Comparing Visual Pleasure And Narrative Cinema

Gilda, film by Charles Vidor follows the romantic tragedy of two strangers turned lovers Johnny (Glenn Ford) and Gilda (Rita Hayworth). Johnny is a gambler from Buenos Aires that is caught cheating in the game and casino owner Ballin (George Macready) decides to hire him to watch his wife instead of prosecuting him. The plot develops and Johnny and the promiscuous Gilda begin a relationship and husband Ballin finds out and fakes his death. The story then follows Johnny and Gilda in the wake of his death and the actions that follow.
The male gaze, a theory discussed heavily in Laura Mulvey’s “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” is very influential in this story because the plot and construction of Gilda advocates for the exposure and condemnation …show more content…
Gilda is a self-reflective on film and the role of the femme fatale. Gilda utilizes Johnny to express this. Johnny is aware of Gilda and her promiscuous and seductress tendencies. Him being aware of her ultimately gives him control over the narrative. In the beginning, Johnny was not in control of Gilda. He knew she loved to dance for other men, he knew she was not faithful, yet he still fell victim to her. Once Ballin “died” Johnny was determined to take the control back. He married Gilda thus putting on her chains. He banned her from using her power as the femme fatale. When she wanted to dance for other men he showed up. He locked her away in this home far away to keep her from other men. He dismantled her stereotype in order to fight her role as well as prevent the male gaze. The male gaze (term coined by Laura Mulvey) suggests that woman in film are looked at as objects of male pleasure and desire. Women are made spectacles at the hands of men so in turn the femme fatale is a product of the gaze. This is what Johnny believed. By removing all other men from Gilda’s life, he was dismantling her ability to be the femme fatale and he was