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kanashiki koi no twilight
Jul. 5th, 2010 01:51 amFrom ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cleolinda's most recent entry on Eclipse:
I would argue with Owen Gleiberman that the movie series is not a return to the male gaze; it is a very strong assertion of the female gaze. Look, you saw New Moon, and if you didn't, I'll catch you up: Bella spends 80% of the movie in three layers of shirt and a parka, while the camera lovingly watches Edward jaaaaames deaaaaan across the parking lot in indie-rock slo-mo, and Jacob administers shirtless first aid with the finesse of a Chippendale. In Eclipse, the Jacob fan service is so prevalent that a character actually asks, "Doesn't he own a shirt?" ... The not-sex scene ... focuses almost entirely on the unbuttoning of Edward's shirt. These are movies that understand that their primary audience does not need or want to see Bella's goods, and they know exactly what their audience is there to see--they're there to see the same things Bella wants to see. That's the female gaze in action.
And if it makes male viewers uncomfortable or disdainful: we, as women, have been living with the male gaze as the cinematic default since pretty much forever. ... Guys, you having to sit there and watch the camera ogle these two guys is what life at the movies is like for us.
So fascinating!! And yet another reason for me to roll my eyes at the guys who come to box office whining about how their girlfriends are dragging them to "chick flicks." Whatever, dude, suck it up. One thing I love about my co-workers is that some of them are guys who will openly admit to liking Twilight, although one of those guys apparently isn't such a fan of Eclipse. When I asked how he'd liked the movie, he told me he laughed through the whole thing. Why? "Because it was like watching two seagulls fighting over a grape."
Oh, Twilight ... xD
cleolinda's most recent entry on Eclipse:I would argue with Owen Gleiberman that the movie series is not a return to the male gaze; it is a very strong assertion of the female gaze. Look, you saw New Moon, and if you didn't, I'll catch you up: Bella spends 80% of the movie in three layers of shirt and a parka, while the camera lovingly watches Edward jaaaaames deaaaaan across the parking lot in indie-rock slo-mo, and Jacob administers shirtless first aid with the finesse of a Chippendale. In Eclipse, the Jacob fan service is so prevalent that a character actually asks, "Doesn't he own a shirt?" ... The not-sex scene ... focuses almost entirely on the unbuttoning of Edward's shirt. These are movies that understand that their primary audience does not need or want to see Bella's goods, and they know exactly what their audience is there to see--they're there to see the same things Bella wants to see. That's the female gaze in action.
And if it makes male viewers uncomfortable or disdainful: we, as women, have been living with the male gaze as the cinematic default since pretty much forever. ... Guys, you having to sit there and watch the camera ogle these two guys is what life at the movies is like for us.
So fascinating!! And yet another reason for me to roll my eyes at the guys who come to box office whining about how their girlfriends are dragging them to "chick flicks." Whatever, dude, suck it up. One thing I love about my co-workers is that some of them are guys who will openly admit to liking Twilight, although one of those guys apparently isn't such a fan of Eclipse. When I asked how he'd liked the movie, he told me he laughed through the whole thing. Why? "Because it was like watching two seagulls fighting over a grape."
Oh, Twilight ... xD
