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batuhancanliturk
Addicted to cinema.
Reviews
Riaru onigokko (2015)
Female objectification and fetishism
There are many problems comes with the gender inequality. We can observe in several fields that most problematic and universal one is sexual objectification of females. Besides the worldwide impact of female objectification in advertising, we view it in movies, too. Apart from the motion pictures, porn industry has been expanding all around the world. Due to this fact, different kind of fetishes can be seen and they can be assimilated as normal behaviors. "Riaru onigokko" is a brute criticism of how the female objectification and fetishism can be gone to extremes.
Female sexual objectification is viewing women as a desired object or toy - like in the movie- rather than an individual human being. According to feminist cultural critic Robert Jensen, the expansion of female objectification is because of the mass media and advertisement companies (1997). We see that women are shown weak and vulnerable to make objectification stronger. In the movie, men created a game to both making money on female sexual objectification and using females like a toy for fulfilling their satisfactions. No woman lives among the men's world. All women are seen as toys and nothing more. They act in a way that females can not have autonomy. Main characters of the game are always in danger. They act as an instrument of the game rather than having unique personality. They can be replaced by other women. These are the example of features for person objectification that are defined by american philosopher Martha Nussbaum (1995). Pornography also is an important case in the feminist discussions about female sexual objectification. Anti-pornography feminist Andrea Dworkin mentions that since men watch porngraphic content, women are seen as a mere tool for their purposes (1989).
In the movie, we see that school girls with their uniforms which is the most popular fetishism indicator among the Japan men. They use it in every movie whether in a sarcastic way or specifically to attract men. This is not only fetishism example in the movie. At the end of the movie, we observe that man is crazy about having sex with the game character. In Japan, they have virtual pop stars and people love them. Most popular one is Hatsune Miku who is a virtual idol. Thousands of Japanese people fill the concert area to watch holographic star. They bought special stuffs which are produced for Hatsune Miku. Cosplays of her are also made. With this example, witnessing for the virtual madness of Japanese people is an inevitable fact.
Lastly, adding one more discussion about the female objectification can be useful for understanding the outcomes of it. There is an objectification theory which is defined by Barbara Fredrickson and Tomi-Ann Roberts in 1997. Theory consists of the conclusions of female objectification. Women who experiences sexual objectification, think that they should show their bodies because of the mentality which defines body as an initial view. Adopting the problem in this manner creates bigger problems. Females start to see their bodies as objects which should be used to be served. That leads self-objectification. This self-objectification can be seen as an empowerment of females, however it led birth of "raunch culture". Encouraging sexual representations of women for the various platforms is the main understanding of the raunch culture. This is even especially promoted by women. Making nudity available in advertising is the most known example for the effects of raunch culture.
In conclusion, gender inequality is the reason behind the female sexual objectification. Females are used in different ways as a mere means by males. For some countries, cultures are formed with this mentality to ensure male dominance over females. Fetishm can be observed in different forms like we saw in the movie or in virtual popstar example. On the other hand, self-objectification is the result of female objectification in long run.
White Material (2009)
Identification issues with questioning colonization
In our daily lives, we use the word "identification" for variety of things that concern social and environmental factors. However, we really do not know what the identification means. Identification is a complicated progress that person never has a full control over this psychological situation. In Lacanian terms, identification can be considered as an instance of comprehension (Lacan J., Gallagher C., 2002). Any external factor can captivate the people to make it become their self-component. "White Material" is a must-see example for the identification issues with questioning colonization.
Although of her French origin, Maria considers herself as an African person. She has left France and never desires to return. She herself disdains the white French people with saying "These dirty whites... They don't deserve this beautiful land.". It can be obviously seen that she does not perceive herself as a French, while the rebels and the army call her as one such "dirty white" who is responsible for the country's filthiness. Although all threats, Maria does not retreat her actions for the coffee plantation. When she decides to travel for finding new workers, she even does not want to take the rifle with her. She believes that no harm might occur because of her appeal, identifying herself as an African makes her think in that way. As events spread, it is more clear to everyone around Maria that the situation is turning into less secure and more dangerous. It is important to see that what home means and how it feels to belong in a situation where others mark you an outsider. Manuel also suffers from being white. After two African boys mess with him and cut off his hair, he shaves himself and joins the rebels. We can see that, there is an obvious identity confusion for Manuel who lives for many years in this land as a white people. His depression is a sign of vulnerability for his belongings. Joining rebels can be interpreted as his reaction to again himself and his family to unravel confusion about his identity.
