1. Preface
"Venus in Fur" (French: La Vénus à la fourrure) is a film adapted from the novel of the same name by the director Roman Polanski, which was released in 2013. The novel of the same name was published in 1870. It is the representative work of the Austrian writer Leopold Masoch (Sacher-Masoch). Abandoned by the woman and turned to the story proclaiming that men should dominate women. The male protagonist in the article has obvious fetishism and masochism tendencies. The term masochism is derived from the name of the writer Masochism.
The film adaptation retains the main plot of the novel. It still focuses on the sadomasochistic story of a man and a woman in fur, but adopts the form of "play in play": in the film, the actor Thomas is adapting him into the play "Wearing Fur "Venus" looks for a suitable heroine, and personally play against the actress Wanda who came to audition. The two people gradually collided with sparks during the performance. Thomas' masochistic tendency was inspired by Wanda wearing fur, but the ending of the film is contrary to the theme of the novel: the novel focuses on describing the previously discovered masochism In the film, the film introduces the dark line of the Bacchus priestess, and at the end, it criticizes the male pleasure under the Phallocentrism behind the masochism through the symbolic method, which shows the director's uniqueness. Fortune ingenuity.
This article attempts to use the method of psychoanalysis, taking masochism as the starting point, to explore whether this trait is against male pleasure, and then starting from the fetish complex, specific analysis of a few clips in the film, trying to explain the male pleasure in the film is How to get it, and how they relate to masochism. Finally, analyze the appearance of the Bacchus priestess at the end of the movie, and reflect on how the male pleasure presented in the first half of the movie was examined by the movie itself. The last part of the conflict between the two values is also the reason why the author chose to analyze this movie.
2. Masochism triggers subversion of power
As the theater director, Thomas, the actor in the movie, is naturally in a dominant position when facing the actor Wanda who came to audition. It should be him who decides Wanda's lines, performance and psychological state. At the same time, Severin wanted to surrender to the feet of a woman, let the host abuse and drive him, satisfied with the love in this mode of getting along, at this time the widow Wanda in the play (with the actress) (The same name) dominates this relationship. The constant subversion of power relations in the film is related to the characteristics of masochism.
In Deleuze's argument, masochism is not the counterpart of sadism, and there is a big difference between the two. Sadism usually uses imperative sentences and descriptive language to avoid second nature (second nature), that is, the passion and love generated in the unnatural state of the civilized world, and compulsively try to turn the ideal state into reality, such as indifferent Swingers generally enjoy extreme but demonstrative, objective and rational fun. [1] Masochism has an ideal image in the mind like sadism, but it does not try to introduce it into life, but to stop real life, through the supra-sensual like fantasy. The role is promoted as an ideal, and the abusive lover is regarded as a goddess. In addition, masochism prefers persuasive and conversational language to induce and encourage the person promoted to be an ideal person to abuse himself. [2] Therefore, it should be noted that the abuser mentioned below refers to the goddess of masochism, which is completely different from masochism.
The first important subversion of power in the film occurred in the 61st minute. The director Thomas was dissatisfied with the actor Wanda’s understanding of the themes of the drama. Wanda stepped out in anger. The director hurriedly followed up and said: "Well, you are right, I accept All you said, can we continue? Please, Wanda." The camera looked up and shot Wanda, who was standing at the back of the auditorium, changing his clothes, and then switched to the overhead shot, walking up from the lower stage like a pilgrimage. Thomas, in the last cross-shoulder shot, Thomas held the script in his hand and tremblingly lifted up, Wanda walked towards the camera condescendingly and took the script from him. Although Thomas bowed to Wanda when he played Severin, all he did was under the director's own control and expectations. And here, the right to speak as a director has been shaken for the first time. The theme of the drama is allowed to change by Wanda. The moment when the script is handed over symbolizes that Thomas will give up the power he had as a director and strongly persuade Wanda to deprive it. His initiative shows that in reality, he also succumbed to the goddess due to the influence of masochism.
