Marieke / Thesis

Potential title: Worst Case Scenario

Background

There are those stories that are so sickening that they feel like a punch in the gut.

In the best case the story is fictional, in the worst case the story is real.

I had my own gut punch moment when I read a story about a woman under influence who was raped by two students. After the assault they left the woman in the toilet, who was so severely wounded she needed surgery.

There were also 2 recordings.

One recording was of the rape. Both men admitted watching their attack back on a mobile phone while making lewd-gestures and re-enacting what they had done to the woman.

The other recording came from a surveillance camera. Where the men can be seen hugging, high-fiving each other and.. laughing. Seemingly as it was an experience that bonded their brotherhood.

Sexual violence is already horrifying as it is, when this violence is also recorded it adds another layer to this invasion. I imagined how I would feel if I went through such an experience and I would be aware that the perpetrators would look back at my pain because it would arouse them. Besides that, in the above case the woman was unconscious so she has no recollection of the assault herself, but the men do. Robbing the woman of any closure or healing she would have hoped to find after this terrifying experience.

The "high five" recording was shared on several news websites.

Introduction

So what does this have to do with me? Someone who is an aspiring filmmaker.

From a young age I have always been interested in power structures, you could also call them: hierarchies. For me there is a relationship between the person who films and the person who is being filmed.

The first time I became aware of this was in a scene of American Beauty. Where Ricky a socially awkward but confident 18-year old man, films the girl next door: Jane who is an insecure 16-year old girl. There is this particular moment where he films her, first from afar and when she notices this she walks away, annoyed. Ricky then zooms in on the mirror on her desk that she sits in front of and reflects her face, we see a flattered smile appearing.

When I watched this when I was 13-years old I remember that I thought: what a creep filming her while she doesn't know. Then he zooms in on her face and we see that smile appear, that smile that exists from being happy to be seen and my thought changed to: this is kind of sweet.

This example is so important to me, because this "relationship" can have multiple forms and intentions. This can go from a collaboration to filming someone that is not aware they are seen. I see this as a spectrum that starts with being equals and ends with voyeurism.

Though in this thesis I want to research mainly the relation between the boundaries in filming and sexual violence, I will not shy away from addressing gender. While I find it difficult to say the right thing on the topic of gender I cannot avoid it since it is so intertwined with the subjects I want to research.

Chapter 1. The burden of looking

In my opinion there are 3 types of viewers when it comes to violent cinema. Those who cover their eyes, those who lean in so they can see it just a bit better or those who peek between their fingers.

Responses to violence:

• As a viewer
• As a filmmaker

How does that relate to me?

In recent years a big discussion has started on sexual violence. This gave me a lot of questions about responsibility. If you take the word responsibility apart it means: the ability to respond. Was it when the survivors came out with their stories in the #metoo movement their responsibility to tell their stories? Is that fair? Where does that leave me as an image maker? Now that this discussion is open and we are also becoming more critical of the images we consume, is it then my responsibility to produce images that deal with this trauma in an empathetic way?

In this part I want to focus on why in cinema whenever sexual assault is depicted it is mainly focused on the violence itself. Instead of the aftermath and its consequences for the survivor and their close ones. To find out what this approach in cinema does with the emotions of the viewer I want to have interviews. With friends, peers, family, strangers and preferably a psychologist and fellow filmmakers.

For Freud, the uncanny locates the strangeness in the ordinary. Expanding on the idea, psychoanalytic theorist Jacques Lacan wrote that the uncanny places us "in the field where we do not know how to distinguish bad and good, pleasure from displeasure", resulting in an irreducible anxiety that gestures to the Real.

If the narrative of a film does not distinguish between bad and good, pleasure from displeasure, does that envoke uncanny and fearful feelings in the viewer?

Abjection was defined as a reaction to the confrontation with the "abject", triggered by disgust or phobia (in this context, it refers to the products of processes of elimination, corpses and insects) which nonetheless have no status as objects, and do not belong to the self, and thus are seen as a threat by the subject, who rejects them.

