THE FOURTH WAVE : A FEMINIST SERIES (PT. 2)

Table, Chair, Hatstand (1969) Allen Jones.

'Ello 'Ello, little lassie Steph here. I don't know why I'm going with the British lingo but anyway I'm back with my feminist series even though it's been close to a year (wow) since I dropped the first one. This series was supposed to focus solely on feminist artists but in my course of looking into artists that I really like or just random research or actually just interacting with their work, I've become increasingly frustrated. It is vital that at this point you realise that these artists are male. While looking into some of my favourite male artists I make horrific discoveries, maybe horrific is a dramatic word but they do leave me with an immense feeling of disgust both at them and myself for liking their work extensively and still continuing to like it. It's only right that I call myself out. What horrifies me of course in relation to the topic at hand is the way they use women. The word "use" is very fitting here because it's exactly what they do, they use women like objects. Be it in their representation of them in their work or with how they interact with real-life women. So let me make more sense of what I'm saying with the some of the artists I'm talking about.



ALFRED HITCHCOCK:

Psycho (1960) 

The God of cinema, the king of suspense. The heavily acclaimed 20th-century director, Alfred Hitchcock is really not the man everyone makes him out to be. He manages to inject some of his sexual fantasies into his famous works, which really is all good and fine but sexual fantasies are strange things are they not? Male sexual fantasies even stranger (I refer you to the new Netflix series: Mindhunter). Mr Hitchcock's sexual fantasies are in line with a lot of those of murderous men featured in Mindhunter. Let me backtrack a bit when you look at his films, the women are at the very least, punished, tortured (Notorious), killed (Vertigo, Rear Window), strangled (Strangers On A Train), stabbed to death (Psycho), viciously attacked (The Birds). Some of them are sadomasochistic characters getting high off all that sadistic punishment. So this is what we ask Alfie, are these your fantasies? Do you wet your bed at night thinking about blood spilling from the newly lifeless body of your female victim? Somebody call Holden Ford (you won't get it if you don't watch Mindhunter soz). Also in light of all the Harvey Weinstein brouhaha (don't even get me started), Hitchcock's The Birds actress, Tippi Hedren compared the acts of Weinstein to her own experience with Hitchcock. Hedren worked on the 1963 film with Hitchcock where birds randomly begin a vicious assault on occupants of a town. After she turned down passes he made at her, Hitchcock made Hedren suffer on set by using real birds instead of mechanic ones in the final scene of the film where she is attacked repeatedly by a flock of birds. Hedren sustained a deep gash below her eye and also emotional trauma which left her on bed rest for weeks pausing production of the film. More on this here.

The Birds (1963)

STANLEY KUBRICK:

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

I have had recently the most vigorous back and forth with Mr Kubrick, his films while yes they are masterpieces have a somewhat grotesque representation of women, well some of them, others barely even have women in them (2001: A Space Odyssey) but I'm not fussed. Grotesque is a strong word I understand but it matches exactly how I feel. For example, I couldn't make it past the first about 15 minutes of A Clockwork Orange. After the first attempted rape scene, the scene that follows in the writer's house as they assault his wife was too much for me. One can only take so much back to back dehumanisation and objectification of women. I understand that "ultra-violence" is the driving theme in the film, where the main sufferers of violence, for it to have its effect it, are women, children and the elderly. As the film opens (after the milk bar scene) with the boys beating up a poor elderly man. That's two ticked off the list. I also understand that he's following the themes of the book on which it is based by Anthony Burgess but I see a pattern in films he chooses to make. Compare it with another movie adaptation he picked up of Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. A story about a middle-aged man who falls in love with a 12-year old girl. Enough said, don't you think?

Lolita (1962)

Stephen King also strongly denounces Kubrick's widely popular 1980 adaptation of his book, The Shining. He states that Kubrick's version of the story is incredibly misogynistic where he turns Wendy Torrance played by Shelly Duvall into a whimpering screaming object different from the character he wrote in his book. In all fairness and honesty, if I'm going to come at Kubrick for this then I might as well sit here and call out 90% of male filmmakers.

The Shining (1980)

ALLEN JONES:

Table (1969)

Allen Jones is a sculptor. I would like to describe his work as Guy Bourdin's photographs on steroids or the literalization of the objectification of women. In no body of work have I ever seen women so blatantly and aggressively objectified. They are literally turned into everyday household objects, even more so he fashions his female subjects after idealistic male ideas of women, think Stepford Wives or porn (but not the feminist kind; yes there's feminist porn, look it up, um only if you're into that, not saying I am but like okay bye). The women are in overtly sexual positions and scantily clad for his male consumption. The piece above, Table, calls to mind the 1485 Hans Memling painting, Vanity. Jones in the same way that Memling did to his female subject has imposed a sort of condemnation as John Berger would put it, upon his subjects. I'm tempted to even call them victims. Both Memling and Jones conjure up images of nude women then give them a mirror forcing them to look at themselves as the object of male desire and lust. It feels exactly like some kind of punishment for possessing some sexuality.

Vanity (1485), Hans Memling.

While we are here, fun fact: Stanley Kubrick actually wanted to use some of Jones' "dolls" in the milk bar scene at the beginning of  A Clockwork Orange but wasn't willing to pay Jones so instead made quite ugly (if I might add) replicas of them. The sculptures in that bar are used similarly as objects, tables, chairs etc. Don't you just love it when your fave misogynistic artists almost work together?

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

I think what is most mind-boggling of this is that Jones has called himself a feminist and even more incredible is that I see his argument. Is he bringing to our attention the appalling and demeaning treatment and representation of women in wider society by heightening and emphasising it through his work or is he just a downright pervert? Judging from how smug he stands in this picture (which may be a very poor way to judge) I'm going to go with the latter. Can I say that he kinda disgusts me? Can I? Well, I have.

Allen Jones with his Sculptures. 

I find it strenuous to write this article I was going to touch on more artists but I'm honestly exhausted. Let me know what you think if you agree or disagree because conversations are important either way but until next time, toodles :*.

Also please watch this brilliant episode from Ways of Seeing by John Berger that articulates some of what I try to convey. Toodles for real now :*