The Duel of the Gazes: Male Gaze on Women vs Female Self-Gaze in Carver and Altman

Abstract

The visual quality in terms of audiovisual devices and style is a feature that that has been pointed out as a trademark in Raymond Carver's minimal realism. On the other hand, the theme of visuality, especially the visual depiction of the female body on the part of the 'male objectifying gaze', are features of Robert Altman's Short Cuts, the adaptation of some of this writer's stories, that have been widely criticized. Yet, the twofold issue of how female protagonists are visualized by their male counterparts and how female protagonists visualize themselves is a specific focus that has not been employed for the analysis of either of these american artists so far. An approach that both embraces and challenges features of already established theories on gaze, feminism and cinema theory, but also of theories of adaptation, will be employed in order to take into analysis the theme of male gaze and female self-gaze first in Carver's and then Altman’s productions. Arguably, in point of fact, Carver's female characters emerge from such an analysis as both objectified by the male gaze but also as subversive self-gazing subjects. Moreover, an intertextual perspective on the relationship between Carver's stories and Altman's adaptation and works will highlight not dissimilar complexities in Altman's empowered women 'performers' on the one hand and women characters contained to eros and thanatos dichotomies on the other. More generally, the 'intricacies of gazing' and the power a/symmetries underlying them are a fascinating ever evolving issue worth engaging in, that helps expanding the reasonings on each of these authors and their relationship.