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Looking For The Other

Cine/feminismo/teoría Parte del libro de Ann Kaplan

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460 views39 pages

Looking For The Other

Cine/feminismo/teoría Parte del libro de Ann Kaplan

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marce_2014
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Looking for the Other Feminism, Film, and the Imperial Gaze E, Ann Kaplan ilshain 2957 onde 29 Woe th Set NewYork, NY 0001 bien Ge inn Roatage enrich ©1997 by Routh, In ‘ete nte Ue Sme of Anerson ac eppe Inde singaphcal refeacs nindex Women nseson ites Me Whe wore Air 4 Mena PRIPRSo.WERIS 9 For Marty For Trudie, who is 90 years old Ls Table of Contents Acknowledgments ix Preface xi Par: Backgrounds; Theories of Nation, Psychoanalysis and the Imperal Gxze 1 J. Teave, Travelling Menities and the Look 3 2, Theories of Nation and Hollywood inthe Contexts of Gender and Race 3. Hollywood, Science and Cinema: The Imperial and the Male Gaze in Cassie Film 6 4, Darkness Within: Or, The Dark Continent of Film Noie 9 art I Travelling Postcolonialistsand Women ‘of Color 1233 5. Traveling White Theorists: The Case of China us * 6."Can One Know the Orher?”: The Ambivalence coat, Warior Marks of Postcolonalsn in C nd Misisippi Masal 154 | ij 7 “Speaking Neary | SUSE Teh Matt eased 8. “Healing 9 lmperilized Eyes”: in " Flnmkerand he Look“ ‘Penden Women Sal Ri a Menopas, Masecomy an by Raines, Tom and Onwurah Afterword: ‘Reversing the Gaze, Yes; an Sngry Films ae Acknowledgments Imei os Ras aug ae a icin 03 want fst to thank my graduate and undergraduate students a the State University of New York who Bore with meas I struggled to nticulate my ideas teaching this material over the past few years, and from whom learned a great deal. The mukicultural context for my lectures and our discussions allowed fr a diversity of responses and ‘Opinions from which weal benefited. I want particularly 0 chank the staduate students whose names are mentioned in several chapters 3s sentrbuting to my thinking in constractive ways: Debjani Banere, Diela Kogacioght and Hilary Aquino. T want also to thank the Japanese students and faculty who listened to my lectures in 1995 and 1996 at Josai International University, Waseda, University, Yokahama Women's Forum, Kyoto Women’s Center and elsewhere. Presenting this multicultural work in those ‘cross-cultural contexts enabled me to hear mysel diferendy, 10 be heard eiferenly and to develop my ideas in new ways. eared from the questions people asked and the insights people offered. Thanks ‘pecially to Hiroko Yamazaki for coming with her fil Justa to one GTihe lectures and for agreeing tobe interviewed. Similar thanks go to Chire Denis, Pratibha Parmar, Yvonne Rainer and Teinh T. Minh fh for coming to The American Center in Pars to show ther lms X// Ackzowledgments ee Heme ion roen Fil yeti ete ets smust thank Isaac Julien, Se le ped anh eon an sof he am extremely gratefl “Traveling Cultures: Sex, ‘retly with research on srbutd mye ‘as on mater Thay m2 Wiliam Germano, eto bingo futon Jrany of my frustrations = Y fustation % ie Y uerook the burden of yc PY daughter Bret Indes. Lam grateful for observations in. the Terie ae “Fed aoe ohio lichael Roth (Charlottsville ‘nd London Thanks to the Museum of ; Press, 195:179-208), 0 Preface The dominant frit paradigm actualy encourages ws 0¢ thinkin tems of any oppression oter than male dominance and female ssbordinaton, Jane Gaines, "White Pevlege and Look Are we relly to imagine that feminist theorists wong only “howt the image of white women, who subsume this specie bis foveal subject under the toting category “woman,” do not See the whiteness ofthe image? bell hooks, Blick Look “Ths book responds in art the by now well-known cecism that 1971s an 1980s white feminist fm theory neglected issues to do with race! Whi many insights ofthat theory remain valid, 1 agree that dey eed integrating with racial and gay/lesbian perspectives. This book tims to redress part ofthe gap vis-is race by exploring inks between iter gender and interracial looking-relations inthe context of films tout travel To do th t revisits 198Ds psychoanalytic theory. A main focus ison the ways in which the “mal” gaze and the “imperil” gaze cannot be separated within western patriarchal cultures. Indeed — cK _ 8H / Looking forthe Othe a c a. es eg gi emacs ek Siew oc i Stim of Spike La fer Lt She's Gotta Hine ke party nines lt partly arises from hooks = tale gave ig st won at Pe ona pct inthhonk) A uate 936h wich das ine eb dey