others sciences.
With regards to my essay, I was congratulated on producing a good essay. I was criticized for reading too diverse range of books and authors; but at this stage of my course I am still trying to learn as much as I can whilst looking for something that can inspire me enough to confidently specialize in. I prefer portraiture work and the Film-Noir images I did with Nikon really gave me a buzz; so I think that style of work is my forte. I love using all kinds of lighting to create interesting / stunning images and just using natural-light I find boring. This is where I think I will start drilling.
Anyway, I passed and I now need 40 points to reach my 120 which I hope I can achieve for my next course which was a new challenge, film-making.
If anyone other than myself bothers to read this, please wish me luck!
I have just finished reading this book that I began in November!
Tagg looks at how photography has been influenced and how it has influenced history in Europe and North America by examining historical records in the UK and Europe and USA. Taking examples of photographs taken in the 19th century for recording likeness’ of prisoners, photos of slums such as in Leeds that were used to push to challenge the Local Authorities and fight for improved living conditions for the poor. Images taken in the early part of the 20th century to document the results of economic rescission in the rural community of the USA. Tagg analyses both images and back the ground events to produce a strong argument for his book and often makes reference to a French philosopher, Michel Foucault, that who I should perhaps find more about and how his ideas may help in my creativity.
An interesting book, a little heavy and have your dictionary to hand but worth studying as his method of research is good and his idea that arguments that are not fully tested with good background research are weak and likely to be biased. I think Tagg alludes to this when referring to John Berger and Susan Sontag.
For assignment five, I have been given a fairly open brief, to create either a single image or a series of images to elaborate on the same theme.
I have chosen to create a single image.
“As the culminating assignment for the course you may wish to draw upon skills learned from Parts One to Four – issuing various forms of narrative, using yourself as subject matter, telling stories and reading images. The only stipulation is that you produce work that has been controlled and directed by you for a specific purpose. Remember to create a story with a specific context like the artists you’ve looked at in Part Five. This means you need to have an artistic intention, so a good place to start would be to write down some ideas. This could then form the basis for a 300-word introduction to the piece. You may find it helpful to draw storyboards to help you visualize your ideas.”
I have produced an image taken from a narrative that I found through my research, I then story-boarded to find the appropriate image and I chose this intended picture in order to link it to a metaphor for today’s society. This image has been created in context of a short story that acts as my 300-word introduction to my work.
“The aim of this assignment is to use props, costume, models, location, lighting, etc. to contribute to the overall meaning of the image.”
I have used a ‘No Pets’ sign and a pet dog as my props, I have used two models to act out the characters in my image, The female model was dressed as a business woman and the male model as a smartly dressed man in a country suit with walking stick and hat both suitable for a smart gentleman out for a stroll and a man dressed for his funeral. I chose to use the location of my local church that I felt suited the image. I used speedlights, light modifiers, coloured gels and manipulated the white balance controls to achieve my desired affects.
“If the narrative is to be set in a different era then the elements of the image must reflect this. Also consider the symbolic meaning of objects and try not to be too literal in your approach.”
My choice of costume is modern, Graham’s country suit is of a classic style and still popular today. Ann-Marie, was wearing her normal business suit that she wears for interviews and corporate meetings. Ann-Marie represents ‘Lucifer’ and I naturally didn’t want her in a Devil costume, holding whips, or sporting a Satanic tail; so I thought that simply dressing her in a sharp business suit and some lighting can imply a hidden layer to her true identity.
I have included snap-shots of my location and lighting set-up with sketches and notes as to how I planned and carried out the assignment. I have written a 1000 word piece including the 300-word narrative.
Going through the criteria for this assignment, I feel that I have done everything as asked; so I just hope my Tutor likes my final work.
