Last night, I saw Iron Man 2 presented in the IMAX Experience, which to me was just played on bigger screen, with a much much louder volume capacity. Besides the constant loudness throughout the whole film, I was reminded of Laura Mulvey's article Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. I couldn't help but have an analytical look on how the main character, a man named Tony Stark, who is also known as Iron Man, is the epitome of the ego ideal for men everywhere. He's strong, successful, and he leads a double life that everyone in LA and around the US seem to be comfortable with. He protects the nation against any danger thanks to the abilities that the Iron Man suit allows him to utilize. Not only is he liked by the public as a hero, but all of the women just melt at their feet at the sight of him. Another aspect of the Mulvey's article that I was reminded of is the kind of scopophilia that Stark presented towards a woman character, Natasha Romanoff. She's mysterious, beautiful, and she sparked a sexual desire in Stark. The scene where Stark first meets Romanoff clearly displays the fetishistic scopophilia that Mulvey discusses. Close ups on Stark's face when he first sees Romanoff, and then immediately switching to close ups on Romanoff's face and body prove to be fetishistic scopophilia. At that instance, the audience is getting the three I's, the camera showing us, the audience, what the character, Tony is seeing.
Although I was analyzing everything throughout the film and kind of narrating in my mind what I was going to write here, I did enjoy the film for its action-packed scenes and witty one liners given by various characters of the story.
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1 comment:
Nice point, especially your discussion of Stark. Why fetishistic rather than voyeuristic? Does the narrative seem to halt? How does the woman function in the narrative? Nice tie of the material from class.
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