#I should revisit the texts

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Reading that Natalie Portman believes that a female director having a particular gaze is reductive of women's individuality and point of view just shows that even someone as educated as her lacks media literacy and that today's discourse about cinematic gaze is based on very misguided and wrong understandings of the concepts.

If we look at social media, specifically tiktok, we would be lead to believe that a male gaze is what a man likes to look at and the female gaze is the opposite of that, what a woman likes to look at. How did we end up in this place? If we are to talk on such subjects, it would be wise to read upon some seminal works which stand as the basis and starting point of such concepts. We have to go back to John Berger and Laura Mulvey. And after we do that, we can nuance the discussion because there is so much to add to those initial understandings.

The concept of the male gaze has its origins in psychoanalitical theory, particularly scopophilia and Lacan's mirror stage. The man is the bearer of the look and the woman is that which bears the look and in the process she is transformed into an object. Mulvey explained that. All the elements of a film, from director, to DOP to the producing company, are creating this male gaze. But the problem with Mulvey's theory is that she assumed that the audience is strictly heterosexual. How does the concept still stand when a gay man is looking at the objectified woman on screen? Perhaps his gaze is upon the male character? Does that character became an eroticized object or not? How about a lesbian gaze? Is the woman's gaze from the audience the same as the director's?

I don't expect this and more from audiences across platforms, but I just want to point out that there's nothing simplistic there.

As to the concept of female gaze, there is little research, as compared to the male gaze in cinema and media, in order to have a definitive and encompassing theory. What I would say is that it's not the opposite of the male gaze. A female gaze does not automatically objectify men in a heterosexual sense, nor does it translate as objectifying women from a queer perspective.

Yet, it doesn't mean there shouldn't be an apparatus that helps us navigate texts as audiences but also for those who are creating the film and media texts.

Chantal Akerman in Jeanne Dielman did the opposite of the male gaze through filming techniques. She didn't fragment a woman's body and showed it as lacking eroticism. That's a choice that expresses a very clear message. Is it the female gaze? No, it is one of them, but I don't believe it is but one unique female perspective as Portman likes to think and as Akerman said at the time (as a context, Akerman refused the feminist label when the film came out).

There's plenty of women's perspectives in cinemas, but it is time to do the research that would do it justice. It's a lot of work and it must be intersectional because it has to be better and up to date with current understandings of women's identities.

[puppyeared]

i feel like im not making any sense but does anyone else feel like there are stories that let u run with them and ones that spell everything out for you

[freaky-flawless]

Thinking about....a Dead Tired Honey Swamp doll... that comes with a giant silk bonnet...

[pocketsniper]

tf2 askblogs exist again... nature is healing

[buck-tick-stash]

It's just past midnight now in Japan, and it's now March 7th, 2024.

Happy 58th Birthday, Sakurai Atsushi.

Around the time of The Ceremony, I was overwhelmed with feelings of love, gratitude, and grief. However, recently it seems only grief has visited me. Today, during the celebration of your birth, I want to rekindle that gratitude.

I'm so grateful that you were born.

I'm so grateful that you seemed to grow wiser and kinder with your years. I'm grateful that you were a role model to so many.

I'm grateful for your many years of music, whether you were with Buck-Tick, The Mortal, Schwein, other musicians, or on your solo projects.

I'm grateful for your beauty and artistry.

I'm grateful for Buck-Tick, and that you were able to stay together and stay strong for so long. I'm grateful for their obvious love of you and for their making space for you at the Phenomenon last December.

I'm grateful for your staff who, since your passing, have provided so much love and support for the fans.

I'm grateful for [. . . .]. I will never not be grateful for that.

I'm grateful that you [. . . .].

I'm grateful that you touched the hearts of so many and in so many different ways. I'm grateful that such love exists, even if it must be across a barrier of artist and fan.

I'm grateful to live in a world where I could know your work and revisit it over and over at my leisure.

I'm so very grateful for you.

Happy Birthday, Acchan. We love you so very much.