peen ee (se discussions in cha rd, one of the heated moan: hot the field of postcolonial studies ent . ter 5) Wis ales modemist postmodem theories that I exansne the legacies of Theories inthis book. I look back from the postmadem, with its traces of modernist, at modemistlooking-elacons that now come more daily into view Film studies, as 2 discipline, has developed greatly since 1 wrote nen and Frm: Both Sides ofthe Camera, published in 1983. While some fim scholars engaged readily with the postmodem theoreti {al developments just outlined, many chose to work more narrowiy ‘on research on film per se. A lage amount of archival work has tincarthed fils previously unknown to scholars and erties. Much historical and institutional fin research has been done. The number fof stadents producing PhD.’ in film studies has grown, and much of ‘heir research has itself enabled the field to develop along these lines. In short, in the intervening years film stadies has established itself finly a a diespline in ways it had not quite done in 1980. And we should congratulate ourselves on this ust because fi studies i now firmly installed asa discipline should be ready to engage in dialogue with other disciplines. Already, Somewhat interdisciplinry by nature, film studies needs t0 open itself tonllances with less inerdsciplinary fields. Though I do not workin 2 developed film studies department, Ise anced to teach film in both the undergraduate and graduate contexts, and Ihave developed ways fof making film study accessible co liberal arts students who have no Spportuniy to major in fl studies proper, who may not have taken fim course before, and who cerainly are not going on to become teachers of fl per se. At best, graduate students whom we place in Enelish departments will be able to teach an odd film course and include lms within general literary nd cultural studies courses From ty perspective within the academy—that is, within lage state un erty that i heavily sience riented-I se litle hope of there being money in the ner future to develop film studies “proper” where there jerome to date. Hence the increasing need for books appropriate for teaching fl to students who have only a genetal liberal arts back ‘ground and which link film with other disciplines? “As noted eat, this book brings together several disciplines—film studies, literature, women’s. studies, postcolonial studies. Cert technical and specific aspects of each discipline will have to be subor inated to themes that cut across the disciplines. I would hope that the book would nevertheless be useful within each of the disciplines it a a 5" / Looking or the Other SPE petal te tctg ett cas he a re ane pea se em oe Sa eco ae OC ng the eo SURIETOUS ways at wl crate Surely want im seis My wt to mone a it i rots, ewe eal nm pce et Sn fn end ar hey chs el a 1nd sou the indo camer isl) ea hen ee eee be sone wane Siena sry tothe can 88 pop Its then, a archive and vis i me = on ae a ae Sy nn ee ih rye forme eral nation, yin ese nea EINE Sree, sens. The bos with fem FoUghout the ouch ich ‘tion of subjectivity and imteriorty, doped tt 0" fom the 1970a and 198 HE that. ft to artane and eon oe 2 be Prvilege and Lookee wit nis ln They pes response to the ok marta oe wil be des, do noc see wh ee ok and ntsc white femme = _K —_-_ = 4 ‘the main reason for thei lack of attention to ace. That omision has far broader historical, political cleural and intellectual reasons than paychoanalytie methodology itself, as I discuss in chapter 4.1 would ot ant eo, and this book definitely doesnot, rule out the need for psychoanalysis in understanding racism as well as sexism. Tet me quote Kobena Mercer, who pats the situation clearly: “As Jane Gaines has pointed out concerning feminist film theory.” he notes, “the inadvertent reproduction ofthe heterosexual presumption in the orthodox theorzation of sexual difference also assumed. a homogenous racial and ethnic context, with the result that racial and cnc dflerences were erase from or marginalized within the analy Sis Analogies between race and gender in representation ceveal simi lat ideological pattems of objectification, exclusion and “oheri (Mercer 1991, 178). fs precisely such “analogies” between race and gender that hope fo investigate through a focus on fensinism and the imperil gaze. Both the “homogenous racial context” and (toa lesser extent) the “orthodox theorzation of sexual diference” are invest pated in this book. T will argue thatthe spheres of the imaginary, of fantasy, of the Arcam are close to the sphere ofthe textual. Lam committed to the ‘dea articulated nicely by Teresa de Laueeis (1994) thatthe level of ‘Sgnifiation can impact on the imaginary and produce change in sub jects reading or viewing texts. For this reason, do not believe that Pevchoanalyss is irlevant in multiculturalist analysis. Whether oF hot specific psychoanalytic mechanisms apply across cultures, processes of textual identification lock into the level ofthe imaginary, the level ofan unconscious, when spectators are viewing oF reading within the contexts of United Stats clture~the culture that I myself live and work within and the context that 1 expect this book to be taught within. This s not to exclude the book's being translated (2s ‘my Women and Film has been) and taught within quite different cul tural contexts, but only to say that Ido not know what meanings stu- ‘dens in China, Japan, Beil or Taiwan wil tke from the book were it also to be translated into their languages. As I argue in one ofthe chapters, scholars and critics, wherever they are located, always use theory and criticism for ther own ends. This is what Eurocentric rt ell have done with postcolonial and “Third World” T look forward to debates about what meanings 1 ics, including vow oN 4 / Looking forthe Other have made of eof mukicuku dei tng al and thers. the book pa espa TS TPO thn ln chee le ing 00H Td fing The concy Proper tith The cnet SS per wo rele mga ad Ane Ce ls cd ih Yo Ba cussed in this book, Yih involved several of the fit cts he abet into several ul: 90 $90 an 193), te Mal a a Sth el Cae oa a eigen eS rs 999 =H 09) and by ames Cod ne a (228 Sat oF the looking a ore! intere i no thon ea Hg ee Mic herent ey cone wh orth Woman he mgth Projects on the cine- the culture Soon a a the look. § wisible; ‘0 avoid ae aod okng a Je cree tpt ae St the ok wh Senco Seg ok tha eee senso as ale vo Process, a relation, objet” look, the ive ated "nics acm pe “Bate” as muta ac a (form that of ‘the “look” tebe eye te 8 the wor 6 havin Pele / x or looking at; nor ist taking oneself intact nto the other. I je for the purposes of the work, Becoming” (Morrison 1992, 4). Looking will connote curiosity about the Other, a wanting to know (which can of course still be oppressive but does not have to be while the gaze I take to involve exteme anxiety—an attempt in a ease not to know, to deny, infact. Bu let me elaborate The “pane” came into film theory, as most people know, through Laura Molvey's influential 1975 ey, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative CGinema.” In that essay, Mulvey altemated between using “gaze” and look" for the phenomena she was describing. In the section tiled “Woman as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look,” Mulvey almost imamediatly ceplaces “look” with “gaze” when she says that “The determining male gave projects its phantasy on to the female figure ‘which is styled accordingly” (Mulvey 1975, 11). She proceeds 10 Show how “an active-passive heterosexual division of labour has Controlled narrative structure,” and to discus diferences between scopophili and narcissistic pleasure in ooking. Although in one sec tion Mulvey talks about “the gaze ofthe spectator and that of the tmale characters in the fm” ad notes that "Man i reluctant to gaze at his exhibitionist like” when she suramarizes her points atthe end the retums to the word “look.” She distinguishes three cinematic ook" tha of the camera in che pro-lic event; that ofthe spect tors in the cinema; and athied lok that denies the irs two and sub ‘ordinates them to it, namely, that of the characters toward one another “within the screen ilision” (17). Mulvey does not appear t0 ce any diflerence between the “look” and the “gaze.” Tn 1983, 1 wrote an essay for an anthology tiled “Is the Gaze Male2” in which I reworked and eased questions about Mulvey’ in didnot explain why 1 preferred the term “gaze” over nt Copjee points out, later on the authors of a seminal ideas but ook” As anthology on feminist fim theory, Re-Vision (Doane, Mellencamp and Willams 1984), link the gaze in feminist lm theory to Foucault's Concept ofthe Panopticon, concluding that this structure perfectly {eserbes “the condition no onl ofthe inmates in Bentham’ prison but of the woman as wel. Fo, defined in terms of her visibility, she tarries her own Panopticon with her wherever she goes, her self image a function of her being for another.” The authors conclude that Looking forthe Other tod listinguish “gaze” from “look” ing, followin for proces pre filing omg ane Ges 8 in looking, for what I mado mar pac the looking relation.” While Fecal sas sad saan nae 3 