When researching for my last assignment I read ‘One Way Street’ a selection of essays by Walter Benjamin and I read an essay about Franz Kafka, an author I had not come across before and I made a mental note to lookout for his work. My Tutor picked-up on my comments in my blog and recommended that I read some of his works a. Therefore I decided to read his works looking for ideas for my next assignment. To get myself started I made notes on the oxford dictionaries meaning for ‘context’ ‘narrative’ and the suggested rules. As I read his works, I took notes in order to help me find some mental visions that might be turned in to physical pictures. admittance-to-the-law
I have read through from cover to cover ‘The Essential Kafa’ and I have been inspired by a parable type story in the novel ‘The Trial’. This short story is about a country gentleman who seeks access to the law, but the man is told by the doorman that he can not grant him access. The country gentleman decides to wait until the doorman is given permission to grant him access, he waits all his life only to learn at the moment of death that the door was exclusively for him. However, this story led me to another similar story that I thought might make a stronger narrative in one picture.
This story was used in a T.V. episode of ‘The Twilight Zone’, ‘The Hunt’, first broadcast: January 26, 1962, Created by Rod Serling. I am unable to find a reliable source that can confirm the original author of this story. Some internet sources suggest that it is an old religious tale by an unknown however, Earl Hamner Jr. an American television writer and producer is credited for the story of ‘The Hunt’ in The Twilight Zone therefore I assume that the story is his. The gist of the story is that a man is on a road to Heaven and he is accompanied by his best friend which is his dog. Along the way he comes to a gate with a man standing by it, the Traveller asks the man where they are and the ‘Gateman’ informs him he is at the gates of Heaven; but when the man tries to enter with his dog he is told that dogs are not allowed and the Traveller is forced to decide between entering the gates or staying with his best friend.
I believe that this story has a stronger narrative to produce as a single photo. My idea is an image of the Traveller looking down at his dog as the Doorman or Gatekeeper tells him no dogs. Also I can use this scene as a metaphor to modern society and how our capitalist life style sometimes tests our moral metal. The Traveller is faced with a dilemma, should he be selfish and enter the gates alone for the imagined paradise beyond or stay outside keeping company with his best friend and putting his friend first. I believe that we are currently living in a very selfish world and that this test is being applied in one way or another every day; so I think this story is very relevant to our current life-styles.
For the location, I think that my local Anglican Church is perfect.
My first thought were the gates to the church but this would present problems of traffic, pedestrians and a difficult background; so a doorway is a better choice and the arched style ideal for the implied idea of a Holly entrance. Choosing a doorway eliminates the problems of traffic, pedestrians background and allows me to move my camera further away if required. I shall mount the camera to a tripod for better composition control and if I need to resort to Photoshop i can easily merge more images together.
My ideal location is the Choir Vestry doorway, my wife sings in the choir and I have spoken to the Vicar who is happy to allow me to use it as my location. I have a Labrador dog and a friend who has modeled for me before who can play the Traveller and a friend of my wife’s is happy to model as ‘Lucifer’. My thoughts for the Devil is a very pretty smartly dressed young lady, to represent the metaphor for temptation. She will be lit by a speedlight with an amber gel in a soft-box to give her warmth and another speedlight located directly behind her with a red gel in a large reflector dish to create a red rim-lighting / halo to suggest the source of the heat and a hint of danger. The traveller and dog will be lit by either natural day light or another speedlite (un-gelled) for daylight white balance. The camera will be set to tungsten or similar to trick the camera to create a cold look to the Traveller and dog. The Traveller and dog are between worlds and this region of space I imagine to be cold. Hell on the other hand is hot and should reflect this by using the corrective gel to alter the white balance for my Devil. By taking advantage of the white balance I can create a division between the worlds outside the door and that of inside and this warm contrast to the overall cold image will act as my punctum to the picture.
As you can see, I made sketches and drew a couple of storyboards to help me with ideas.
As part of my preparation for my final assignment, I decided to read the works of Franz Kafka in order to try and find some visual ideas for an image that was rich in metaphor.
Much of Kafka’s work was never published in his lifetime and thanks to his friend who saved his work from destruction against Kafka’s dying wishes we are able to read these stories today.
The Trial
Joseph K is a Senior Bank-Clark who one day awakens to find two men in his room to arrest him. He does not discover for what crime he is accused of; but that his crime is serious and his guilt is assumed. However, he is freed and informed that his case is under investigation and that he can continue to go about his normal business but he must present himself when required and he must build a defense. Throughout the book we never discover what the crime he is accused of is, nor who accuses him or why. He discovers that the Courts are all hidden in attics and all the Court personnel are only identified by a gold button sown to their jackets.
