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A Unique Perspective

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February 21, 2022 by mcclainwa

In this scene in the film Subjektitüde, a viewer is immediately bombarded with narration from three distinct characters. The main character, a young woman trying to catch a ride on a bus and the two other characters who are young men leering at her and assaulting her. The two men’s dialogue are always brief and typically one or two thoughts while the woman’s dialogue is a much more substantial part of the movie. Narration is heard over images and Point of View Shots that correspond to the narrator’s view. Because of this the perspective is uniquely that of the female protagonist, viewers rarely see the woman except in the gaze of the males. This subverts the typical male gaze of most cinema of the time as the Point of View shots and the Narration are all of a woman and the needlessly harrowing event that is simply taking a bus ride unaccompanied. The rough cuts seen in this short clip with the panning shot that makes the majority of the clip all add to a heightened sense of fear and confusion. The panning shot from the woman’s perspective shows quick searching movements to keep track of the two men. The Close up of the faces on the men and the actors facial expressions add to this uncomfortable feeling. The extreme close up on the woman’s eyes and the close up shot of her expression as well add to a subversion of the typical male gaze in film, we see her reactions to the accosting men as opposed to the objectification we hear from the men’s narration, where the typical male gaze would show her objectified as well. The whole of the short film uses these and other similar elements of cuts and perspectives to add more thoroughly to the uncomfortable nature of the whole event.


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