The Piano: Excavating National Cinema’s “Desire”
The concept of a national cinema is one that speaks to a discourse of a particular state or nation. However, the definition of what the constructs of this cinema is inherently problematic. Andrew Higson (1989:52) discusses the implications of the terminology asserting that “... the parameters of a national cinema should be drawn at the site of consumption as much as at the site of production of films”. Higson attempts to underline and further tie speculation to the characterization of national cinema illustrating that the site of production, of course does define the nationality of cinema in terms of locality, but furthermore, the consumption and subsequently the conditions through which audiences …show more content…
Faust considers that The Piano’s extrapolation into both feminist discourse and postcolonial readings emanates from the “various interpretations of the film [that] may result from national differences”. Faust elucidates her ideas further illustrating that Western viewings might “sometimes overlook the historical implications of the film and focus, rather, on its presentation of femininity”.
Thus, engaging with the sentiments of both Higson and Faust, this essay intends to analyse Jane Campion’s, The Piano, as an auteur film through which applying the theories of localized viewing and thus deconstructing the films ‘national cinema’ discourse, the argument can be made that Campion’s film is better understood as the convergence of the interaction between discourses of feminist theory as well as colonial repression and its postcolonial …show more content…
Bruzzi’s claims can be exemplified in the marriage scene of Ada and Stewart where the audience gazes as Ada is fitted into her wedding dress. Ada exposes her disinterested in the activities surrounding her and as such her contention towards the spectacle is underlined when she is criticized by one of the house maids and disapprovingly told that if she cannot have a ceremony, she will at least have a photograph. In this scene, Campion places emphasis wedding dress on the preparations here only as to critically illustrate Ada’s discontent with the female masquerade.
The camera then follows Ada outside where the weather is just as melancholic as her temperament. Ada moves to sit down foregrounding a large curtain-framed image of the lush foliage, conceivably a subtle reference to the colonial capture of New Zealand and subsequently the imperialist remodeling of the
The concept of a national cinema is one that speaks to a discourse of a particular state or nation. However, the definition of what the constructs of this cinema is inherently problematic. Andrew Higson (1989:52) discusses the implications of the terminology asserting that “... the parameters of a national cinema should be drawn at the site of consumption as much as at the site of production of films”. Higson attempts to underline and further tie speculation to the characterization of national cinema illustrating that the site of production, of course does define the nationality of cinema in terms of locality, but furthermore, the consumption and subsequently the conditions through which audiences …show more content…
Faust considers that The Piano’s extrapolation into both feminist discourse and postcolonial readings emanates from the “various interpretations of the film [that] may result from national differences”. Faust elucidates her ideas further illustrating that Western viewings might “sometimes overlook the historical implications of the film and focus, rather, on its presentation of femininity”.
Thus, engaging with the sentiments of both Higson and Faust, this essay intends to analyse Jane Campion’s, The Piano, as an auteur film through which applying the theories of localized viewing and thus deconstructing the films ‘national cinema’ discourse, the argument can be made that Campion’s film is better understood as the convergence of the interaction between discourses of feminist theory as well as colonial repression and its postcolonial …show more content…
Bruzzi’s claims can be exemplified in the marriage scene of Ada and Stewart where the audience gazes as Ada is fitted into her wedding dress. Ada exposes her disinterested in the activities surrounding her and as such her contention towards the spectacle is underlined when she is criticized by one of the house maids and disapprovingly told that if she cannot have a ceremony, she will at least have a photograph. In this scene, Campion places emphasis wedding dress on the preparations here only as to critically illustrate Ada’s discontent with the female masquerade.
The camera then follows Ada outside where the weather is just as melancholic as her temperament. Ada moves to sit down foregrounding a large curtain-framed image of the lush foliage, conceivably a subtle reference to the colonial capture of New Zealand and subsequently the imperialist remodeling of the