The whole story implies a form of neurosis of the mind. Is K really a victim of a secret Justice system or is he having some-kind of nervous-breakdown? This story is full of metaphors. I believe Leni to represent K’s idea of Justice, she is flirtatious, she is attracted to all of the Advocates clients; but she wants to help and she wants to be wanted. The Advocate is K’s idea of a typical lawyer who does his best to string out the work as far as he can for profit. I suspect that K meets the Judge in the Cathedral, he is the Priest and he gives K advise in the form of a story of a man who waits in vein to be admitted to the law only to discover on his death that the door he had waited at for so long was exclusively his.
I have been reading this novel as a result of my research for this course. I learned of this novel through a essay written by Walter Benjamin and I am considering a couple of passages from this story to use as an idea to inspire an image for my last assignment.
The ideas are:
From the book The Essential Kafka, published by Wordsworth Classics.
The Trial:
First idea: A portrait of a man sitting in a chair looking important, distinguished, implying authority, implying a Judge. He is posed to suggest that at any-moment he is about to leap from his chair. One hand grips the arm-rest the other holds a paper marker ‘Petition’ . Behind his a blind-folded, pretty woman stands holding scales in her left hand and a sword in her right. The idea is that she represents Justice; but her pose must also suggest the Greek female Goddess of hunting. She should be dressed classically one breast exposed like that from the famous French revolutionary picture of Liberty charging forward. (Chapter 6, The Uncle – Leni, page 81, lines 23-35 and page 109, Chapter 7, The Advocate – the Manufacturer – the Painter, line 32 to page 110 to line 11).
Second idea: An open door, above the door is a sign that reads ‘THE LAW’ on the door a smaller sign reads ‘Restricted’. A Doorman stands guard by the door and a Country Gentleman sits on stool looking dejected. Behind the Doorman light appears to be streaming out from the doorway. The Doorman must appear to look like he is on guard but is not appearing to be attempting to bar access. (Chapter 9, In The Cathedral, page 161 – 162).
The Castle,
The hero of this story is just known as ‘K’ and is a Surveyor who arrives at the village below the castle looking for lodgings before reporting to the castle to begin work. He discovers that he is not expected and is treated as an undesirable outsider by the villagers. The Castle then confirms that he has been appointed and advises that he must wait for further instructions. The castle appears to be inaccessible without permission and he is unable to find anyone who can grant him an audience with anyone in the castle. This story is a nightmare vision of bureaucracy gone mad with tear upon tear of management that makes anything practically impossible to get done and all the servants that are the management of the castle are aloof from the villagers can only be communicated through unreliable messengers. I believe that Kafka is describing metaphorically difficulties he had with his father and perhaps difficulties that he may have experienced as a Jew in post Austrian Hungarian Europe. The story ends in mid-sentence as Kafka never finished the novel.
Metamorphosis – The Transformation of Gregor Samsa
Was this the dark foresight of a German speaking Czech Jew of the 1920’s? Gregor Samsa awakens one morning to find that he has become an giant beetle, he can no longer be understood by his family and his new physique repulses them and he is forced to live imprisoned in his bedroom with only his younger sister brave enough to show enough compassion to feed him and clean his room. Kafka uses a dark sense of humor in his writing and provides no happy ending but suggests that as one thing comes to an end there is always the beauty of a brighter tomorrow.
The judgement
We are first told that the hero of this story is a successful business man living and working in partnership with his father and is writing to his friend in St. Peters-burg about his impending marriage. These facts are all thrown in to doubt when he discusses his letter and engagement with his ailing father.
Letter To My Father
This is a letter that Kafka wrote to his father but never gave to him. Addressing his feeling towards his father and venting his frustrations and anger to a man he has grown up to fear and resent. In this letter we learn a little of what has influenced Kafka’s writings and imagination. There is a very useful visual metaphor in this text. Page 590, line 26.
The idea
To the left a man stands facing a sheer cliff-face that he is trying to climb; to his right a flight of stairs is being climbed by another. there is a barrier between the two men; so preventing the man on the left from using the same path to ascend.
