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Article Excerpt
Though Mexican cinema has been the object of numerous studies, few of these refer to the process of audience reception: to that intimate moment of cinematic communication in which the gazing subject discovers part of its identity while simultaneously appropriating the film. In this article I would like to share the findings of a research project that advances the study of audience reception from the perspective of gender. A project, in other words, that seeks to recognize the relationship established by diverse gendered subjects/audiences with a film made by a woman. In such an undertaking, the gendered subjectivity of the director, of the researcher, as well as of the audience that interprets both the film and its own reactions to it are all put into play.
My point of departure is the recognition that women directors disclose their gendered subjectivity through film and that this feminine subjectivity motivates, stimulates, and questions the gender of the subject that interprets the film. Studies on the characteristics of women's film have shown that female creators commonly present a feminine--and in some cases feminist--gaze and perspective of the reality they choose to narrate. Thanks to the presence of female directors, the feminine subject narrates and the narrated subject has gone from object to subject, thus occupying an active control over discourse (See all listings for De Lauretis, Kaplan, Kuhn, and Penley in "Works Cited"). Women directors have created the possibility that they be included as creative subject and not as objects of the traditional cinematic gaze. This subjectivity is expressed in various areas such as the use of themes related to women's everyday lives, the development of strong female characters that are more complex than those of traditional female roles, the fact that these stories and their narrative point of view tend to value feminine subjectivity, as well as the incorporation of new rhythms, narratives, perspectives, and forms. In summary, this is a cinema that attempts to be different by depicting the peculiar way in which life is experienced by women. It establishes in the cinematic code a gendered identity equipped with an awareness that allows it to question itself and whose film product is generated from within (Millan, 1996, 1997, 1999; Hershfield, 1995, Iglesias, 2004). Beyond modifying the horizon of representation, feminine cinematographic narrative also questions the audience's reading and appropriation process (Mulvey, 1990; Iglesias, 1994, 1998). In this article, I will present part of a larger research project whose objective is to understand how these transgressions of the order of discourse are read, reinterpreted, and appropriated by various audiences according to gender while considering the different discursive practices with which various identity positions choose to express themselves.
In very general terms, cinema is one of the many instances that participate in the social and cultural creation and recreation of gender. In the cinematic realm, the contribution of women is precisely found in questioning and deconstructing established, masculinist practices in order to create "new femininities" that stem from new gender relationships. It is precisely these characteristics of feminine and masculine modes that are the subject of this study, but rather than approaching this subject in an abstract way, my method goes directly to the oral reconstruction of a film directed by a woman. Through a gendered cinematic work it becomes possible to understand part of the process of reception that constitutes the "talking about" a film, the telling of a reading-appropriation-interpretation of a specific film. I am not solely speaking of analyzing the act of watching a film, but of the plotting that takes place in its re-elaboration when talking about and discussing the movie in a group setting. The idea is to make a type of x-ray (in that it reveals aspects not seen to the naked eye and that it is selective) of an intimate moment in which underlying gendered power structures are brought forth in the exercise of interpreting a film and its particular images. In this way I analyze part of the complex process of cinematic reception as a mechanism for interpreting gender, starting from a violent act perpetrated by the researcher when "forcing" the audience to talk about gender from a gendered position.
Because gender is one of the central elements of my analysis, I aim to surpass the mere man-woman dichotomy by recovering the more polyvalent terms masculine and feminine. The dynamics of my analysis seek to recover the constant tension between specificity and generalization, between a "them" (ellas/os) and an "us" (nosotros/as) that is in constant motion and adaptation according to theme and speaker.
The discourse generated based on a film made by a woman, from her point of view as a gendered subject, permits the recreation of ideas of masculinity and femininity, their movement and conflicts, as well as access to the world of subjective gender constructions. It also allows an understanding of the role that cinema has in the questioning of gender/power relationships.
I: The Methodological Challenge
Undertaking the study of gendered cinematic reception supposes an entry into the realm of the subjective. Unlike studies that focus on how an audience "watches" a film, the study of the process of reception requires not only the analysis of such action but a search for the meaning of this same act. For this reason, I decided to work with discussion groups (DG) using the following considerations as guidelines:
First, I decided to use a film that would stimulate an analysis with regard to female subjectivity. I selected the Mexican film Danzon (1991), directed by Maria Novaro.
The second consideration was to employ a qualitative method that would allow me ready access to subjects and subjectivities. Because of the characteristics and the objective of the project, it was necessary to work beyond screening rooms and movie theaters, under circumstances that were controlled and that would allow the recovery of the experience of the appropriation-interpretation of a pre-determined audience. For this reason, I decided to work with discussion groups, which in turn allowed for spontaneous discourse prompted after a screening of the film, while permitting control over certain variables according to the specific profiles set up for each discussion group.
The third consideration was to work with groups that allowed for contrasting renditions of various constructions of the "feminine" and "masculine." I considered different groups of reference using the following criteria: gender, sexuality, age, as well as regional and national culture. The first of these criteria for constituting the groups formed the basic categories of sex; that is, men and women. The second criteria allowed me to further distinguish between subjects by creating distinct categories based on age groups: those between 40 and 55, and those between 18 and 25. The third criteria were derived from theoretical queries regarding heterosexuality and gender, which brought up questions of sexuality in general and for which homosexual and heterosexual groups were required. The final criteria were designed to include aspects of regional and national cultural identities as a point of departure that would allow for contrast between various groups. To make this last criterion a feasible component of my study, I worked with groups of Mexicans from the cities of Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez and with groups of Spaniards residing in Madrid. Using these four criteria, I was able to diagram 13 discussion groups as listed below:
Group 1 (DG1) women heterosexual ages 18-25 students and Mexican workers Tijuana Group 2 (DG2) women heterosexual ages 40-55 homemakers Mexican and workers Tijuana Group 3 (DG3) women lesbian ages 18-30 students and Mexican workers Tijuana Group 4 (DG4) women lesbian ages 40-55 workers Mexican Ciudad Juarez Group 5 (DG5) women heterosexual ages 20-30 students Spanish Madrid Group 6 (DG6) men heterosexual ages 18-25 students and Mexican workers Tijuana Group 7a (DG7a) men heterosexual ages...
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