{"id":420,"date":"2016-12-15T20:18:37","date_gmt":"2016-12-16T01:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl-117-fall16\/?p=420"},"modified":"2016-12-15T20:19:56","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T01:19:56","slug":"all-eyes-on-x-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/engl-117-fall16\/uncategorized\/all-eyes-on-x-women\/","title":{"rendered":"All Eyes on X-(wo)men"},"content":{"rendered":"

Superman, Batman, Captain America, Spider-man, Iron Man\u2026The superhero franchise has long been dominated by male heroes who fight against male villains. Superhero films featuring female heroes as the main focus, such as Supergirl<\/em> (1984), Catwoman<\/em> (2004), Elektra<\/em> (2005), and Wonder Woman<\/em> (2009), are relatively unheard of and do not even garnish a fraction of the attention androcentric superhero films do. Nevertheless, people believe that the role of women have greatly evolved since the inception of the superhero franchise. Over the years, as more and more people care about gender equality and entertainment tries to appeal to both men and women, it should come to no surprise that movies with male leads like the X-men series have included women as fighters in the spotlight, not just useless assistants. In order to determine just how progressive superhero films have become in regards to their inclusion and portrayal of women, let\u2019s focus on two important female characters from X-men 3<\/em>: Jean Grey and Mystique.<\/p>\n

Jean Grey<\/strong><\/p>\n

In X-men 3<\/em>, we realize that Jean Grey, first introduced to us as an ordinary student of Charles Xavier with the limited power to move small objects, is actually the most powerful mutant in the films. After she sacrificed herself in X-men 2<\/em> (2003), her rebirth as \u201cthe Phoenix\u201d in X-men 3<\/em> gives her strength and power unfathomable to those around her. Armed with telepathy, telekinesis, and immense cosmic forces, she does what she wants whenever she wants and brings down destruction and havoc whenever someone attempts to control her. If the movie had stopped with this description of her, many would have been pleased by how it gave so much independence, free will, and power to a woman. Unfortunately, the Phoenix side of her is unable to control itself and she begins to kill people on the good side.<\/p>\n

Despite her power, in her most vulnerable state, Jean is still subject to the male gaze, a term coined by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey, which relegates women to objects created to satisfy male fantasies. As Logan watches Jean lying on the recovery table after her resurrection, the camera adopts a male perspective as it lingers on her breasts. Even though she emerged from the waters fully and modestly clothed, somehow, while she was unconscious after her tumultuous resurrection, she was stripped down into wearing nothing but a skin-tight tank top\u2014the movie didn\u2019t even give her the decency of pants. The viewer, through the eyes of Logan, assumes the role of a voyeur, peeking in on a sleeping, half-naked woman. Even when it is illogical, the movie prepares the woman to be viewed as pleasing from a heterosexual male view, and we as viewers unconsciously take on this perspective simply by watching. We become Peeping Toms as we watch Logan and Jean kiss passionately. Mulvey describes this relationship as \u201csexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active\/male and passive\/female. The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly\u201d (397). Logan\u2019s attraction to Jean is shown by the camera\u2019s focus on Jean\u2019s breasts and bare legs, and we the viewers subconsciously absorb this male fantasy of Jean\u2019s sexuality.<\/p>\n

\"jean-male-gaze\"

Logan watching an unconscious Jean<\/p><\/div>\n

While Mulvey correctly identifies the passivity of the female as male pleasure, the film shifts away from this relationship when the female gains so much power that she subverts the male gaze. The male gaze is intact when Logan is finally able to act on his sexual desires, but we quickly realize something is very wrong once Jean\/Phoenix begins to literally suck the life out of Logan. Cultural critic and psychoanalytic philosopher Slavoj Zizek describes this moment in \u201cThe Interpassive Subject:\u201d \u201cThe object which gives body to the surplus-enjoyment fascinates the subject, it reduces him to a passive gaze impotently gaping at the object; this relationship, of course, is experienced by the subject as something shameful, unworthy.\u201d The gaze of the subject, in other words, the viewer, becomes meaningless once the object of the gaze, Jean, becomes the one acting rather than the one acted upon.\u00a0 Once she is presented with agency and power in one of her episodes of rage, she cannot be objectified under the male gaze because she is no longer passive and thus cannot be controlled. As Jean unleashes her anguish after realizing she (as the Phoenix) killed her boyfriend earlier when she was resurrected, Logan tells her repeatedly to look at him. The narrative calls the viewer to shift their attention to Logan, and in doing so, we take on Jean\u2019s perspective. At this point, the male gaze is rendered useless, as the object has acquired enough power to refuse objectification.<\/p>\n

The film ultimately punishes the woman for her rise to power after leaving a man\u2019s control. Jean joins Magneto, another powerful mutant and leader of the Brotherhood of Mutants who aims to oppose the \u201ccure\u201d that humans have invented to suppress mutant powers. She is led to believe that she is joining on her own terms, egged on by Magneto\u2019s constant reminder that Charles just wanted to contain her powers. However, she is serving as a weapon for Magneto\u2019s use, once again the obedient assistant under the guise of freedom. Jean effortlessly breaks out of Magneto\u2019s control due to her immense powers, but with no one left to control her, she is a menace to all. The film\u2019s solution? Death. While Magneto\u2019s strength and crazy aspirations to kill humans are contained by four needles of the cure to his chest, Jean has to die. When the gender roles reverse and a woman holds and directs the power, she is villainized and killed. She becomes dangerous and is promptly removed from the narrative as soon as she no longer serves the purpose of scopophilia as a passive object. Furthermore, the way she dies is, in itself, peculiar. After a brief lapse back into her normal self, she begs Logan, her on-and-off lover, to \u201csave\u201d her, to which he complies with one thrust of his adamantium claw into her abdomen. Her plea and ecstatic expression after Logan stabs her carry strong sexual undertones (not to mention Logan is half-naked in this scene). When faced with the threat of an uncontrollable woman, the film successfully manipulates us into believing that the male\u2019s sexual conquest of the female is the only way to go.<\/p>\n