‘The Genius of Photography, How Photography Has Changed Our Lives’ by Gerry Badger, published by Quadrille Publishing Ltd.
This book was on my recommended reading list for ‘The Art of Photography’ course but I feel that much of the reading list for that course did not echo the syllabus and I did not choose to read it at the time, preferring more relevant books that could assist me in the exercises, subject matter and assignments. However, for this current course and for future courses this book has been more relevant and made more sense to me.
This book looks at the history of photography from a critical point-of-view as to it’s impact and development as an artistic practice. How it has been influenced and influenced the art movements of the 19th, 20th and now the 21st century up to 2007. Focusing on Photographers and examples of their work that have influenced the photographic art movement in their day from Daguerre to the unknown photographers using mobile-phone cameras for images that both informs and shocks the 21st century public.
Although much of the topics in this book have been covered in other books that I have already read, re-reading them will only re-enforce them to my memory and helps to plant ideas for future image making in to my sub-conscious.
This image is fabricated, created from scratch in a Hollywood film studio. The sky is hand painted using a technique called movie-matte-painting. The tree and fence are just props.
The first impression I have, looking at this picture, is a sense of foreboding and a feeling of uneasiness.
What we see: a sunset, a triangular shaped cirrus cloud, a very low horizon, a picket fence and a small female figure. We appear to be looking at her from in front and to her right, so as to see the silhouette of her chest. Her left arm is just out of view, but her posture suggests that it must be mimicking the right. To the far right of the picture stands a tree. Its branches are naked. One branch leans over towards the female figure and ends in a shape reminiscent of a hand-held scythe, with the tip of its blade pointing down on the figure below.
My interpretation
This is the final image from the last scene in Act 1 of the motion-picture ‘Gone with the Wind’. The audience has just witnessed this lady turn from desperation to determination; and the final image is made to look satanical with its fiery sky a witch like figure and a scary looking tree. We are encouraged to draw parallels from our imagination. I see Dante’s imaginable idea of ‘The Inferno’ and to quote from Canto III, lines 1 -3, ‘Through me you pass into the city of woe: Through me you pass into eternal pain: Through me among the people lost for aye.’ I am also reminded of the lines from psalm 23:4, ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me…..’
I see a lot of symbolism in this image:
From the point-of-view of the movie, The American Civil War was still within living memory of an elderly American generation; and perhaps because it was made with access to living witnesses some of the scenes are so remarkable (the siege of Atlanta for example). Therefore, the movie makers intended that this image translates that fences still need mending between the North and South.
However, I see the picket fence on several levels:
1, As representing home, family and her life; it is rickety and in need of repair.
2, Seen with a stripped tree, the broken picket fence also appears to suggest destruction and hardship.
3, The fences denote a road; and the setting sun behind her, with the fence leading to the foreground, connotes a journey.
The horizon has been set very low to give emphasis to the sky above Scarlet’s head, she stands as a small figure, as if under heaven or a damned soul at the bottom of the pit. The sky is like her name Scarlet; and it is also acts as a signifier for many ideas: the unholy oath she just made in this scene, loss of innocence, war, and a sun setting over a disappearing civilization and way of life.
I see 1939 in this picture, war had been declared in Europe. For many people watching this film, their own civilization was in danger of going the way of the South and the sun was setting over their world and their way of life.
The space for the sky on the left is filled with a triangular cirrus cloud with a faint suggestion of a crucifix in its pattern, strengthening this idea of heaven and earth. This iconic symbol can be identified for denoting, love and peace; but it also connotes hope, forgiveness and unity under one faith.
The lone female stands like the tree leaning back angled in symmetry with its trunk. Her arms hang down by her sides and her visible hand appears clenched. Her posture suggests that she is standing to attention, just as a tired and battle weary soldier might stand. For the American audience of 1939, the woman could be regarded on different levels, depending on who you were:
1 For middle-class white Southern and Northern citizens she is the fair and defiant but beaten and battered South.
2, She could also be symbolic for many working class Americans who suffered during the 1930s economic recession; and could be regarded as a figure denoting a nation that is getting back on to her feet and standing defiantly against her adversaries; thus connoting National strength and endurance.