How does abjection relate to voyeurism and fetishism in images?

Improv

Examples:

Mr. Blonde dancing/dialogue, Reservoir Dogs - Joker dancing, Joker

Does improvisation make a film more authentic and "real"? Often the films that don't use actors and apply improvised dialogue are the films that can feel close to ourselves. This does depend on the boundaries of the improvisation. A framework is probably a necessity so the dialogue is still understandable for the viewer.

A film that is only based on improvisation often does not really pull the viewer into the experience. This is because these films often become too messy and vague.

Moments of improvisation can have a potential to offer a moment of reflection in film. For example the dancing scene in Joker (2019). And the dancing scene of mr.Blonde in Reservoir Dogs (the script only said: Mr. Blonde dances like a maniac).

My own interest in improvisation as a director relates to my concerns about power dynamics in respect of the actors. I see this as a less hierarchical, more collaborative approach to filmmaking.

Chapter 2. An eye for an eye, the responsibility of the viewer

Diving in the accountability and contradictions of looking. I want to analyse if there is an elevated feeling of responsibility when choice is added.

Introduction Film & Game relation

• What I've drawn from this
• Case studies + Looking at techniques from both

Do games envoke more empathy than a film and do they really encourage violent thoughts? There is a big spectrum from interactive film to virtual reality gaming. There has been criticism on how a virtual reality setting that shows the experience of war should invoke empathy. Do you really know what its like after being in a simulation for 15 minutes?

This makes me wonder if it is maybe not a realistic depiction that envokes empathy. Maybe it are the symbolic games that are subjective that would envoke more empathy. Like the game: The Last of Us which is a survival Horror game developed by Naughty Dog. It is one of the most awarded games in history, and is considered one of the greatest video games ever made, as well as an example of video games as an art form. It is a game that is very emotional and atmospheric. A beautiful story on how far a parental figure will go to protect their child.

Is it the interaction that plays a part in this "empathetic experience" instead of the simulation that is the case with Virtual Reality? Or could it be both? In this part I want to research what makes a game so immersive and what are the levels of this from an interactive film to a Virtual Reality experience with gameplay.

Films to analyse:

Sex, Lies and Videotapes, Steven Soderbergh - American Beauty, Sam Mendes - Irréversible, Gaspar Noé - Funny Games, Michael Haneke - A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Ana Lily Amirpour - It Follows, David Robert Mitchell

Games to analyse:

Silent Hill 2, Konami - The Path, Tale of Tales - Life is Strange 2, Dontnod Entertainment - Everything, David O'Reilly

Video Art to analyse:

Der Mirror, Keren Cytter - Time Passes, Ane Hjort Guttu

Chapter 3. Report on Project

The most important themes for the film are: trauma, memory, intimacy, power structures and violation.

Because I am interested in the philosophy of ethics, I want to make a film that presents questions about right and wrong that are also difficult for myself to answer. These questions mainly relate to themes on trust, power dynamics, violence and protection.

The camera has an active role and is not hidden. My idea now is that the guy that acts in the film is also the one that films. Or at least give the illusion that he is the one that films. I decided on this approach because it emphasizes the relationship between the person who operates the camera and the person that is being filmed. Since I am very interested in exploring the model-photographer / camera-photographer-model relationship in an engaging manner.

Conclusion

Preparing longer project and how this research will inform next stage.

Comments / Thesis questions:

• Abjection - How does this relate to the self in terms of response to violation?

• How does the self-reflexivity of your approach (and film mimic you are connecting to for this project) relate to abjection + the self?

Important:

• More texts on abjection (Look at abject theory)
• More & more violence being filmed in real life (This could be referenced)
• Themes of repression

Film recommendations Natasha:

• Sex, lies and videotapes - Steven Soderbergh
• Time Passes - Ane Hjort Guttu
• Naked - Mike Leigh