Tag Archive: Sofia Coppola


THE FEMALE GAZE IN MOVIES

Filed under: Gender, Movies — 1 Comment
December 9, 2011
Jane Campion on the set of ‘Bright Star’.

In the penultimate episode of Channel 4’s The Story of Film:An Odyssey,  Mark Cousins interviewed New Zealand director Jane Campion.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Campion spoke about the need for women to have a more prominent voice in movies but also added: “one of the betrayals of the female is that they want to see themselves through male eyes”.

This struck me as a slightly different slant on the traditional feminist arguments about the dominance of the voyeuristic  ‘male gaze’ and suggests that it is not simply a question of women gaining key roles in the production of TV and cinema but also of using such positions to challenge the patriarchal order.

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SOMEWHERE – COMFORTABLY NUMB

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January 3, 2011

Somewhere – directed by Sofia Coppola (2010)

As in Lost In Translation, Sofia Coppola is good at showing the comfortably numb circuit of boredom and isolation that comes with fame. Her movie Somewhere shows the emptiness of the pampered life while still managing to convey the glamour of a star actor’s lifestyle.

In the first shots here we learn everything there is to know about  the actor Johny Marco (Stephen Dorff)  without a word being spoken. We see him going round in circles in his black Ferrari on a race circuit. We see him at a fashionable party (when he falls and breaks his wrist). We see lying in bed being entertained in his hotel room by two blonde pole dancers – Bambi and Cindy!. We see him  fall asleep before their ‘erotic’ show is finished.  (These opening scenes made me think that it is not inconceivable that someone will actually a whole movie out of a character study like this where there is no dialogue). Continue reading →

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