3, In 1939 many people were still denied equal rights. For the audience, this figure in silhouette could therefore be black, white, yellow or any cast the viewer chooses. She is a woman, considered the weaker sex, but seen here to be strong and encouraging hope. “I know I have the body butt of a weake and feble woman, butt I have the harte and stomack of a king, and of a king of England too”Elizabeth I, 1588, Tilbury.
The tree is stripped and broken, yet it still stands, heroically defying the ill winds that have stripped it. In his book, ‘Camera Lucida’, Roland Barthes described a feature in a picture that is a focal-point that he calls a ‘Punctum’ something that makes a nice picture an interesting picture. I see the tree as the Punctum in this picture. The silhouetted woman against the sunset and cloud makes a nice picture which Barthes calls the ‘Studium’ but the sinister tree with the branch hanging over her head turns this in to a more engaging photo (in my opinion). The branch immediately above Scarlet’s head looks like a bony finger; it appears to point down on Scarlet like a condemning finger that is passing judgment. In the context of the movie the tree could also represent the Union with its terrible judicial judgement on the South.
So why the title?
As the Technicolormovie camera began to photograph this scene a technician would have held a card with different colours printed on it in front of the camera to assist for colour calibration later on in development. The Technicolor team referred to it as a ‘Lilly‘ card if the filming was successful at the end of the scene the technician would call “It’s a Lilly!”
psalm 23:4 – Translation from the original tongues being the version set forth A.D. 1611 Revised A.D. 1881 – 1885 and A.D. 1901 compared with the most ancient authorities and revised A.D. 1952 (The Bible Revised Standard Version Published by WM Collins Sons & CO Ltd. For The British & Foreign Bible Society)
My task for this assignment is to write a 1000 word essay on an image of my choosing.
I can choose anything I like a from famous art photograph to something from the family album but the image must have scope to make a rigorous and critical analysis.
If choosing a well-known photograph, take time to research it’s context – the intentions of the photographer, why it was taken, whether it’s part of a series, etc. Add all this information into the essay in order to be able to draw a conclusion from my own interpretation of the facts.
If I choose to use a found photograph, a picture from my own collection, or perhaps one from an old family album, use it as an opportunity to find out something new. Look directly at the photograph for information. It may be interesting to compare and contrast memory with the information being seen anew ‘reading’ the picture so intensely.
You must use the facts as a means to draw my own conclusion about what the picture means to me. I may wish to apply what I’ve learned in part 4 regarding translation, interpretation, connotation, signs, punctum, etc. Be sure to get the definitions correct!
Follow though association and other images that relate to the discussion. directly or indirectly. Look at the broader context of the image and it’s background and specific narrative as well as my own personnel interpretation of it and what thoughts it triggers for me. Follow these associations in a thoughtful and formal way. Enjoy the process!
The first task for this assignment was to decide upon the picture, I had just finished assignment 3 and I was holidaying in Spain where I could relax empty my head and ‘re-boot’. After the first week I was able to think again and ideas began to come to me, I had taken my laptop with me so that I could use it with my camera and I began to search for ideas. My first idea was of a photograph that I came across earlier this year taken in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp by an American photographer in 1944. The image shows local Germans forced to tour the concentration camp and I was fascinated by the expressions each of these civilians made, some visibly shocked and ashamed others indignant and cold. However, one night after a meal in the port we came home to the flat and put on the video and chose to watch Gone-with-the-Wind. I hadn’t seen this movie in years and I was taken by the photography and some of the scenes that were so good. I was particularly taken by the last image from part one. Scarlet O’Hara has returned to Tara having escaped the siege of Atlanta only to find Tara pillaged by the invading Union army starving she eats a raw horse radish that she has dug from the soil with her bare hands. At this point we see a transition in her from desperation to determination and the scene ends with her standing under a battle scared tree making an oath to god that no matter what she has to do she will never go hungry again. This was a very powerful scene and a very powerful image provides a strong sense of foreboding for part two.
This was my first idea for an essay. US Army photograph, 1944.
This image I photographed in the Spanish fruit and veg. market of Altea that neighbors my holiday home town of Calpe a year or so ago. I saw this scene and discreetly pointed my point and shoot Canon camera and caught it right at the best moment.