However, although masochism transfers the dominance to the abuser, the real power in this relationship is actually masochism. The film uses Wanda to explain this point: "You are not under my control, but I was played in your hands. You are my slave, but you are manipulating me." Then Wanda played. Commenting on this relationship as an actor: "He always said she has power, but in fact he has power, she doesn't. The more he obeys, the more he dominates." As Ronald Bogue analyzes Deleuze According to the article, the masochistic protagonist seems to be taught and reformed by the dominant woman, but he is actually shaping her. He dresses her to suit his liking and reminds her to reprimand him. "The victim is expressing through his abuser rather than himself." [3] Because of Severin’s preference for fur, Wanda always appears in fur; because Severin longs to be abused by the goddess, Wang Da Cai played the goddess who abused him. Deleuze’s analysis has subverted the seemingly master-servant power relationship. What dominates this relationship is the masochistic pursuit of pleasure. This pleasure includes both the pleasure of empowerment and the observation that will be analyzed in detail below. The pleasure with the fetish, for this reason he has to continue to persuade the abuser to continue to abuse, the second subversion of the power relationship in the film has now been completed.
3. The pleasure of watching and fetish
In the movie, the heroes and heroines have changed many times. The heroes are always well-dressed and conservatively dressed, while the heroines only wear exposed underwear for nearly half of the time. Request). For example, in the 63rd minute of the movie, Wanda took out the contract from the bra. This action exposed her breasts. The exposed nipple was located in the center of the screen, which firmly attracted Severin’s eyes (see Figure 1, see appendix). Whether the nipple is exposed or not has no effect on the plot, but the final choice of exposure in the film shows that the women in the film are undeniably presented as the objects to be watched under the male gaze—the ones in the film Men are watching, being watched by the camera, and being watched by the audience outside the movie. This is also a manifestation of the mainstream movie's narrative language that weaves pornography into the patrilineal order. [4]
For example, in 76 minutes of the film, Wanda was half lying on the recliner where Venus had sat with his legs wide open. Severin was half kneeling between her legs very close to wait for her to put on knee-length leather boots. The process of Severin wearing her first boot was taken by an over-the-shoulder lens. Apart from Severin, only half of Wanda's back and one leg can be seen (picture 2), which is hidden. The performance of the parts of Wanda's sexual organs makes this scene look like an ordinary servant waiting for the master, and it is not pornographic. But when Severin zipped the second boot, the camera switched to Severin's perspective and saw a close-up of his trembling hands and boots. His hands slowly moved upwards, as if caressing Wanda’s legs, and the camera slowly moved up with the movement of the hands, until the roots of Wanda’s thighs appeared in the picture-the snow-white skin contrasted sharply with the black stockings and black leather boots ( Figure 3), stopped abruptly, and then cut back to the shoulder shot. It took 4 seconds to close the zipper for the first time, and 20 seconds to look pornographically through the male gaze for the second time.
Freud has expounded the concept of scopophilia in " Three Essays on Sexuality " and " Insticts and their Vicissitudes" , which is one of the components of sexual instinct. "At first it belongs to the pre-genital stage of masturbation, and then, the pleasure of seeing is transferred to others through analogy", which is the erotic basis for "subjecting the viewed object to a controlled and curious gaze" to obtain pleasure . [5] Even though Wanda seems to be the dominant player in this relationship (without considering the second subversion), women still exist as the object of being watched-no matter as the male protagonist of the satisfying movie The ideal viewing object of the goddess is still a movie role that bears the erotic meaning of the movie. The so-called erotic meaning refers to the meaning that conforms to the patrilineal order from the perspective of male gaze, which allows the audience to obtain sexual stimulation and obtain visual pleasure.
From the perspective of psychoanalysis, this patrilineal order is a manifestation of phallocentrism. Phallus is different from penis. As a symbol, Phallus is a signifier of lack and does not refer to a specific and definite object of reality. Therefore, Phallus represents the lack of women (lack ), which also represents the signifier of female desire. Phallus is at the core of the mother-infant relationship. In the process of growing up, babies will find that their mother does not have a penis. They think that the father has deprived the mother of Phallus, thus creating a castration complex. [6] The image of women in the film can cause anxiety in men-she does not have Phallus, which means that men face the threat of castration. In order to avoid this anxiety, males sometimes adopt the method of completely negating castration, that is, by betting on the fetish object instead of to her, or transforming her into a fetish object, and turning her into a goddess to worship. [7] The movie "Venus in Fur" uses this method to escape castration anxiety: both Thomas and Severin are quite obsessed with fur; and as a masochist, it corresponds to the German in the second part of this article. Lez's argument will sublime the lover who abuses him as an ideal goddess. "Venus" is not just a symbol of Wanda, but also directly appears in Thomas’s dramas and Severin’s dreams: in the 46th minute of the film, Severin before meeting Wanda is pious and excited. Put fur on the naked Venus (played by Wanda). Although Severin refused the temptation of Venus in the dream, he immediately surrendered to Wanda's feet the next day. It is reminiscent of Freud’s words: "The depressed will eventually return." [8]
Through fetish complex and goddess worship, the male protagonist gets rid of castration anxiety. Combined with the fetishism, even if the film does not show the process of making love, and focuses on how to satisfy the male gaze, it can also produce and convey erotic pleasure.