abOw sonia procene re met © of the fort rma itm ppc ton Fh theo pe ethene at # Wee For example, for Reale event “ook zis ative: the 0 mark peeie ‘nthe objec per bcct bearing, re ake a ce Si tmietineseboee nt a Sciam ts rte aa at hewn nc pega tea Seine ay not carte ein acs relies = Pcealdoat process ike en Sa aes, Tay MU the Keyhole hier escheat of poe 20 or a lation, Preface / ie “Throughout his essay, in line withthe discourses Jameson is working ogy, to black responses within, race s not marked. Yeta further ‘white feminisms, occurs tome: in part, black feminists responded negatively to white feminist theories ofthe gaze because ofan assumed Donileged status; how could white women be concerned about being Sexually objectified while lack women were tuggling wit black men sgainsta racism that was primary? aim in this book to show parallels between the structures of the fm theorist, fllowing Mulvey, have thor male gaze as Feminist fil ‘oughly examined i, and che structures ofthe “imperial gaze” ladys formulated by scholars bung on the concep ofthe male gazes a, for example, Stam and Spence (1988), who talk about colo: nial Fepresentation, and Shohae (1991), who subtitled an essay “The Disciplinary Gaze of Empire.” The gaze contributes to any subjects imterpllation (in Louis Althasser’s sense of a subject being called into being): the gaze of the Other destablzes Back subjective (2s Frantz Fanon showed so dramatically in Black Skin, White Masks [1967] and whose insights have influenced much of the work cited) As Stuart Hall has noted, the gaze that obliterates involves a desire which is refused" But white subjecivties, Iwill show, can also be Uestabiized when exposed to the gaze of the Other, since this is 2 ize 10 which such subjects have not traditionally been subjected "The difficulty arses in relation to spectatorshp. For example, mest white women viewers ofa film like Black Narcissus (1946; discussed in chapter 3), identify with Sister Clodagh’s imperialist gaze atthe peoples she and the other nuns have come to “ile”? Inthe case of the male gaze in a film ike Duel nthe Sun, Laura Mulvey and others Fhe argued that women must adopt the masochistic position the ‘gmze-stracture demands of them (in effect, identifying with the male ze and participating in their own objectification): but what happens then the subjects deploying the gaze are ones white women can ‘enti with directly? Tese issues wil have to be adresse. Tparticulrly wanted a tem for the book’s tie that would suggest cross-cultural desire as a process, as wel as cross-cultural relating, since the fascination with ooking has to do with the historical prob bition in western cultures of crss-racial looking: this prohibition has to do with western culture's prohibition oferos-racal sex. I wanted °/ Looking forthe Other to teference Toni Morrison's sole he ety ec mF th sand eth n of longing, oft ratte. "Boay Poin" develop involving the Saad sfpome con Sater sicaalaacbat ten meagre Si eteeee en i ene —— “remeron rate ing or non-whites, an Mating within SH Weigh of whi “hs matinee Sr Hal wn ey ef a sh of a Reo el tee ea Ua 55 je es ry and ge ak Seva om a ay ofthe pe we a Kc pt, my ha i ein Julies pre nase “The Other Lola the Lg ‘alte wack ed yen ee wm this double hind ih te tens ecko being objects of representation and also denied acces tothe means fof representation} as the black subject ‘looks back’ to ask the audi fence who or what they are looking for” (Mercer 1991, 200). (This ‘say appeared in a book which Lhope my tte also conjures, namely Bad Objects’ How Do I Loot So “Looking Back” was yet another sense that T wanted to include ‘We played with Looking FOR and Looking BACK, but in the end went with the simpler Looking for the Other. OF course, as Jane Gaines pointed out to me, Looking for the Other cals ro mind isaac Julien again, this time his fim Looking for Langston. Lam delighted to have title that brings Jalen’ film to mind. Even though I do not ds cuss that film here, have taught t many times and students enjoyed Julien’s visit to Stony Brook with his fl. Jalen’ lms and weitings have long been an inspiration to me: his film Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask is briliane homage (and much more of couse) t0 2 complicated theorist without whose work, however problema and contradictory, this book could not have been imagined." Thanks to Jatin for making the fil and, as it wee, bringing Fanon to tex ‘ual life, however paradoxical tha may be have to thank Jane Gaines fr the book’ subtitle, "Feminism and the Imperial Gaze.” While the problematic this