This was the image that I was so taken with in the motion-picture and I was luck enough to find it on the web.
When I returned to England I emailed my Tutor my suggested options and asked for his opinion. He replied the image from Gone-with-the-Wind. I was pleased that he had suggested this image as by now this was my favorite option.
After carefully looking at this picture I highlighted the cloud formation to help with my essay.
I also looked at how this image is composed.
I then began to make a list of basic information to start the research process which I typed as a word documents. Preperation for assignment 4 I then began researching through websites and for additional ideas on essay writing I read, Reading Photographs, Basics Creative Photography, by Richard Salkeld, published by Bloomsbury, Understanding a Photograph by John Berger, published by Penguin,’One Way Street and other writings’ by Walter Benjamin, published by Penguin, the essay ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ 1975 by Rachel Rose. The Bible and ‘Inferno’ by Dante Alighieri, published by The Folio Society.
As I researched I kept a record of the source on a word document that I could refer to again later. Notes Having accumulated my reference material I began to write my essay, at this point I was not concerned with the word count as I could cut away as necessary. Working Title I also included images in my basic work. when I came up with a title for my essay I resaved the document under it’s new name and continued to work on it. Draft-1-Its a Lilly! I then emailed my Tutor for advice on my word-count and he advised that I was allowed + or – 5-10%; so I made sure that when stripping away I had an idea of my safe envelope; so as not to take out anything unnecessarily Final Draft-Its a Lilly I then edited down my list of reference material relevant to my final draft and added it Notes for draft .
Finally I checked with my Assignment criteria to make sure that I had understood and followed it.
I then read it to my wife and she pointed out that the only thing I had not mentioned was how the picture made me feel. It was such an obvious observation but in my had not thought to mention it! This is a good example of being too close to the work to be able point out the obvious. this I easily rectified as the original attraction was the sense of foreboding and unease that this image conveyed.
The idea of the title for my work came through my research in to Technicolor and I watched several very good documentaries on YouTube that told the story of the development and use of technicolor which included an anecdotal story from an aging actor who played one on the Munchkins in Wizard of Oz who was puzzled why the always called out “It’s a Lilly!” at the end of a scene.
This time I only got one response from the Facebook OCA forum when I put out my request to critique my essay, but I took on board the comment that I should change the title for the last paragraph which I agreed with. I decided to change it from ‘Conclusion’ to ‘So why the title’. However, I also sent my work to a friend who I could rely on to give a good constructive critique and he came back with some suggestions to shorten a couple of sentences and punctuation corrections sending me his suggested amendments highlighted in red. ShaunDraftEssay from this I made my final changes Amended Final Draft-Its a Lilly-1
I learned about the existence of this essay from a text-book I read a few weeks ago (Reading Photographs by AVA Publications) whilst on holiday and thought it useful to get a copy and read it for myself.
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema by Laura Mulvey has only recently been published as a book accompanied by an illustrated essay by Rachel Rose. This essay has apparently been very influential in the world of cinema since it’s first publication in ‘Screen’ 1975. So I thought it important to read it.
The essay discusses a similar argument to John Berger in his famous ‘The Way of Seeing’ regarding how woman have been used in the arts and media as sexual voyeuristic objects. that employed and seen on the movie screen. Mulvey goes on to argue that women on the cinema screen represent castration due to their lack of the male sexual organ and also objects of desire by way of their glamour. Mulvey suggests that the audience is encouraged to become voyeurs by the the theater that puts them in the dark; so that they can feel that they can look in private. She also goes on to consider the ideas of voyeurism that she believes has been explored by the great Hollywood Directors, Sternberg and Hitchcock, in their movies, Morocco and Dishonored by Sternberg and ‘Vertigo’, ‘Rear Window’ and ‘Marnie’. Much of Mulvey’s essay is now regarded as out of date regarding how women are now portrayed in modern films (by Mulvey’s own admission as a footnote).
A small book of about only 30 readable pages, interesting and I am sure that if I didn’t read it now I would find myself reading it later in my degree course.
shauncn512659 Context & Narrative 