HITCHCOCKS VERTIGO

CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES
FEMINIST CRITIQUE

Feminist Film Theory

Developed in USA early 1970s from
Sociological theory
Function of women in film as result of wider
stereotypes about gender roles in society

Focus is on the representation of women

Formally through characterisation & micro-elements
Narrative their role in the plot and position in
narrative

Draws on Psychoanalytical theory

Freud / Lacan

Offers psychological, social, cultural and political

critique about the way in which women are
represented in Film and wider society

What is the focus of Feminist

Critique?
Views cultural products as reflections of the inequality
assigned to men and women within social, political and
cultural life
This inequality is seen to be represented by:
the roles of male and female characters
Appearances
Treatment of male and female actors/ stars
Success and development of men and women in the industry

Film itself is a social institution and has a specific

ideological function, that reflects wider ideology about
gender roles

What is the focus of Feminist

Critique?
The film industry is patriarchal
positions of power and influence are held by men.
It is from a male perspective that

scripts are chosen,

specific genres become more popular than others and
certain actors / actresses are employed.

Films often mirror the creator's own place in society,

so representations in film will always reflect the
experience of the writer and director.
Assumption that male directed films will objectify women,
female directed films wont (not entirely accurate)

Mainstream audiences are male

Key Feminists in Film

Laura Mulvey
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, 1975

Robin Wood
Fear of Spying, 1983

Marianne Keane
A closer look at Scopophilia; Mulvey,
Hitchcock and Vertigo, 1986

Tania Modleski
The women who knew too much, 1988

Key influences of Feminist

criticism
Psychoanalytical
Freud
Focuses on fantasy & dreams, which are a reflection of defences,
wishes & guilt expressed by conflicts in the subconscious
Believed resistance & transference is a way we cope with fantasy &
dreams
Mother role fundamental to development of sub-conscious
Gender roles are learnt & based on psycho-sexual development of
the individual & the society they live in

Lacan
The obsession with death
the subject of the gaze (male) & the object of the gaze (female) creates
obsession & desire for the thing or the object
The thing becomes a replacement for our obsession with death

Woman does not exist, they are a symptom of man as a subject

women are ideal objects of male desire

Key terms of feminist film

criticism
The Male Gaze
Women are represented from pov of male cameraman /
director/ producer for male audience
Representation projects a male fantasy on female
characters.

Scophophilia
Women in the audience have to watch these
representations from the Male Gaze
They gain pleasure in looking at women on screen being
adored by men

Voyeurism
Watching without being looked at
Enjoyment through watching

What is Post-feminist
Critique?
Post-feminism is a development (and
reaction) to radical feminist thinking of the
70s and 80s.
It argues that womens roles within wider
society have changed / are changing
Women can be empowered by roles &
representations that Feminism traditionally
considered to be restricting
It also considers the representation of men
It argues there is a female gaze