phrase embodies has all along been central to my conceptions, Gaines found the phrase. I flbo want to thank her for a number of comments on the daft man Script; many of which {found helpful inthe final revision ‘My bibliography shows the debs I bear toward the many scholars who have preceded me in some ofthe areas Ideal with. For me, the field was fist opened up by Robert Stam and Louise Spence’ 1983 “Colonialism and Represetation,” soon 1 be followed ternational Fil Festival devoted in 1986 Screen ess by the annual Edinburgh to issues of "Third Cinema” fim Pines’ and Paul Willmen's 1989 ‘edited volume of papers given a that event provided me with a teach- able text and research materials fom which to start in-depth study. ‘The volume included a broad range of experts in varied national con- texts offering diverse theoretical models. "The book that pechaps comes closest to mine is Fila Shohat and Robert Stam’ Unthinking Eurocentrisn. Readers of my text wil: iy see how valuable Ihave found Stam and Shohat’s research. For years, Uhave heen teaching articles that preceded their book, and 1 CS OE 228 / Looking forthe Other However, my basic co book isan invaluable a very diferent: while Stam and jerviw of slobl cinemas, mine takes subjectivity, imeioray hoanalysis alin emphan E leret deen ee ‘pesca om theo eink E omen in bout nae EO€Enrism. Finally hoes Toe my cement ade howl | E cluded ope hat my boc wit peo sie omer in 8 complementing ag nw concn ashton hey en cn Problema. oem i Oe SA “hie ont ttheares ages O™ nO Tamed it S78 minocy ons tts tha so Ot and is tainted Mites: mica cultural ee ith cond. ai he Se “oh language protean a rr m2 hao wine ee: Sch “has beni tothe feminist intro and the insistence on tently use this terminology would bean ‘duction of she" for the generic pronoun terms like “chairperson” or “spokesperson.” Ihave manly setled for ‘omen of color” although I sometimes use “non-white.” Ie wll take some more years of struggle for the language problem to evolve Anglo-Americans will know that there has been some shife in race relations once language beyins to register the inttinked socal changes Notes Jane Gaines as wil be noted bel, was one ofthe ist to point out the lmitation of wt emi ln Ucocy as regards asues of ace. ‘Other crc, sch is udth Mayne apd Teresa de Laure also noted the gap vise race abour the same ine, and most recent, ball hooks fas called upon white feminists to emely the gap (hooks 1992, 128 1 find the term Gainer uses here, “looking relations.” useful ecase ic implies a proce and a Joo that factions in atleast wo tras tere could be more, of oure) But wil discus this in some {cain chapter lel books also aes te erm, without refering 10 ‘Gaines however in "The Oppositional Gaze," as when she refer 10 talking with black women about "the lnc looking relations” (11) {eis mveresting tho whe ook has jst castigated white feminist, fim theory for as “ahistorical prychoanlyuc famework™ that SJevely muppesses recognition of ace” (123), she now wes the “ame prychomnalyc theory to analae the cinematic gaze at black ttomen, The theory hen cannot isc have suppese ecopition ‘face, Wt emrise had chosen to wate about gave stores in ‘elton to white women, perhaps feanng t0 generalize to other {roups Tha they didnot comet upon or objet to the prvaie ‘ech thar made the white woman predominant in Hollywood ao teers of couryey a sro problem with thee work. The enor was ‘Essumings I think tha sexual llerence was primary, and pin tive, ha eats of ltr socil formations and sents, inclding lass, tae ethicy, nation and rlon, gender was consti ‘poor wo anything eke. The particular stady ofthe constitutive nature Uf sewualdiflerence theeroexualdiference) was made with fs Fearing white women. 3. Indeed at Stony Brook, the administration is pressuring t co lupe Mero cin disciplines together task forces have proposed steamemen ean cor eetaneen igen ron mesons a. My spectc use of these cams, and the dference between the two. shite anova cP fe lea hat she call he chapter. La aati deaman as el aromatase ome oar Hall made his, Ve Sent Ne resection 2 an NYU ec eer tl ‘this book goes to final pin on French and talan, held st 36 at Osaber t-te ald ane rw ea a. Rag tlle to tenet 0 sof Sh demain he talon spar fe aa it = ieee ence ; sien ye rary lffctent agendas ating fom ebay may have 1s tec or ‘ob tad as owt pts ae ‘rennet emer ee tr Smee eae emia Sr feo orate an cae ‘rnc aco fn zs ‘inline ea “Roda br nc Kenran ea Ata lstonues Noe Ale woctned Pe niin sa tae cau oa peeite mine 22 / Looking forthe Other Part I cori Nation, cl ds: Theories