Am I being a clown by bringing in film theory to ITV?
(Tamarind)duh! 🤡
However, I will continue to be a clown.
Film theorists have variably argued the camera to be a voyeuristic apparatus. Mulvey, for example, argued the camera to be a technological prosthesis that allows the (male) spectator the illusion of voyeuristic separation while being anything but. Metz argued for two types of identification that an audience goes through while watching a film. The primary of which is dictated by the (male and voyeuristic) gaze of the camera itself. Which is to say, the camera dictates primarily how we consume a film, and secondary sociopsychic identification comes later.
All that nerdiness aside, the basic thing is that the camera enables the male gaze of the assumed audience. The difference can be seen in the way male and female characters are introduced in a cinematic narrative. We always know why the hero finds the heroine attractive. Not so much if the heroine finds the hero appealing at all. (See even how Imlie is introduced — zooming in on her slightly smiling lips, moving to the eyes; denoting her youthful beauty— as opposed to Aryan. Out of the luxury car, straightening his coat-jacket, cutting to the aviators— exuding masculine authority.)
It is so important and rare then that we see the camera constructing a female gaze —be it the consumers' or the heroine's—consuming male beauty.
In this show, the first time Aryan's physical appeal becomes the primary focus of the camera when he holds Imlie's hand during Aditya and Malini's Mehendi ceremony. The camera focuses in on his right hand— curling around Imlie's smaller hand, then softly caressing the chit with Imlie's name on it. Imlie's gaze on Aryan is ambiguous. Reverent with a hint of physical attraction. The way they know how to cater to the collective fetishes of the fandom, I tell you. 🤡
The second time we see Aryan's physicality being in focus is on Holi where Imlie being happy is seen through the eyes of a 'smitten' Aryan. And, Aryan being smitten— smiling and being in love — is seen through the eyes of Imlie. Amazing how the camera draws attention to Aryan's hands here as well.
What makes the entire narrative so poignant is the lack of a sexualising gaze by either. Even in the latter more suggestive portion of the sequence, Imlie's (sexual) female gaze is absent. Sure, she remembers Aryan's state of undress in a recent episode, but within the narrative structure of the Holi episode(s), she does not register his physicality. The lack of titillation only heightens the emotional volatility of the sequence.
So, why am I writing this essay? It's not like I have actual career-advancing academic pursuits, or musical instruments to practice. 😏
My Gorl was truly looking at her husband today— the entire culinary circus was through her eyes. We had Imlie gazing at Aryan with intent y'all!
https://mobile.twitter.com/Arylie_Nuz/status/1518780783288274944
Don't ask me why kneading dough turns her on. Who has ever understood Tamarinduh?
PS. Atif, ya, my heart is full with pink khiza being their flower.
https://mobile.twitter.com/AdanShah09_09/status/1518391137941262337
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