Some Problems with Gendered Subjectivity and Representation: Baise Moi and Hard-Core Pornography

Temmuz Süreyya Gürbüz

doi:10.5195/cinej.2021.321

Abstract

Based on a framework developed by the works of critical theorists Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, this article focuses on a reconceptualization of the relationship between representation on screen and the production of sexualities in order to examine the discourse around the film Baise Moi (Despentes and Trinh Thi, 2000). There have been criticisms about the film’s pornographic and violent elements as well as its “bad ending”, arguing that the film results in a reaffirmation of the patriarchal power practices. This article counterargues that such readings remain within the limited territory of seeking an ideal representation of femininity based on the gender/sex binary which Butler’s work has critiqued. The final section of the article aims to demonstrate how Baise Moi conveys a layered audio-visual organization that focuses on the attainability of different sexualities that are not conforming to the idea of universal sexuality through adopting a pornographic aesthetic that provides the means through which the film can overturn gender norms as well as hard-core porn’s idealism.

Highlights

This article aims to bring the theoretical line between the Foucauldian understanding of sexuality and Judith Butler’s questioning of the construction of gendered subjectivity, to the issue of representing sexuality on screen, visual depictions of the acts of sex
The works of these theorists have been well established within various fields of critical analysis for decades many of the ideas they have brought under scrutiny, such as gender binary and the so-called naturality of sexuality, continue to hold resonance today
When sexuality is taken as a modern concept evolved through the structures of power and bio-politics, its representation on screen becomes a subject of how these structures infiltrate the production of screen media and have an effect on what it is that can be visible and representable

Summary

Introduction

This article aims to bring the theoretical line between the Foucauldian understanding of sexuality and Judith Butler’s questioning of the construction of gendered subjectivity, to the issue of representing sexuality on screen, visual depictions of the acts of sex.

Objectives

Results

Conclusion