of Bos Pajama rane nial Css Je Travel, Travelling Identities and the Look Look, a Negro!” I was an external stimu thitficked over sme as I passed by T made aight sme. “Looe Negro It was tie. I amused me. “Look, 4 Negro!” The ce was drawing lat dphter [made no see of my arnement Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks Black saves and later marnmited servants, could be brtally umished for looking for appeating 10 observe the whites they ‘were serving, tony subject can abrerve, oe, ell hooks, Bac Looks Can the subaltern speak? What must the elite do 10 watch out forthe continuing construction othe subltem? The question cman” seems most problematic in this context... if you ae oor, bck and female you gettin three ways Gaya Spivak, "Can the Subslern Speak ‘This isa book about interracial looking relations in film, Such relations are inseparable from the formation of subjecivities, and from historical (local and global) cultural specificities. While my Women and Film: Bodh Sides of the Camers focused mainly on how a 4 / Looking forthe Other ietatE hen white people look av now Ok is retumed-when black pe suites into_knowledge of thir going both ways) take place rk asked "Can the Subaltem nly “ean the subalte lok? Be 2s ios Possibilities for oa ot a) Pe Pcs cemained the ee aa TPE i Ro 10 God ang mel te from man because he ate pcm“ fot man—remained despite en Woman * thea thee ge . tic Structures (to. by Fou os leveloped to deal with ‘the inc a surveillance, Not “incidentally ‘ube: onal ger of re cating woman as “Ober of ge ‘organized, cinienia ain i instal src nd ong een homop Tokina bia) was organized around cop tad “ree cl end ae a ettog m4 Travel, Traveling Identities and the Loo ‘photography-Tfllowing the discovery of thee-dmensional art prac tices inthe west-created a new st of looking relations, and changed humans’ conceptions of themscles irevocably. Moving images in fim, TV and video further changed looking relations." The period this book concentrates on first, then is late modernism Predictably, contemporary scholars ae able to analyze looking rel tions in late modems because, as the millenium nears, global cl tures are on the brink of a dramatic new shift in such relations brought about by digal and electronic technologies. Often termed postmodern technologies, vctual realty and World Wide Web elec ving an impact on the structures of as [ will suggest at the end of the send that ts structures tronic networks ate already hi race and gender looking relation hook. Is only when a paradigm is nari ‘come cleat into view: Yeti i vital to understand the structures of ‘paradigm st passing because is shapes will impact on the new one Second the book moves of to look at some of the new postmodern suljectivtes-so-called “hybid” subjects, sbjecivities-n-between, ‘oc the mulkiple subjects atthe borders that Trinh T. Mink-ha, Maia Lugones Michele Wallace and Gloria Anzakia describe—in fl by independent filmmakers. Humans have always travelled fora broad vaity of reasons: they travel out of necessity (to get fod and water of, most recently, as “guestworkers” to obtain 2 living and retura home), for power (to contol more testory), for pleasure (to look a new things and peo pes), for scientific and cultural knowledge, for political or religious Survival (to escape imprisonment for one’s belies), for misionary for greed (to exploit other zeal (to convert others 10 one’s belie ‘people's resources. Importantly, some peoples are coerced into ‘uavel forthe gain of other people, a inthe slave trade (Travel implicitly involves looking st, and looking relations peoples diferent from oneself In James Clifford's wont, rethink culture adits science, anthropology i terms of travel, then the ofpanic,natualizing bias of the tem culture~seen as a rooted body that grows, lives, dics, ets questioned. Constructed and di puted historctes, sites of displacement, interference, and interaction ‘Come more sharply into view" (Cliflord 1992, 101, But paradoxically, ‘while travel may destabilize a fixed notion of culture, it heightens a ith, still 100 large even ifm oden ism, | mit the kinds Kinds of eravel in mings the metaphorical concep rloped.? My focus, hea olonizers and colonel eues, and herween teh they visit, as these relatos looking is conceived, what AF 10 looking eh | exam r= ie the inked nate fon dreoped metaphor o rope * = fc a en ae ay a oa relations? Te Posibilitiey mop AS noted, fo om wt de . crn ‘vp of ech lng as noted at a racial and nt cr tow Ame Travel, Traveling emis and the Lok resistance to, dominant looking relations with ll ehe