indicating meaning of the act has been understood and found acceptable “the other’s and that the other is approved and appreciated” (p.48). point on objectification involving being so that they Dworkin’s “depersonalized are no longer fully p.30) is made clearly visible in scenes such as human” (2000, these. Practical reasons such as male physical strength could be one explanation that could be argued for women performing the kinds of roles in which female characters are manipulated, thrown, dragged and lifted (although this does not explain as surf This particular scene is intended as light and ‘woman board’). humorous with a playful physical representation of aspects of beach life. However despite its clearly comical intention, scenes such as these, I would argue portray female characters stereotypically through the fact that they seem to be reduced to a thing which becomes controlled, subjugated and literally physically oppressed by a male character. The Interpretive ‘crisis’ Controlled bodies are necessarily strong and tough; they can ‘take’ punishment and skilfully recover with apparent ease from, for example, being thrown repeatedly and with force, through space and onto the floor. This paradox brings to mind what Banes describes as an interpretive crisis, as discussed earlier, in which the plot portrays the dancers as passive but the physical expertise of the dancer performing could be seen as saturating the role (1998, p.9). It takes “with agency” strength, physical control and strong dance technique to perform the kind of demonstrated in scenes such as the and ‘passivity’ ‘pillow bashing’ ‘sexual assault’ scenes in Lullaby as well as the surfboard scene in Freedom. Controlled bodies can also appear as inanimate human representations, such as dust-filled rag dolls to be shaken and rattled or as rigid mannequins to be moved
indicating “the meaning of the other’s act has been understood and found acceptable and that the other is approved and appreciated” (p.48). Dworkin’s point on objectification involving being “depersonalized so that they are no longer fully human” (2000, p.30) is made clearly visible in scenes such as these. Practical reasons such as male physical strength could be one explanation that could be argued for women performing the kinds of roles in which female characters are manipulated, thrown, dragged and lifted (although this does not explain ‘woman as surf board’). This particular scene is intended as light and humorous with a playful physical representation of aspects of beach life. However despite its clearly comical intention, scenes such as these, I would argue portray female characters stereotypically through the fact that they seem to be reduced to a thing which becomes controlled, subjugated and literally physically oppressed by a male character. The Interpretive ‘crisis’ Controlled bodies are necessarily strong and tough; they can ‘take’ punishment and skilfully recover with apparent ease from, for example, being thrown repeatedly and with force, through space and onto the floor. This paradox brings to mind what Banes describes as an interpretive crisis, as discussed earlier, in which the plot portrays the dancers as passive but the physical expertise of the dancer performing could be seen as saturating the role “with agency” (1998, p.9). It takes strength, physical control and strong dance technique to perform the kind of ‘passivity’ demonstrated in scenes such as the ‘pillow bashing’ and ‘sexual assault’ scenes in Lullaby as well as the surfboard scene in Freedom. Controlled bodies can also appear as inanimate human representations, such as dust-filled rag dolls to be shaken and rattled or as rigid mannequins to be moved