[ofpd]

@koheletgirl do u remember this

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

author i'm beefing with: "i feel slight revulsion about the word 'spiritual', it's got negative overtones, aren't you deluding yourself and others with it, keep it to yourself"

same author, literally twelve (12) pages later: *spends a page describing spiritual experiences, sharing them with the world, but insists they don't count as "spiritual" because they're about the physical material world*

my dude it's not just believers who try to have it both ways, huh

[justinefrischmanngf]

MUTUALS AND FOLLOWERS! i have a request wherein you stoke the flames for my being incredibly annoying obsessive&interesting about music: will you please send me albums that you would like me to rank the songs of (with explanations/fun facts/thoughts, of course)? if i end up liking this idea as much as i do rn, i think it could be really fun to sit with an album for a span of days and research or whatnot and Think Thoughts and like . again, if i stick to it, it could be an ongoing thing where i just am always bothering you all with long posts about music <3 thank you love you xoxo

[cozymochi]

@ the person ( assuming they are a new user and not a bot ) who was digging through my old Yamcha lore posts during my 2018-2020 dragon ball cycle

Thanks 💕

that aside, deadass, imagine loving db/z and your favorite character genuinely is Yamcha 😭, that’s the struggle I live with. hE’S SOO FUN AND EVERYONE ELSE IS WRONG including the man who made him

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

I should make another powerpoint, it would fix me

[fightingtrim]

weh. I think I'm gonna be brave and go back and read my old writing

[darthnell]

hey. Hey lionsgate. Capitol academy seems great and all.. but what about the fucking hunger games

[batsplat]

have you seen Unreal? it’s co-created/produced by marti noxon, who yes was kinda controversial buffy writer/producer I know……but man does Unreal have drama! quinn/rachel is like the most problematic toxic duo ever and their dynamic is in my opinion the closest yuri equivalent to 2010s yaoi queerbaiting (meant as a compliment). it’s focused on behind the scenes drama of producing a reality show a la bachelorette so it’s quite messy and there’s drama drama drama. and there are at least several times when the show does not deal w sensitive topics with grace to say the least. but subtextual co-dependent lesbian relationship between the main characters does deliver. like those women are both so horrible and they deserveeee each other…..

so I DO vaguely remember watching at least some of unreal as a teenager because my mum is like. very into the sociology of reality tv. so this show was extremely up her street. and I remember kinda liking it but also not being sufficiently invested because I was young and dumb and a little burnt out on this particular interest, so honestly I haven't retained many of the details. but what this does mean is that I know I can absolutely rope my mum into watching it with me when I go home for the winter holidays, because I'm 95% sure she loved that show. and tbh the way this rec has been written I am now extremely likely to do that, because I was DEFINITELY too young and repressed to be picking up on any subtextual toxic yuri and I absolutely need to get in on that

also (just to cover my ass) idk if marti noxon has done anything actively Bad - but in terms of the actual buffy she did, I was a big fan!! I loved season six, I thought season seven had some flawed execution but I was mostly right on board with what it was trying to do. idc if a lot of the fanbase hated the direction the show went and blamed her for it, a lot of the fanbase is wrong. s6 is really probably still the buffy season I think most about. anyhow, I got into buffy right around when I moved abroad for uni (roughly around the time I got into motogp, funnily enough) so seeing she'd been involved in unreal was one of the reasons I've been kinda meaning to revisit it for years anyway. just never remembered to bring it up while back visiting my family ig. but toxic yuri!! queerbait!! perfect rec for me, cheers anon

[10518]

no one I know follows this afaik (thank god) but ohhhhhhhhhh god when will I stop being like this. I’m not even in a place to be in a relationship rn but I’m utterly miserable over someone who barely gives me the time of day anymore & may or may not be openly flirting with someone else in front of me even after everything & like. kms forever and ever

[bookshelfpassageway]

wish i could beam ALL the fallen london lore into my brain so i can proceed to play with my ocs in it

[kyokajirooo]

cringe culture is DEAD!!! i have to admit as much as i say that i'm not into MHA i skim every new chapter that comes out [even though im not hyperfixated on it with is rare for me lol] im gonna try and revive this sideblog bc literally the last time i truly felt something was when i was 14 deep into mha

i should change my url actually LMFAO antikcchk was it ever that serious