Laura Mulvey & Bechdel test

Laura Mulvey (born 15 August 1941) is a British film theorist. She was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She is currently a professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck, University of London.

One of Laura Mulvey's many theories was The Male Gaze theory. This concept refers to the way that visual arts are structured around the male viewing audience. It is described to depict the world and women from a masculine point of view pin terms of mens attitudes. The concept was developed from her 1975 essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema". The woman is usually shown on two different levels: as an erotic objects for both the characters in the film and for the spectator who is watching the film. The man emerges as the dominant power and the woman is passive to the active gaze from the man. This adds an element of "patriarchal" order within film.

The male gaze consists of three sections:

The Spectators Gaze
The male audience are looking at the female characters onscreen.

The Diegetic Gaze
The male characters onscreen are looking at the female characters within the film itself.

The Pro-Filmic Gaze
The filmmakers frame the female characters in a particular way through the camera.

Laura Mulvey argues that the only real power a female character can posses is her sexuality which she uses to manipulate or mislead the male. This re-enforces the idea that female characters are simply a problem for the male to overcome. Mulvey states that the females power can be dealt with in two ways:

1. Investigation and punishment- This causes the male to 'gaze' harder to figure out the female.
2. Fetishisation- The obsessive focus on the female form.

Bechdel Test

The Bechdel test is a study that asks whether a work of fiction features at least two women who have names, talk to each other about something other than a man.

It is estimated that only half of all films meet this requirement, according to user-edited databases and media industry press. The test is used to indicate for the active presence of women in films and to call attention to gender inequality in fiction due to sexism. 

The rules for the Bechdel test first appeared in 1985 in Alison Bechdel's comic strip 'Dykes To Watch Out For'. In a strip titled 'The Rule', two women discuss seeing a film and the black woman explains that she only goes to a movie if it satisfies these requirements:

1. The movie has to have at least two women in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something besides a man.

Originally meant as a "little lesbian joke in an alternative feminist newspaper", according to Bechdel, the test moved into mainstream criticism in 2010 and has been described as "the standard by which a feminist critics judge television, movies, books and other media". The failure of major Hollywood productions such as Pacific Rim (2013) to pass the test was addressed in the media. The television series Sex and the City highlights its own failure to pass the test by having one of the four female main characters ask: "How does it happen that four such smart women have nothing to talk about but boyfriends? It's like seventh grade with bank accounts!".

Explanations have been offered as to why many films fail the Bechdel test include the lack of gender diversity among scriptwriters and film professionals. In 2012, only one in six of the directors, writers and producers behind the 100 most commercially successful films in the USA were women.

Documentary

documentary

dɒkjʊˈmɛnt(ə)ri/

adjective

1. 1.

   consisting of or based on official documents.

   "documentary evidence of regular payments from the company"

   synonyms:

   recorded, documented, registered, written, chronicled, archived,archive, on record, in writing, on paper;

2. 2.

   using pictures or interviews with people involved in real events to provide a factual report on a particular subject.

   "a documentary programme about Manchester United"

   synonyms:

   factual, non-fictional, real-life, true to life, fact-based "the event will be the subject of a documentary film"

noun

1. 1.

   a film or television or radio programme that provides a factual report on a particular subject.

   synonyms:

   factual programme, factual film;

HISTORY OF DOCUMENTARY:

Documentary began in 1895 when the Lumiere brothers created a camera that could only hold 50 feet of film and their films were unedited clips capturing their life around them. These were called 'Actualities'. Un Train Arrivee (1985) is the Lumiere brothers most famous film which simply shows a train pulling into a station.

The word 'documentary' was created by John Grierson to describe the film 'Nanook of The North (Robert Flaherty, 1922)'. This was the first feature length factual film and Grierson described it as 'the creative interpretation of reality'. Another documentary was made, Nightmail (1936) and began as an informational film about the mail train from London to Edinburgh. Grierson was criticised for neglecting social and political issues in his films. 

So as a result, in the 1950s and 60s, Direct Cinema movement was created. This was aimed to present social and political issues in a direct and unmediated way, to give the effect that they are 'real' and recorded exactly how they happened. The modern social issues documentary, Supersize Me (Morgan Spurlock, 2004) is an example of Direct Cinema.

Whilst this was happening in America, another type of documentary was being developed in France. Cinema Verite (cinema truth) is a minimalist style of filmmaking that conveys the sense that the viewer is given a direct view of what was actually happening in front of the camera. It favours hand-held filming, natural lighting and location filming. 

CASE STUDIES:

In this topic of documentaries I have studied 3 different types of documentary.

1) A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (Chris Waitt, 2008)

This is classed as a 'mockumentary film'.

