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.)
The scene I chose is when Mark killed Vivian on the set of the film. leading up to the woman being killed when she walks into the studio to meet Mark he is nowhere to be found. the room was dark and whenever she called out to Mark he didn’t respond creating this fear in her. mark was obsessed with seeing the fear in the eyes of his victims he even said the strongest emotion is fear and even told Helen to not look at him when she’s scared. after a while, Vivian was dancing around the studio to loosen herself up and not be nervous or scared anymore. Vivan brought joy to the screen as an entertainer as a lot of women were shown on the screen as something to look at to brighten up the mood or environment. Vivian was unaware of what was to happen next so she danced and danced. this reminded me of in creature of the black lagoon when Kay wanted to swim and was unaware that a creature was in the water watching her she was having fun and enjoying herself to destress and relax from looking for something in the lagoon all day.
I found the scene where the blind mother was watching one of Mark’s “films” to be extremely intriguing. The mother has a look of horrific understanding despite being blind while the film is played before her blind eyes. The mother’s lack of a traditional gaze leads the way for other aspects of perception to be highlighted. For example, Mark is often viewed as someone harmless seemingly because of his handsomeness and generally low-key nature. The mother isn’t “blinded” by these lies of perception and is forced to perceive mark through sound and touch. This leads to her being one of the few characters to really distrust Mark. She develops this mistrust because she can hear Mark watching strange films every night while also sensing something is wrong whenever she touches him.
A scene I found particularly interesting in Peeping Tom was when Helen privately discovers Mark’s disturbing collection of violent, voyeuristic videos while he is out of the house. Not only does this scene reflect the film’s exploration of voyeurism, it also serves as commentary on the objectification of women, especially on screen. As Helen begins to realize what she has come face to face with, her emotions are portrayed as a blend of shock, horror, distress/disturbance, and cognizance; her eyes widen, her jaw drops, and she suddenly recoils, reflecting a sense of violation. This scene in particular seems to explore the psychological impact of Mark’s voyeuristic tendencies as well as emphasize the harmful consequences of this often violent and sexual representation of women on screen. This revelation of Helen completely alters her understanding of Mark, turning her into a vehicle for the audience’s discomfort, and ultimately reflecting broader themes of the invasive and even dehumanizing representations particularly of women on screen. Overall, I think the scene of Helen discovering Mark’s disturbing videos intensifies the film’s exploration of the ethical and psychological implications of the way women are depicted on screen, pushing the audience to question the impact of these voyeuristic and often violent narratives.
In many of the scenes featuring a woman as the central image, she is filmed from a high-angle shot. Sometimes this is because it is clear that we are seeing Mark’s perspective, but even when it is not, the woman is often is seen from a higher angle, reinforcing the image of a submissive, weak, helpless woman. The woman being passive and filmed from quite literally the “male gaze” is a common pattern in filmmaking of this era, as highlighted by Laura Mulvey in her paper. Either sexual desirability and/or over-dramatized emotion (often fear) will likely be highlighted in a scene featuring a woman, whereas many shots of men may focus on their more stoic moments. A rather humorous commentary on this exaggerated emphasis on women’s looks in film is given on set of the film Mark is helping to produce. The main female character is directed to faint in the scene, yet cannot bring herself to do it realistically, or in other words “unattractively.” Though certainly driven by vanity and selfish reasons, she has fully internalized the idea that women on camera must be unrealistically beautiful at all times and is so scared to break away from that mindset that she forgets proper acting.
One scene with a woman in front of a camera that stuck out to me was the scene where Ellen watches Mark’s documentary. We are fixed on her expression rather than the film itself. The shot is heavily zoomed in on her face and her reaction, she is the only focus. We are forced to watch her with the same gaze as Mark. Ellen is symbolic of the pure and innocent women. She is a children’s librarian and in all ways a traditional heteronormative women. She prominently displays a cross necklace throughout the night of birthday. Due to her purity, Mark sees her differently than he does other women. He seeks to protect her from his own sexual perversion. When she watches the documentary, we see her go from her usual pleasant expression to a gradual terror culminating in her scream. She hides behind the shelves and then attempts to flee, however she is confronted by Mark. He is angry that she watches the film and knows his secret, yet he still does not wish to harm her. I believe that this moment represents Mark’s own experience with his father. As the encounter develops he shows her what he was really put through. The realization sets in that he has corrupted Ellen’s purity, which he had sought to avoid. However, she acts with compassion towards him which I found to be absurd, perhaps some form of Stockholm Syndrome.
The film was filled with instances in which women are used as subjects of the male gaze. The women in the film can best be characterized as clueless, helpless, over-sexualized, and submissive. Throughout the film, Mark socializes with Helen in an uncomfortable way — any sane woman would recognize Mark’s odd behavior. But Helen continues to be enthusiastically into Mark, exemplifying the pattern of an innocent and clueless woman, using Mulvey’s terminology, Helen is merely an object subjected to the male gaze. The scene that makes this most obvious is the final scene. Helen watches the film of Mark killing a woman and still believes he could be innocent! She is entirely infatuated with Mark, to the point where she lacks any agency indicating she is a real person with independent thought. She is more akin to a prop, something there to accentuate the mood of the scene; creating an atmosphere of fear while providing a sexual undertone to satisfy the male gaze.
