This film supports some of the ideas of the poem, the “White Man’s Burden” to try and modernise and civilise the undeveloped world, in this case, 19th century which was opened up for trade by the US in the mid 1800s after 200 years of isolation from the world. Western influences is apparent in this film from the government structure, to the military, to the social customs and the suppression of traditional classes like the Samurai. However, unlike most countries conquered by western civilations during this time, Japan embraced modernisation instead of reject it, as before the US arrived to Japan, the nation had a prosperous economy and had a steady diplomatic government and therefore were able to hire many European and American technical experts to catch up with rest of the developed world.

Definitions:

Subaltern – The suppression of expression of the lower and colonised classes – being dependent on European influences

Orientalism – The portrayal of Asian countries and cultures from a prejudged western perspective, tending to generalise these cultures and in turn ignoring and eroding their differences

Diaspora – This is the voluntary widespread movement of people from their native homeland

Exoticism – The process of finding a unique cultural custom from a different culture arousing or exciting from the western coloniser’s perspective

Mimicry – This is the practice of the people of the colonised imitate the customs (clothing, language, politics, education etc.) of the coloniser

Otherness – The way a group neglects or marginalises another group from society. Classifying the other group as “other” stresses the fact they’re inferior and as a result carries onto the way the represent others, in the form of stereotypes

Reframing the Male Gaze

The film ‘The Hunger Games’ is a great example on the re-framing of the male gaze as the main protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence volunteers in the place of her sister, Primrose, to participate in a tournament with those involved being forced to fight to the death until one remains. She is shown to be non-passive for doing this as in most films, the women is portrayed as weak as well as showing a lack of courage. Throughout the film, her character and female side characters break the stereotype of being visually sexual as Katniss wears neutral tones of clothing, not to mention it being concealing and loose. within the film, Katniss is shown to be able to be independent and able to handle herself in intense situations as not only does she save herself, but also male competitors which breaks the notion of women being dependent on men as well as men being their protectors.

Activity 1

• Subaltern – someone of lower status
• Orientalism – the representation of asia in a stereotyped that is from the perspective of colonialists.
• Diaspora – the dispersion of any people away from their home or homeland.
• Exoticism – style, traits or characteristics associated with a particular distant foreign country.
• Mimicry – imitating or mimiking something or someone in order to ridicule them.
• Otherness – The quality of being different

Activity 2

I think the film ‘Amazing Grace’ from 2006 explores the themes of the poem well. The film is based on a true story about a christian politician and member of parliament called William Wilberforce, who fought for many years to make the African slave trade illegal. It explores some of the details about how African people were treated during the slave trade and the attitude of rich white people. The film follows William as he presents a bill to the house of commons to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire. He is defeated and considers leaving politics. After 20 years of fighting and with the support of his friend William Pitt, (who was currently the prime minister) his wife and John Newton (a former slave ship captain) the bill was passed in 1907 and the slave trade is aboslished forever in the whole British Empire. This film shows the colonial attitude of a lot of british citizens who thought of black Africans as subaltern. The film also helps to reflect how the british colonialists thought they were superior and they should own slaves as property, they did not view them as humans but rather animals. They thought because britain was more developed in technology and civilisation that blacks deserved to serve them and work for them in order to become more developed.

DEFINITIONS:

Subaltern – Having a lower status to others. 

Orientalism – How we view Asian countries and place them into stereotypes.

Diaspora – The dispersion or spread of people from their homeland.

Exoticism – Looking attractive to others due to a culturally unique feature you have.

Mimicry – Imitating to ridicule.  

Otherness – Being different.  

WHITE MAN’S BURDEN – Rudyard Kipling

Take up the White Man’s burden—

Send forth the best ye breed—

Go send your sons to exile

To serve your captives’ need

To wait in heavy harness

On fluttered folk and wild—

Your new-caught, sullen peoples,

Half devil and half child

I feel that the Disney adaptation of the film Pocahontas half reflects this poem solely because when John Smith first meets Pocahontas, he calls her a savage and says he can help civilise her (referencing the poem and how it talks about white men colonising being seen as helping others when in a matter of fact, it removes and ruins other cultures traditions). But, Pocahontas refuses and introduces John Smith to her traditions later allowing John Smith to appreciate her culture as opposed to terminate or appropriate.

Activity 1

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Activity 2

Captain America – Transformation Scene

Before Captain America’s transformation he was a skinny kid with no muscle. The transformation made him taller and stronger. Before the transformation he looked like a child but after it he looked like a man. Before the transformation nobody really noticed him but after it he can walk into a room and be the centre of attention. Also after it woman come onto him more as he is a war hero and has a much better body.

C.J. Parker – Baywatch

This is a screenshot from a scene in Baywatch. This is the perfect example of the male gaze as the shot shows us what Ronnie is looking at and how he views C.J. Throughout the film C.J. is continuously shown through the male gaze viewpoint.

Activity 3

I think that The Fault in Our Stars is a good example of modern filmmakers attempting to take a less sexist and more female centric. The film is about two cancer-afflicted teens that meet at a cancer support group. They both share the same acerbic wit and a love of books. The director, Josh Boone, is male; this shows us that male directors are trying to change the stereotypical female actress and are trying to make characters in films more relatable to the average person.

The reason I think this movie is a good example of modern filmmakers producing a film that is less sexist and more female centric is because the film is a romance/drama and would normally be most sexist and show woman from a male perspective The Fault in Our Stars does not. The movie shows that people love for personality instead of looks. As the two lovers both have cancer they both understand what each other are going through and both know that they do not know what will happen, however they both have an uplift mood and try to make the most of time they have together. They both have fun and laugh a lot however there are still sad parts in the film. I think this helps us to remember that life is not always perfect and bad stuff happens; including this in the film makes it more like real life and less like a perfect movie. This helps us relate to the characters more so we make a stronger emotional attachment to the characters, which makes the film more impactful to the audience.

Male Gaze vs Female Gaze

The male gaze is employed all throughout this film; the main protagonist, Cameron who has the desire to win the heart of Bianca Stratford, who is shown to be the target of many male side characters because of her stereotypical sexual looks and body language. This is the same for other main and side female protagonists such as Kat Stratford as she dances sexually at a house party in the film.

Black Panther, released in 2018 uses many examples of the female gaze in the film. For instance, Eric Killmonger and Black Panther challenge each other to ritual combat. In this scene in particular, the female gaze is prominent as both characters have a very masculine appearance to the due to their muscular physique and their violent and aggressive tendencies.