research

Rachel Engle Collections Project

Interpretive:

Empire Magazine, Star Trek Into Darkness Cast, March 28, 2013, http://www.mrmovie-review.com.

Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" introduced the concept the the 'male gaze' in cinema. In this theory, films are created for the pleasure of male spectators, and they therefore objectify the women in the films, simply by looking at her with a gaze she cannot escape. The experience of a movie offers a voyeuristic pleasure that is intensified for a male spectator by offering the women characters and actresses as erotic objects (Cartwright and Sturken, 124-125). Mulvey later clarified that the spectator need not actually be male to be considered part of this male spectatorship, as she said in her essay "Afterthoughts on 'Visual Please and Narrative Cinema' Inspired by King Vidor'sDuel In the Sun (1946): "...I was interested in the relationship between the image of woman on the screen and the 'masculinisation' of the spectator position, regardless of the actual sex (or possible deviance) of any real live movie-goer. In-built patterns of pleasure and identification impose masculinity as 'point of view'..." (Afterthoughts, 122). In this way, male spectatorship is imposed on the audience, whether they are male or not.

Gaze theory has grown more complicated since Mulvey's original essay, but many mainstream films still cling to patriarchal ideologies and can be interpreted through the idea of the male gaze. For example, this is a promotional image for 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness. It shows the main characters of the movie posed around the director, J.J. Abrams, who sits in front of the cast members in replica of the captain's chair from the Enterprise. He is the central figure of the image, and as the director, it is essentially his film, and it is worth examining his own words on it. In a 2013 interview with Playboy, Abrams said, "Star Trek has to be

sexy ... Hey, it wouldn’t be Star Trek if there weren’t some hot young actors, women and men, in various moments of either undress or flirtation" (Hochman). For Abrams, "sexiness" is of great importance in the movie, and he defines it by "hot young actors ... in various moments of either undress or flirtation." (Although he mentions men when speaking of these hot young actors, his specific examples are Zoe Saldana and Alice Eve.)

With this in mind, returning to the image, we see that all of the male characters are covered from neck to wrist and toe, while the female characters wear short sleeved mini dresses. The female characters are significantly more exposed. Even without a narrative, the female characters are already established as objects to be looked at. Mulvey states, "Traditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium" (Visual Pleasure, 33). There are five named women in Abrams' two Star Trek movies. Two, Winona Kirk and Amanda Grayson, only have roles as mothers. Winona's only appearance is while she is in labor, and Amanda's death in the first movie is a plot device for Spock's character development.

The other three, Nyota Uhura, Gaila, and Carol Marcus are all at one time viewed by Jim Kirk in states of undress. He sees two of them without their consent, and of those, one without her knowledge. As the main male protagonist, Kirk becomes a conduit for the spectator, synthesizing the two levels on which the women are displayed. Mulvey says, "As the spectator identifies with the main male protagonist, he projects his look onto that of his like, his screen surrogate, so that the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the erotic look, both giving a satisfying sense of omnipotence. A male move star's glamorous characteristics are thus not those of the erotic object of the gaze, but those of the more perfect, more complete, more powerful ideal ego..." (Visual Pleasure, 34). Since the spectator identifies with Kirk, the voyeuristic pleasure of watching these (passive, in these instances) women without their knowledge or consent increases.

Abrams said of Kirk: "...it’s always fun playing the womanizing card with Kirk...Nobody’s going to force Kirk to be a romantic and settle down" (Hochman). In "Afterthoughts" Mulvey describes how "A hero can gain in stature by refusing the princess and remaining alone ... the rejection of marriage personifies a nostalgic celebration of phallic, narcissistic omnipotence" (Afterthoughts, 126). Abrams' Kirk exemplifies this kind of hero. Womanizing is not an insult, it's an aspiration. "Forcing" Kirk to be romantic or settle down in anathema to Abrams. The male spectator can therefore objectify, possess, and conquer many women without the need for emotional reciprocation with Kirk as their surrogate.

Cartwright, Lisa and Marita Sturken. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Hochman, David. "Playboy Interview: J.J. Abrams." Playboy. April 29, 2013. http://www.playboy.com/playground/view/playboy-interview-j-j-abrams-on-star- trek-star-wars

Mulvey, Laura. "Afterthoughts on 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' inspired by King Vidor's Duel in the Sun (1946)." In Feminist Film Theory: A Reader, edited by Sue Thornham, 122-130. New York: New York University Press, 1999.

Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." In Issues in Feminist Film Criticism, edited by Patricia Erens, 28-40. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990.