Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

Publication Date

6-26-2015

Abstract

Temporality, Spatiality and Looking in Chantal Akermans Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) and Agnès Varda's Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962) examines the ways in which atypical representations of time and space in cinema can alter the spectator's habitual perceptions, particularly regarding the structuring of looks identified by Laura Mulvey in her article 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'. In the present work, I argue that the use of real time in the films Jeanne Dielman and Cléo from 5 to 7 allows these works to create an alternative viewing experience, eliminating the 'male gaze' that dominates Classical Hollywood Cinema in order to create a female oriented look. Both films are able to create Deleuzian time-images: images that are not related to or induced by action, and which subsequently present a pure and direct image of time. The lack of a 'goal-oriented' depiction of time allows the films to avoid the active, controlling male gaze and subsequent identification with the masculine position, ultimately emphasizing the value of representing the female quotidian: a subject frequently ignored in mainstream films.

Keywords

real time, cinema, French, temporality, spatiality, looking, Mulvey, Deleuze, time-image, female gaze, male gaze, Chantal Akerman, Agnès Varda

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

French

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

First Committee Member (Chair)

Cheek, Pamela

Second Committee Member

Schröter, Katrin

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