2) Undefeated (Daniel Lindsay, TJ Martin, 2011)

3) The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, 2012)

A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (Chris Waitt, 2008) and Undefeated (Daniel Lindsay, TJ Martin, 2011)

A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (Chris Waitt, 2008) is a British documentary that focuses on filmmaker Chris Waitt and his journey to find out why all of his romantic relationships have never worked out.

Undefeated (Daniel Lindsay, TJ Martin, 2011) is a documentary that follows the struggles of a high school football team, the Manassas Tigers of Memphis, as they attempt to win a season after years of losing. The team is turned around by Coach Bill Courtney who turns them into an academic and athletic team.

Both films show the theme of class. In Undefeated this is shown from the contrasting shots between the neighbourhoods. The white neighbourhoods are clear to be seen as very big and rich, with huge houses and neatly cut grass whereas the black neighbourhoods are very run down and the audience can infer that there is a lot of crime as their living conditions are different and more stressful. This emphasises the difference between the lives of the coach and of the team. In A Complete History of My Sexual Failures, class is shown through the use of visiting the different houses/apartments. Chris' apartment is shown as quite small, dirty and very messy, whereas the houses of his ex-girlfriends are clean and big. This could represent how they have moved on with their lives and have become successful but yet Chris is still the same.

Both films make the audience feel empathy towards the main protagonists. In ACHOMSF, this is shown when Chris takes an overdose on viagra. This infers to the audience that he must be at a low point in his life, as he walks around the city with his trousers below his waist begging for someone to have sex with him. This shows someone who is mentally and physically unstable and therefore they feel sorry for him. And in Undefeated the majority of the film makes the audience feel empathy as you feel for the team players. As the film develops each of them are facing their own problems that wont get better, until it ends with a happy ending so you can relate and feel happy with them.

The film Undefeated explores the themes of unity and relationships. This is evident in the bond between the team and the Coach to team relationship in the film. The director uses quotes in the film to highlight this. One example of this is the 'Put the team first'. Another example of this, is the quote, "The character of a man is not measured in how he handles his wins, but what he does with his failures" that Coach Bill Courtney uses numerous times throughout the film. This is effective as it highlights Coach Bill Courtney's positive influence on the boys on his team and his father figure role. The quote itself is also important as it emphasises the quote "football saves lives" expressed throughout the film.

Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard, 2012) and Mediterranea (Jonas Carpignano, 2015)

Rust and Bone (Jacques Audiard, 2012) is a drama/romance film that tells the story of Ali, and unemployed man who falls in love with a killer whale trainer. Ali is put in charge of his young son, so he leaves Belgium and heads to live with his sister until he can support himself. Ali bonds with Stephanie and their bond grows deeper after she suffers a horrible accident.

Mediterranea (Jonas Carpignano, 2015) is an Italian drama film that tells the story of two friends who cross the Mediterranean sea to immigrate to Italy, where they experience unexpected hostility from the locals.

Rust and Bone and Mediterranea both focus around many similar themes throughout the films such as masculinity, power and poverty. These are shown in a variety of ways which represent the male protagonists as similar to eachother. 

In both films, they show both protagonists love for their children. In Rust and Bone this happens after Sam's drowns, when Ali realises that he may have just lost his child, the one person he would do anything in the entire world for. This is powerful as he didn't show much emotion in the film until this point, when he breaks down in tears and the audience realise how vulnerable he is, which could affect his masculinity. The close up of Ali shows how much guilt he has as Ali starts crying and pleading towards Stephanie to stay with him on the phone. Similarly in Mediterranea, Ayiva starts to cry after seeing his daughter's reaction to the present he sent her home. Ayiva is shown crying again with a close up, which emphasises his emotions and vulnerability. This shows that Ayiva is ashamed of showing emotion, which Ali in Rust and Bone also did. These scenes are very vital each film as it shows how far both protagonists are willing to go for the well-being of their children.

Secondly, both protagonists in the two films are also shown in a state of poverty. At the beginning of Rust and Bone, it shows Ali searching through rubbish on a train to find food and supplies so he can support him and his son. A similar scene is shown in Mediterranea where Ayiva and Abas are shown to be travelling with other people who are shown to also be suffering in poverty as all of their costumes portray them to be poor. 

In Rust and Bone especially in the kick boxing fight, where Ali is shown to be demonstrating his masculinity. The strength of the masculinity is also emphasised using the editing techniques of slow motion which makes each hit inflicted look more brutal. Whereas in Mediterranea, the struggle for power is shown in the rioting where Ayiva and other members of the black community are shown rebelling against the Italians. This is seen is also important to due to it's representation of racism.

In conclusion, Rust and Bone and Mediterranea represent themes of masculinity, power and poverty. 

Coursework Presentation

https://prezi.com/txt5ell_b4e7/coursework-ideas/