Open AccessSome Problems with Gendered Subjectivity and Representation: Baise Moi and Hard-Core Pornography
Author(s) -
Temmuz Süreyya Gürbüz
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
cinej cinema journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2159-2411
pISSN - 2158-8724
DOI - 10.5195/cinej.2021.321
Subject(s) - human sexuality , representation (politics) , sociology , pornography , subjectivity , femininity , gender studies , aesthetics , power (physics) , epistemology , psychoanalysis , psychology , art , philosophy , political science , law , physics , quantum mechanics , politics
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.