cultural imp cations such resistance involves Fi-viewing is itself a specific site for examining the looking rela tions of film technology. Ths book will explore how film technology ‘may impact on interracial looking eelations. Through spectator iden: tification with sereen images, what possiblities does independent film olfer for new experiences in racial looking-outsde the dominant ‘scopic regime? May film “intervene in the symbolic order through practices of reappropriation or re-sgnification which ... affect and ker the imaginary...” (De Lauretis 1994, 297)? How far is lm lm ited by its paricular spectatorial technology? How far may is nx ious gazes be tamed back on ite? These and other questions will be addressed Both the look and the gaze as noted here and in the preface, ate symptomatic of important aspects of culture: these include concepts ‘of nation and science which lam particulaey concerned with i this book. As Til argue in chapter 2, both “nation” and "science ‘monolithic categories deployed in mainsteam culture, interpellace people through the gaze and through technology. Both the gaze and the look also have powerful psychic dimensions that I want to com ‘ment bre on. In the epigraph to this chapter bell hooks links the repressed subjectivity of the subaltern with looking stractares, mach as white feminists had earl linked repressed female subjectivity with how looking was gendered to produce the male gaze/In her cs hooks notes that only sete people, ie, those conceived 2 subject, can observe and se. Since blacks are not constituted as subjects they ‘cannot look (ie look for whites, satisfy openly their curiosity bout whites) le alone gaze in the sense of dominating, objecifving). If {Lacan overdetermined the place of looking in subject formation, the experience people cite (not to speak of Fanon’s research cited below) indicate chat gaze structures—that i, being iterpellated by the gaze ‘or being excluded from looking-have powerfal psychoanalytic imp tations. Lee’ retum to Frante Fanon witng inthe 1950s: “Mama, ‘ee the Negro! I'm frightened?” This by now familar uotaton from Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks literalizes black sel/-alienation (in the context of 1950s French colonialism) produced dramatically ze.” Having grown up as part of an elite class in through the 8 Looking othe Other vary atitiau, the Gnherenty St lectin on, Ces a omethng he etn tha a nv a Sins srr" lee ob objec Fon eee clad yas back to me sprang = et he ea that vite mer selegerm ty bt Gs women filmmakers in the 198 ssc path tse Seg ee dn a hones Rt and mt sobs ate of the body-in this ene Tendeed wy <280ations bf AEA economic and ek tment arlet Vicon frac tthe Sout ay backward and le init = cca ater eer Loe etd < sc 3 ects Petrie rs ‘equ aomoble"(5,) NS he poplar song, the ub ieee Pein he cee ed of toate sal iin cae a, eg Se ter oye anaes whch re sing ech ceo ae this wid att Ment from European ‘ationalism shat he fears sooo “Theories of Nation and Hellywood / 39 another euture” (113). Ie is perhaps less surprising thar one finds absolutely no overt mention of gender, although sufragette agitation twas already on the horizon, Tn their pioneering. vol pera, Amy Kaplan and Donald Pease focus attention, finally, on the acknowledged interdependence of the United States and (A. Kaplan 1993, 8), and contest the tradi nes The Cultures of United States In- aropean Colonials tional American studies axiom that “there is no American empire.” Kaplan points out glaring absences in American and postcolonial Studies, namely those ofthe study of culture inthe history of United Stas imperialism; “the absence of empire from the study of ‘American culture; and the absence ofthe United States from the post ‘Colonial study of impesalism”(1}/She points out that “Two histor ‘ally different and yet interrelated definitions of empire—as external ‘Subjugation of colonies versus internal national consolidation—have ‘heen split between = two national cultures (namely the Old World and the New World.” Kaplan reminds readers tha the tational Concept of the New World Adam wandering in an empty-wilderess ‘Completely eliminates the American Indians who were actully filing nd taming that “wilderness” long-before-he-European man got there (12) Pease extends this idea to argue that settlement ofthe Americas, conceived as “unmapped temitories” by the Europeans, gave the invaders a huge space to negotiate with the purported ends of rato Knowledge. Pease notes nal “discovery” and of extending scientific iy and how several emergent sciences (sch as geography, bolo