4. The priestess from Venus to Bacchus
The biggest difference between the film and the original novel is the introduction of the image of the Bacchus priestess, which completely overthrows and rewrites the theme of the original, causing the biggest reversal of the film. It also carries out the male pleasure under the Phallocentrism of the first 87 minutes. Ruthless criticism. At the end, Thomas played the role of Wanda, who was inspired by masochism, and was willingly tied by the actor Wanda to the tall cactus statue representing Pheles. He was expecting Wanda to follow her heart. Humiliated, contemptuously, and dominated "her", but Wanda jumped out of the role-playing and condemned with disdain: "Willing to be such a helpless and poor prostitute in front of a man is an insult to a woman, it is obscene!" Thomas The "passionate love" that has always persuaded Wanda is just a cover-up, covering up the truth that men insult and dominate women to satisfy their own pleasure from beginning to end.
Wanda exposed all this, slapped Thomas a few times in a rage, and asked him to thank him. It is worth noting that the abuse of Thomas here is no longer the type of abuse that masochism expects. The abuse that masochism yearns for comes from an ideal goddess, not an outsider. After all, masochism is subordinate to sex, and the ultimate goal is to satisfy one's own pleasure. At the end of the movie, Wanda is no longer a role in the relationship between masochism and the abuser. She has jumped out to become a third party, so her torture no longer has a pornographic meaning. Becoming a third party can also be confirmed by the subsequent dialogue: Thomas said "thank you, mistress", and was corrected by Wanda as "thank you, goddess." The "goddess" here is no longer the ideal image of masochistic "Venus in fur", but the priestess of Bacchus (Baco/Menades). Bacchus priestesses refer to women who abandon their homes and return to the fields for worshiping Bacchus. [9] At the end of the film as early as the 32nd minute, Thomas said: "Actually this is the story of "Priestesses of Bacchus". Bacchus Dionysus came to earth and made Thebes arrogant. The king willingly disguised himself as a woman to spy on the priestess ceremonies. Then the mad women, the priestesses of the Bacchus, tore the king to pieces. Dionysus returned home with the glory of victory." The arrogant director Thomas pressed I can't help but long to dress up as Wanda, thinking that he really understands women's desires-being humiliated and abused by men, he thinks he can peek into women's inner world. But it turned out to be firmly tied to Pheles, resigned to watch Wanda, who was wearing only a fur, declared in Greek: "Priestesses, Cadmus [10] , let us be in the Bacchus Dance to the music of Si [11] !” At this time, Wanda finally unfolded her body in front of the man and let her watch (picture 4), followed by a close-up of Wanda’s facial expression, her eyes were hollow and not like a living person. , As if possessed by a god. What men get when they watch naked is not pleasure, but fear of animality (Figure 5). Next, Wanda danced an ancient sacrificial dance accompanied by a weird and exciting melody, yelling around Thomas as if to tear him to pieces (Figure 6). In the end, the victor left with glory, leaving behind the man who was still in horror and was tied to Pheles and couldn't break free (Figure 7).
Bacchus priestesses abandon their secular life, re-establish an intimate relationship with nature, assimilate with beasts in their behavior, nurture cubs, cannibalize each other, escape from daily life, and enter the madness of union with the gods. [12] While these behaviors are considered crazy, barbaric, and unreasonable, they also illustrate their opposition to civilized rationality, which is the product of a patriarchal society. Therefore, the parody of the Bacchus priestess at the end of the movie conveys the question and challenge of the visual pleasure model and psychoanalysis established under Phallocentrism. The transition from Venus to Bacchus priestess symbolizes the spontaneous transformation of the viewed object led by men into a subject that resists oppression and liberates itself. When women have liberated themselves and regained the freedom of subjectivity and left, men are still restrained by the phallus they have. This may imply a new possibility: the absence of phallus does not necessarily lead to subordination. status.
