So here goes my bakwas:
I was reading something about the female gaze today and was thinking of how in film theory, the camera itself is considered to be a voyeuristic male gaze. Consider this:
https://youtu.be/RrAmE9IKZI0
It's one of the most breathtaking and even 'sexy' scenes I have ever seen, but at the end of the day, it's male consumption of the female body, it's voyeuristic.
If we look at European art analysis, many people hold that the female nude body was painted with the gaze of the audience in mind— which was automatically assumed to be the cishet white male.
On the other hand, if you read medieval European poetry, gazing was considered the first step to pyas. It wasn't just sin to have sex, but gazing itself was an act of pleasure, deriving and satisfying sexual desire, romantic love. You could also look at scopophilia where the inherent shame of looking at someone is overcome by the pleasure derived from it. (Think p-rn on a very crude level).
Thing is there's ample archive of heroes looking/appreciating/loving/objectifying/desiring women in media. That's how women characters are shown. Zoom in on eyes. Zoom in on lips. Zoom in on the buttocks. Even when it's more novel and full of love like Aru's cute lag rahi ho scene, men get that freedom to openly gaze.
The narrative just tells us that the woman is attracted to the man, but it's never actually shown. I think of how the shots of abs and biceps of ml are shown in movies but only to establish their alphaness (
).
I can only think of this scene where Khushi for the first time explicitly shows sexual desire for her husband, his physicality. I love this scene. The camera follows Khushi's gaze here. The biceps, the sweat, the water dripping down his hair and face.
https://youtu.be/fyAFMVR4Irs
(Ignore the dub please, I couldn't find a better video on YouTube.)
I don't know if Imlie ever showed any such joy of looking for Aditya. I remember her getting affected by Adini's PDA in the initial episodes.
But she gets affected by (barely atm) by Aru's physical presence. She gets enchanted by him for a few seconds and pulls her out of it.
I hope they use the female gaze as their relationship progresses.
Tagging people I could remember indulging me on the og post. Jhelo mujhe
Edited by Bluegrass - 3 years ago