anthropology) shaped how impesaists went about their conquest: it became a cultural project that involved naming and classifying, 3s well a exterminating and demareating inthe interests of seting UP 2 new regime (A. Kaplan and Pease 1993; 19) The Koplen and Pease volume as a whole “inks America as & colony and an empire tothe imperial entepaisesof other nations in| “lob system and insists on the historical specificity ofthe cukures of United Stes imperalism without either collapsing chem ino | European models or propagating a new model of American excep tional’ (14), The inks between European colonialism and United | States imperialism will be central inthe investigation, in chapter 3, of 49 / Looking forthe One a e semiotics of the inpenee lS Wood films—of Tener tes ene seeder sor a inate reataninmdtnn ne ea The namie fin gah “Hesingimperazed Eh spleen tit Dah Alon nal wen! to it oe an Kaplan ae Sa ce ee se ae est teva 29) re ape py lian we at oat ment Sica ma meena aaa ie " a Pie“ lan That Ane mt ye ture en er impetalen Ue kan an ee ween ational eo =e a Anca} ster “con py mpi gti phn 12 be none Ae meepe w meet Ais aap tin onan Song ic gr Ta ae ee Ne es Tick Sls NY Fo a cic dees ee in that what educatio =a Bc “Americans a Keres cron on shape Ga shape them alp* ‘nei problems in “the collapse fea rete cla Theis of Nation and Hollywood / 47 When Geyer tus to the issue of multiculturalism versus monocul sr tis only too obrious that he has in mind a differen society, from chat dnd a aiferent consciousness regarding that society, Bourne wrote fom within. Astimed in Geyer’s discourse is that lltcutualsm refers not to white European immigrans but £0 ‘huans, Africans, African Americans, Hispanic peoples and Americ Indians, Geyer that responds to the conterporsy credemoguiphie changes within the United State, ust 8 Bourne was aeipied by ates rating to Word War I, *Mulkcutural education stttional esoution to the breakup of mainstay ofa college edie ts monster” by TY iss produced is? Geyer notes, an i white middle-class constituency as the m (601. The construction of educators Srone, results from the breakup of shen the same white, middle-class ral configuration highey- education and an American politica! sali constituting the fie “Americ” Buti our period the Goal revision of “minorities” and women, and of American nationally ‘which has traditionally cided Ameria oropean Renaissance and a tvangelists and politician, Geyer the close alignment shat held tog haunts general education, civilization in favor ofthe Greeks, the European based modersization model (508) coerce, Boume’s model of keeping inact the European ci hen he was witing has been for the indlsion of hitherto lin the form of multicultural tures already present in Americ repeated in response to demands ‘excded minority cultures in curtic cepa) tracks Phese, Geyer args, Tea co a fase “urea seh CeriFttoaen of moses or Asin or Africa cua re aided v0 Gea the Burocentc eurculum, all would be fic. Geyer aves thor ths repens an old sratey of masking hierarchical sucroes Daa nn place tions of autonomy mask the cass an Poet Seema iter dominant. white groups and hitherto exclided caer coon ies ts ppefelinnsonumeairebteaioe trees Trerlies that seppresl and mainalned minor, 2-4 nt rad capcned colons and slavery. Bue Geyer belies i politically dubions ‘The distance between concern about what defines sis of new waves of non-Europess Bourne and Geyer may be seen in a new cqmercana distance cased bythe = migrants. A growing concer 42 / Looking forthe Other ee carey ring vas ugly eal Haine of «pre Mee pou Karon ee Sorel iy any cl be, as Kaplan and eas fenton rants ses identity has. iy nssometingiode witasuoalsterse al identity, itatoul spinner of sch of then, he decides that A m0 enc” Ran 19501 Hea show 28 “pen -ay consent deste 10 teed nag ae REPEHAR the vale of the hea that one -° (19) Renan concludes that a dat ono Pragmatic about mepinneaiioes Sepepee tentacle seater ace crminoais omy aceasta eo enous peoples, and may confit ninisms. Feminist notions of ‘nm chapter $ in relation 1 shcoris of Nation and Hollywood / 43 pes in America have made; ad also.of-the obvious appresions thst ai aemave endured atthe hands of white Americans In such 2 aa ae neal impossible forthe kindof spit that Renan ther, 0 be evoked. declares asthe only cement to keep peoples to Ba tay i emarkably modern fr is moment and tani pena auch of what Exe Balt has to sys albough Bales = Manust philosopher, i wing within & ¥ery Contemporary French f race and nation, and

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