In a frequent meta-commentary on film-making and film-watching, Peeping Tom is preoccupied with the way that the move camera sees and captures women. Pick one scene in the film that shows a woman in front of the camera or watching a film. What is one thing that scene might tell us about the depiction of women on screen? It might be useful to reference some part of Laura Mulvey’s argument in the essay assigned for class.
PEEPING TOM Title_01_01.mp4 (If you want to see a scene again, use this link to the movie. You’ll have to be logged in to Midd’s network for it to work.)
One scene that reflects Mulvey’s argument and represents a unique challenge to the idea of gaze Mark represents is his interaction with Hellen’s mother. Since her blindness makes her immune to Mark’s voyeuristic control; she cannot participate in the act of looking and being looked at. While Mark is obsessed with visually capturing fear, Helen’s mother, despite her blindness, perceives more about Mark’s character than those who can see. This frustrates Mark because it suggests that filming doesn’t necessarily equate to true understanding—invalidating his cinematic obsession. This is ironic since a blind woman is the first person who is able to “see” Mark for who he really is.
One of the scenes that struck me the most was the scene during which he kills Vivian, the stand-in actress, at the Studio. This scene felt different, because, unlike the prostitute at the beginning of the film, and Milly later, she almost sees it coming. She asks him to help her feel scared, which begins a sequence where the boundaries of reality and the film become blurred. It’s almost like she can’t quite tell if it is just for the film or happening. I kept wondering why she didn’t move as the camera, and knife were coming at her. This scene highlights what Mulvey discusses as the “to-be-looked-at-ness” of women on screen. Even though she’s aware of the danger – Mark has shown her the knife – she remains almost paralyzed, only slightly backing away. It’s as if her purpose is not to act or resist but to be a passive object, existing solely for the camera’s gaze. She is stripped of her agency and becomes more of an object than an actor in the situation.
I was particularly struck by Vivian’s dance sequence in Peeping Tom because of how much it plays into (and in a way satirizes) the voyeurism of the movie and the role of women in entertainment. First, I think the scene itself contributes to the plot which at this point is starting to pick up in pace; Vivian is talking about her fear of being in front of a camera while simultaneously being enthralled by her desire for fame and performance. In her dance routine, the camera follows her steadily while we get passing glimpses of Mark, who is also looking at her intently. In this situation, the audience is cued to “peep” and unapologetically objectify the woman on the screen in a way that isn’t blatantly sexual, but is instead implied through Mark’s manhandling. Like discussed in Mulvey’s essay, “[when] a woman performs within the narrative, the gaze of the spectator and that of the male characters in the film are neatly combined without breaking narrative verisimilitude.” While we as an audience are deriving our pleasure from different aspects of this performance, it is safe to say that we are parallel to Mark in having an objectifying and perverse gaze of Vivian.
I agree with this vastly. There were multiple moments throughout the movie in which I felt the movie was attempting to parallel the audience to mark (specifically the scenes in which “peeping” occurs, Vivian’s dancing scene is a perfect example). It’s interesting to me the way in which it feels like we’re being coerced into feeling as predatory as mark is, with his subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) “peeping” before the violence ensues (killing Vivian, for example). In a way, I kind of felt like a character in the movie being forced to do things I didn’t want to do while I was watching this film.
One of the first shots in the film is an extended shot from Mark’s point of view (or rather, the point of view of his camera) as he admires the prostitute whom he ultimately kills. The shot is quite long, starting on the street and ending in her room as he throws himself upon her. With this shot, the film immediately establishes itself as a meta commentary on the inherently voyeuristic nature of the form — this is our first impression of the film. Even before Mark accosts her, this shot is uncomfortable both in its length and its subjects. That one of the very first shots of the film should be so blatant in its objectification of women highlights the indelibly sexualized role of women in film and suggests an inextricable connection between cinema and voyeurism.
The scene where Mark is watching his film of the stand-in actress from his film set when Mrs. Stevens is in the room is a really interesting one. Mark is feeling immense amounts of distress because the film did not turn out the way he wanted, and we see him from the back as Mrs. Stevens walks up behind him. The camera angle behind them both seems to be simply a shot of them watching this film, but obviously Mrs. Stevens cannot see the film in front of her. Even so, she begins to see the type of person Mark is and what extremes he will go to behind a camera. This scene is a way of showing that even when women cannot see the way men see them, there is an underlying understanding of what the men are looking at and for. The behind shot where the woman on the screen is slightly projected onto Mark and distorted gives us a view of Mark’s actions from a woman like Mrs. Stevens alongside him, rather than just Mark’s perspective. She is seeing what us as the audience is seeing and is opening a direct connection between the audience and the character in the film.