During the period of great proliferation of film making the ideas of homosocial space are explored, specifically through the Edison Laboratory. This homosocial context comes from Edison's productions because at the time he was creating scenes of visual interest of what men wanted to see and he did so with men.
While contemporary students might recognize Edison's Laboratory as lacking diversity of identities most did not seem to advertise much dislike. The audience of these films were both men and women and while they appealed to the men they didn't exactly not appeal to the women. Take Eugen Sandow filmed by W.K.L. Dickson for example. While men enjoyed the Edison Laboratory as a "bastion of masculinist culture" (Musser), as Sandow flexes in front of the stationary camera women also enjoy viewing the attractive physique of a man.
Later on I suspect that the women became more aware of the homosocial environment of film when women were involved in performances that held more of an erotic component to them. This makes me rethink, perhaps women were not considered audience members or the men behind the cameras did not imagine women to be in the audience.
I think it is so interesting how different the Lumiere's approach was, even though they were making films at the same point in time. You did a great job of summarizing Edison's approach! Also, love the photos in between paragraphs!
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting point. Had some of Edison's work included images of a naked body a woman, do you think it would have been received well by the audience of both men and women?
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that with Edison's films, women just simply were not considered nor were they in the picture. Do you see any homosocial aspects in film today? I think it is interesting how drastically society has changed since the invention of film. I wonder how the incorporation of women into film and as voyeurs might have advanced or brought back women's movements of the time.
ReplyDeleteI also love your images! They are a great illustration of your points. It's really interesting how early film is encoded as being for the male gaze this early. This is true despite the fact that in the later part of the early period there are many more women involved in film production then today. I think it had something to do with the fact that public spaces were still seen primarily as the domain of men while the home space was seen as being for women. Kinetoscope parlors were really coded as primarily for men as were movie theaters to a certain degree.
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