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Explore poststructuralism contexts in Hollywood cinema, studying spectatorship, examining audience responses, and dominant ideologies through Marxist and feminist models. Discuss feminist film theory, Marxist film theory, psychoanalytical approaches, and audience resistance to popular culture influences within cinematic experiences.
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Introduction to Film Studies 1: Hollywood Cinema Lecture Four: Spectatorship
Examining Audiences • Context: Poststructuralism (Barthes, Derrida) • Key questions: • 1. Who watches films – gender, ethnicity, age, class • 2. Where are films watched – national or regional contexts • 3. What time period are we referring to – historical placement • 4. What does the audience enjoy and why?
Examining Audiences • Two approaches: • 1. Empirical research – any problems with this? • 2. Textual analysis – any problems with this?
Dominant Ideologies • Marxist model – Karl Marx to Louis Althusser • Capitalism • Bourgeoisie and proletariat • Exploitation through the creation of surplus profit • Capitalism will be replaced by socialism
Dominant Ideologies • The feminist model – Kate Millet • Patriarchy • Gender roles and inequality • The Women’s Movement
Films and Dominant Ideology • Christian Metz • Films communicate dominant ideology, whilst giving the appearance of having no overt values • A passive audience become indoctrinated – this achieved by two strategies: • 1. Apparatus theory • 2. Textual system theory • The individual is encouraged/pressured to accept social norms; popular culture helps to achieve this
Feminist Film Theory • Laura Mulvey, “Visual Pleasures and Narrative Cinema” • Psychoanalytical techniques for a political purpose • ‘The male gaze’ • Woman as object of desire • Woman as source of anxiety • Female spectatorship as ‘masochistic’
Alternatives to Mulvey • Mary Ann Doane: role-playing and multiple identification – ‘the masquerade’ • Jackie Stacey: historical context, independent readings made by the audience
Marxist Film Theory • Marcuse: a passive audience ‘brainwashed’ by popular culture • Raymond Williams: audience resistance, popular culture as subversion
Psychoanalytical Approaches • Sigmund Freud • Repression of fears and desires • Subconscious and conscious mind • Id and Ego • Oedipus and Electra • ‘The return of the repressed’ – dreams, Freudian slips, storytelling • Cinema as a projection of desires • Cinema as projection of fears – ‘catharsis’ • Cinema as voyeurism • Is cinema an innocent pleasure?