Five, summary
From the perspective of masochism, this article analyzes the two subversions of the power relationship between the male and female protagonists to explain the expression of the characteristics of masochism in the emotional relationship. It is learned that the power is actually controlled by the masochistic Thomas, not Thomas. In the hands of Wanda the abuser, the masochism satisfies his own pleasure by dominating the abuser. On the one hand, this way of obtaining male pleasure comes from the pornographic gaze of the abuser, thereby satisfying the needs of the sexual instinct; on the other hand, it comes from the complete denial of castration anxiety, that is, by putting emotions into an object or a person’s objectification. Body, thereby gaining a sense of security. The fetishism of the combination of the two methods almost runs through the entire film.
However, if we analyze the role of the two protagonists in the central expression in the first half of the movie, it may be in line with what Budd Boctticher said: "What matters is what the heroine inspires, or more precisely Said it is the things she represents...the love or fear that she inspires in the hero's heart, or his care for her, she made him do that. And the woman itself is not important." [ 13] Under Phallocentrism, women are only objects that can satisfy men's pleasure. However, "Venus Wearing Fur" did not fall into the stereotypes. It suddenly turned in the process of obtaining male pleasure. Borrowing the myth of the Bacchus priestess, to respond to the foreshadowings laid before, it strikes against the expression of male pleasure. The departure of the Bacchus priestess from the daily order and the shackles of men being tied to Phallus show an irony of the male pleasure under Phallocentrism. The contrast between the two also hints at the possibility outside the patriarchal system. The author believes that the collision of values before and after the whole film is the biggest highlight of this film. From the perspective of mainstream films, returning to the feminist anti-pornographic perspective, the rich content makes this film worthy of more attention and discussion.
Reference materials:
Bogue, Ronald, Deleuze and Guattari . New York: Routledge, 2003.
Dong Xuewen, "History of Western Literary Theory", Beijing: Peking University Press, 2005.
Huang Zuo, "The Theory of Not Thinking: A Study of Lacan's Theory of Subjectivity", Beijing: People's Publishing House, 2005.
Laura Mulvey, translated by Zhou Chuanji, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Films", published in "Selected Works of Foreign Film Theory", Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1995.
Pierre Weinan, translated by Du Xiaozhen, "The Myth and Religion of Ancient Greece", Beijing: Life, Reading and New Knowledge
Sanlian Bookstore, 2001.
[1] Ronald Bogue, Deleuze and Guattari (New York: Routledge, 2003), 46.
[2] Ronald Bogue, Deleuze and Guattari (New York: Routledge, 2003), 47.
[3] . Ronald Bogue, Deleuze and Guattari (New York: Routledge, 2003), 47.
[4] Laura Molvey (Laura Molvey), translated by Zhou Chuanji, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Films", published in "Foreign Film Theory Selected Works" (Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1995), p.564.
[5] Laura Molvey (Laura Molvey), translated by Zhou Chuanji, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Films", published in "Foreign Film Theory Selected Works" (Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1995), p.565.
[6] Huang Zuo, "The Doctrine of Not Thinking: A Study of Lacan's Theory of Subjectivity" (Beijing: People's Publishing House, 2005), p. 24.
[7] Laura Molvey (Laura Molvey), translated by Zhou Chuanji, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Movies", published in "Foreign Film Theory Selected Works" (Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1995), p. 571.
[8] Dong Xuewen, "The History of Western Literary Theory" (Beijing: Peking University Press, 2005), 243 pages.
[9] Jean-Pierre Vernant, translated by Du Xiaozhen, "Myths and Religions in Ancient Greece" (Beijing: Life·Shu·Xinzhi Sanlian Bookstore, 2001), 86 pages.
[10] Cadmus, Cadmus, Greek mythological character, the founder of Thebes, the grandfather of Bacchus, respects ancient folk traditions.
[11] Bacchus, Bacchus, the Roman name of Dionysus.
[12] Jean-Pierre Vernant (Jean-Pierre Vernant), translated by Du Xiaozhen, "Myths and Religions in Ancient Greece" (Beijing: Life·Shu·Xinzhi Sanlian Bookstore, 2001), 86 pages.
[13] Laura Molvey (Laura Molvey), translated by Zhou Chuanji, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Films", published in "Foreign Film Theory Selected Works" (Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House, 1995), p.568.
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