As we learn that the coffee plantation is established and owned by Maria's father. His wish is maintaining plantation by his family especially by his daughter, Maria. Plantation has been operated with African workers for years and it seems like a colonial symbol throughout the history. Since the first European colonies on African continent, plantations have been a major slavery places for the African black people. They are purchase by the plantation owners and they can be traded or sold as goods (Austin G., 2017). Although plantations are not operated in that way now, they offer still bad facilities for the African people. They are pushed to work in unacceptable conditions in different types of plantations. Because of that, Maria thinks her father as a root for dirtiness of white people and consequently colonization. In this manner, killing her own father reveals her anger and sorrow about the African people who are the slaves of the plantation. Hence, she wants to end this colonization by destroying the foundation of it. Like mentioned earlier, her father can be seen as a foundation. Feeling and identifying herself as an African sets up the idea of releasing her inner-self and showing where she belongs.
XXY (2007)
Deconstructing classical definitions of gender identity
There is always one question that comes to our mind when we see a pregnant woman, is it a girl or a boy? It seems like we don't have any other options to be. Because of the heteronomy, we are defined to be only a male or a female depending to our gender identities and our gender roles. Gender role is specified within the society by dressing style, parlance and behaviors. However, gender identity is formed with the help of inheritance and external factors. In instance, how you feel about yourself and your instincts show your gender identity, while your dresses represent your gender role within the society which you live in.
According to the gender roles which society give us, we are expected to act normal related to our gender identity. At this point, a question arises: "what is normal?". When we view from heteronomic perspective, there are two norms for the individuals. Either you should be a male and have behaviors for men or you should be a female and act like women. Hence, there are black and white without any different color. Everything in this world is formed to fit in this manner. Despite the fact that we have seen different and unusual occurrences like in the movie. The reason of calling them different and unusual is very obvious after we encounter with heteronomy. Because of the society, we internalize the normality of genders as we born.
The idea of having two sexes is very complicated and nonsensical for the today's world and its gender roles. A little while ago, homosexuality were seen as a disorder and doctors were trying to cure that. In other words, they were searching for a way to normalize the person who were homosexual. By the way, we still have societies who believe and agree on that. I observe the same attitude for the people who have both sexes. It appears that we have become more develop some way or another, in this movie, Alex who is hermaphrodite, refuses to be operated to deform herself either a man or a woman. She is a naturally born individual with both genders. Understanding herself and deciding what she wants are vital and it should be only her concern. Her parents want Alex to be a girl, however first she starts to discover herself and her preferences. Although all reactions and attitude from her community, she decides to remain what she is.
We should ask ourselves if we have right to choose both. We are stucked in the boundaries between the accepted definitions of male and female that demonstrates homophobia inherent in forcing the "unusual" to be "normal." It's more of an inborn perception that anatomical sex which is defined systemically base sociological gender norms and gender identities, is entirely reversed that a biological difference produces social consequences at our security in the human identity. This unsettling and distressful occurrence has a power to overthrow our presumptions about sex and gender identity. Not only our presumptions, also our beliefs are challenged in such a way. By this opinion, we should critique about our social indoctrinations and associations between external rules and gender.
Dans ma peau (2002)
Why Esther is eating herself?
According to Descartes, embodiment is the necessary concept for becoming complete human being. It is an idea of two things which are connected each other in order to unite into a mind which we call being. We have our brains and our bodies to fulfill this formation. In consideration of this notion, approaching "Dans ma peau" as crucial example of duality is an inevitable.
