Scophilia In Darker Cities

Andrew Milner cites Laura Mulvey and her idea of the Male gaze and Scopophilia in his article Darker Cities. Mulvey believes that in film, audiences have to view characters that are often female from the perspective of a heterosexual male. Certain features of Male Gaze includes the camera lingering on the curves of the female body and events which occur to women are presented largely in the context of a man’s reaction to these events. Milner in his article talks about Ridley Scott’s film Blade Runner by referring to the characters of Zhora and Pris. As someone who watched the film for the first time, I noticed how the characters automatically became part of the Male Gaze as they were overly sexualized - from the way they appear, dress, and their walk and in some cases even their occupation - …show more content…
The idea of scopophilia is completely applicable within this scene, from the very start of the scene, we see Deckard trying to find Pris amongst a collage of simplistic robots and dolls as she takes on the role of a passive object which allows Deckard unable to detect her until she attacks him. This is where we see the reduction of a woman to object, in the sense that Deckard is unable to identify and differentiate her from the other lesser robots. Pris within the film is also depicted as deranged, a status that often reduces women. Also I noticed Pris’s attire and the fight sequence with Deckard were overly sexualised; We see Pris is wearing a flesh-toned leotard, which clung on to her body as it highlighted her curves as well as her nipples, which were visible through the see-through leotard. In the fight sequence, she attempts to choke Deckard with her thighs, which actually is such an absurd way to attack someone but the way Pris’s character is depicted it suggest the act of cunnilingus. The scene ends with the death of