I found it quite intriguing to observe the varied portrayals of women on camera. Among them, the most captivating performance was by the woman in the film set. It was challenging to discern the intention behind the recording, possibly driven by Mark’s voyeuristic tendencies. What set her performance apart was her unique approach; she began dancing around the room, and her unpredictability made it difficult for Mark to maintain a steady focus with the camera. In this particular scene, it’s evident that the woman remains blissfully unaware of what lies ahead. Her innocence establishes a direct connection with the audience, as she navigates the environment with unbridled enthusiasm, engaging with everything in her path. This situation effectively encapsulates the captivating allure of women’s performances in cinema, showcasing the profound entertainment they bring to the screen. This reality carries a negative undertone as it persists in subtly endorsing traditional gender roles and crafting a portrayal of women that encourages viewers to reconsider certain facets of their self-identity, particularly with regard to their physical appearance.
Peeping Tom was at some points uncomfortable to watch because of the intense focus on capturing the image (and moving image) of women. The film primarily depicted women as either helpless, clueless, over-sexualized, or a combination of those. All of Mark’s victims in the end seemed helpless, as they just stood there and waited for the knife to approach and kill them. The scene that stood out to me most, was that of Mark’s last murder, Millie. The scene itself was relatively short and less drawn out than the other shots of Mark and his victims, however it stood out to me because of how blatantly shot from male gaze it was. She had completely rearranged her evening to be shot by Mark. Millie was so trusting of Mark, so over-sexualized in the nature of her work and oh so clueless. She represented what Mulvey described as the male gaze, the perfect female object of desire. Laying there, nearly naked in a shot revealing her body, she was the utmost helpless victim. The majority of this murder scene was not even shown to the audience, reducing her even further to just another plot point. Mark’s camera objectifies her the most, she seems nothing more, is characterized as nothing more, but an attractive woman, a pretty object that is only subjected to others actions . The entirety of the film reflects a common trope in cinema where women are often depicted as objects of male gaze and desire, subjecting them to objectifying perspectives and the whims of men.
Mark embodies voyeurism and the male gaze – drawing from Mulvey’s essay – acting upon his scopophilic tendencies he uses women to fulfill a personal ambition which parallels the notion of women being used to suplement the male characters “narrative journey”. An example of a scene in the film that aligns with this themes is when Mark first shows his film to Helen Stephens. Here he embodies the male gaze by capturing her reaction as she watches the film. The camera that he holds acts as a stand-in for Mark’s voyeuristic tendencies showing his obsession with capturing the fear and distress of his female victims through the lens behind the lens of the movie. This scene represents Mulvey’s argument about the power dynamics and objectification of women in cinema. According to Mulvey, the male gaze is where the the audience, typically male, is encouraged to identify with the male protagonist and view female characters as objects of desire. Mark showing his film to Helen mirrors this dynamic, as he asserts his control over what she sees, imposing his perspective upon her. the scene also highlights how the act of watching and being watched is central to the depiction of women on screen. Helen is often subjected to the gaze of the camera, much like the female characters/victims in Mark’s films are objectified and scrutinized for his voyeuristic pursuits. This supports the idea of how the camera can be used to manipulate and exploit the female image, through our own individual perspectives via. the audiences/movie goers/characters within the film.
The scene that caught my eye the most occurs when Mark murders Vivian. Vivian, a female character, is portrayed as a vulnerable, helpless, and objectified figure. She is aware that Mark is filming her and initially is unaware of the danger she is in. As the scene unfolds, her manner shifts from calm and joyful to intensely fearful. The scene embodies the traditional Hollywood trope of women being objects of victimization. What I find more interesting about the scene is that Mark appears to receive pleasure from neither the act of murdering Vivian nor watching the scene afterward. To Mark, his entire goal in his filming seems to be entirely educational. He never seems to find sexual pleasure in being a voyeur. His gaze symbolizes power. He has his way with nearly every woman he lays his gaze upon. I also find the scene interesting because it draws attention to the act of filmmaking itself. Through Mark’s character, the film comments on the voyeuristic tendencies inherent in cinema, where the audience watches events unfold through the lens of a camera. This self-awareness serves to further emphasize the objectification of women and the manipulation of their images in cinema. I believe this, along with Mark being a sexually void character is what makes “Peeping Tom” an interesting movie.
I immediately noticed the voyeuristic nature of Mark within the opening three and a half minutes, as it introduced a scene he is depicted videotaping a woman outside a clothing store. In this particular sequence, the camera, presumably under Mark’s direction, fixates on numerous close-up shots of the woman’s physique, notably emphasizing her rear, while briefly capturing her face only when he is about to murder her. What struck me was the woman’s astonishingly passive response to Mark’s intrusive behavior. Rather than questioning the motives of an unknown man following her and recording her, she inexplicably allows him to persist in his stalker-like actions, even granting him access to her house and bedroom. This portrayal strongly echoes Laura Mulvey’s argument in her essay regarding the concept of the “pin-up” character, intended for erotic consumption by both the male lead and the audience. The woman’s conduct in this scene epitomizes the depiction of a submissive female character who willingly assumes the role of a perfect victim, reinforcing the film’s problematic portrayal of gender dynamics.
A scene that caught my eye was one of the earlier scenes where Mark was filming the girls in the “news” store. It seems pretty clear that Mark has no sexual desires towards these women (aside from his usual voyeurism), and that his fascination with them lies solely in their being filmed. He walks in and sets up immediately, brushing off the flirtatious remarks of the blonde woman he’s photographing. Her only value to Mark is her ability to be filmed, but even that doesn’t make her all that interesting to her. Mark’s real interest lies in fear and discomfort, which is why he’s so fascinated with the other woman in this scene with the disfigured lip. He immediately picks up on her discomfort, her own fears and hesitations, and is overwhelmed by it. I think this scene makes it apparent very early on that women in this film are meant to be the object of everyone’s gaze, filmed, posed, directed– they’re supposed to be beautiful and unable to see the potential dangers in front of them. t In a sense, they’re supposed to be props, something for the filmmaker to project their desires onto for the sake of their craft.