In the very first scene where Esther get injured, she is not aware of her own wound. Therefore, we can create first opinions for objectification between her body and herself. When she goes to the doctor who jokes about if the leg belongs to her or not, we can get the further idea of objectification that leads disconnection which is already started between Esther and her body. According to French philosopher Gabriel Marcel, there are two ways in the act of knowing: primary reflection and secondary reflection. In primary reflection, we place ourselves out of the things we are viewing. In this approach, my body is just a body and nothing else. It is like an object. However, when we look at the secondary reflection, we recognize that we are part of things we are viewing. It is my body that is uniquely mine. Hence, we cannot simplify our bodies like we do in the primary reflection. This is the case that Esther encounters. She sees her body as an instrument apart from her being. It is like an extension of herself, just as her cloths are extension of her skin. She has her body unlike she is her body.
The body works as a mediator to ensure connection with the outer world like a bridge or a wall to prevent from that connection which leads disconnection. We can see disconnection between Esther and her body obviously in the dinner scene. Esther is experienced her arm tears apart from her. She tries cutting her arm with the knife, but she feels nothing. Her arm disconnects from Esther and becomes an object especially just a meat. She finds that increasingly more alluring. After this exploration, Esther becomes attracted by her body pushing her to start exploring what is under her skin. This leads her to get a hotel room for communicating with her body in secrecy. Because, this is not something she can talk about to her boyfriend or her friends. She enjoys her self-mutilation. Unlike hating her own body, she definitely shows to us that she is in love with her body. She keeps her raw skins and even trying to dry them for having her own skin are indicators of fondness for her body.
On the other hand, these acts of Esther can be interpreted as concerns about the social life. Indulging completely from herself with ignoring all her friends even her boyfriend is an anti-social behavior. This behavior creates another level of embodiment which is about the social constructivism. In the social constructivism, single human being and the society are fused into a single mind. Esther escapes this duality to ensures her independence and individualism.
Kynodontas (2009)
Minor scale example of the system which imprisons us
Authority is a person or organization having political or administrative power and control. Governments have authority on their people or on other states. Understanding the fact that authority is the reason of major events that we are not aware while time is swift. We should consider of our parents as an authority in minor scale. This is exactly what Dogtooth wants us to think of.
Authoritarian father, his wife and his children live in peace and quiet isolated house with the garden. All events that happen is known by the father who obsessively wants to raise his children with his rules and his understandings. There are no diversity between the children to ensure consistency like the governments do. In the name of becoming uniform, children have no names. Hence, they can not develop their identities. They are all same to the father which is ruler. There are rules for everything and the rewards for achieving tasks. If we have rewards, there must be punishments too for the unsuitable actions. These are strong components of the system which runs by the father. Language is created by parents too. They change words' meaning like in pussy and zombie scenes. That is another example for use of power. Beside that, he keep his authority on his children in patriarchal way. He assigns task for his elder daughter to satisfy her brother who had previously a woman to meet his sexual urges like a robot. On the other hand, there is even no chance to talk about his daughters. Raising his children with this attitude keeps them stay in their childish behaviors. We can view that in many scenes such as arguing about the plane toy and sleeping with their parents. They can not grow to maturity.
Children obtain information about everything without questioning from the tape which has recorded before. It is their only way to learn something such as geometry. We have also seen that in the record player scene which the father makes wrong translations for maintaining loyalty to the authority and the family. He also ensures his sovereignty by this action. Fear is another need for achieve his monopoly. All the dinners should be attended formally. Remember the scene that his daughters discusses their dresses are okay or not. Because they are afraid of their fathers reaction if he finds anything improper. In order to block interactions with the outer world between his children, father removes all labels and tags on the products they use. This idea makes me think about the North Korea. People of North Korea get what their leader gives.
All the mess begin with the woman who is a security guard. When she wants to misuse elder child for the first time, elder starts to learn from her about the outer world. Because of routine of reward system, she did not hesitate to fulfill her demands and maintain the same attitude for her sister. Movie tapes leaves bigger impression for the elder. The idea of leaving started to grow. However when she decided to leave, she tried with the way that defined by the father which says they can only leave if their dog-tooth's fall down. Another example of outer world encounter is the cat. It becomes another fear and misery for the children. Misery always pull people to its unknown that the father uses a lot.
Finally, I want to add two more things which light upon. First one is mirroring between the dog trainer and the father. They both work for "cultivating" of their "pupils". Second is perception of happiness. Whether if we talked about father's actions is proper or not, children are happy to be there. It is like us in our tiny worlds without realizing anything out of it.