Abstract
This paper intends to outline an analysis of the Amazon series I Love Dick, based on the pseudo-autobiographical theoretical fiction by experimental (self-described ‘failed’) filmmaker Chris Kraus. The series completed its first season in 2017, and it appears it will not be coming back for a second, as its non-cushioned feminist agenda and sophisticated intertextual elements seem to have not resonated with the mass audience. However, the series brings into popular/mass culture not only an erratic contemplation (mind the oxymoron) on intersectional feminism, but a provocative uncensored performance of female desire. Jill Soloway, creator of the series, insists on its being a celebration of the female gaze, which begs the question what is the aesthetic and political significance of what we could call the female gaze. The series is not solely an adaptation, it is an artistic reaction to the text, adding characters and changing some of the premises of the text, while remaining true to the general project. This article aims to map out some of the intertextual elements in the series and provide an interpretation based mostly on revisiting Laura Mulvey’s critique of narrative cinema in the framework of psychoanalytic theory, as the fictional Chris passes through the fantasy, slides through the chain of signifiers, challenging Dick/the phallic element, and finds her creative power in the very subversive act of – accepting failure. Article received: March 31, 2018; Article accepted: May 10, 2018; Published online: October 15, 2018; Original scholarly paperHow to cite this article: Fazekaš, Ana. "I Love Dick: A Pop-Cultural Investigation of Desire and the Female Gaze." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 17 (2018): 89−102. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i17.273
Highlights
This article aims to outline an analysis of the one-season Amazon series I Love Dick
Given that the series is concerned primarily with the question of the female gaze and female desire, the investigation will start with the cult essay by Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, raising questions of what is there to be gained by revisiting Mulvey’s text more than four decades later, both methodologically and in terms of content
The article is interested in the following: 1) what is the ontological and political significance of the female gaze and how is it aesthetically constructed in the series in question, and 2) what is the relationship of the series to female authorship, avant-garde cinema and the de(con)struction of cinematic pleasure?
Summary
(2016–17), created by Jill Soloway, as representative of this new pop cultural wave, and as a very specific project that tackles questions of female desire and female (artistic) authorship. Soloway is known as a vocal feminist, whose work aims to “topple the patriarchy” (her production company called Topple), both in terms of the explored topics as well as employment and what she deems ‘feminist work ethics’, i.e. a more horizontal approach within the crew during filming.. Soloway is known as a vocal feminist, whose work aims to “topple the patriarchy” (her production company called Topple), both in terms of the explored topics as well as employment and what she deems ‘feminist work ethics’, i.e. a more horizontal approach within the crew during filming.2 She talks about her projects as having an agenda, as ‘tracts’, made with and through the ‘female gaze’. The article is interested in the following: 1) what is the ontological and political significance of the female gaze and how is it aesthetically constructed in the series in question, and 2) what is the relationship of the series to female authorship, avant-garde cinema and the de(con)struction of cinematic pleasure?
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