Don’t Trust Your Eye: Subversive Male Gaze in I Spit on Your Grave (Shortened version)
Rape-revenge films make up a subgenre of the exploitation genre, often exploring or exploiting the trauma of rape through the catharsis of revenge. In recent years, the subgenre has undergone re-evaluation through academic work as well as through newer rape-revenge films. The critical consensus is that the subgenre relies too heavily on rape scenes and objectification of the rape victim, who is typically a white, cisgender woman. The male gaze is said to be weaponized in these scenes due to the voyeuristic focus on the victim, not only during the rape but also before and after.
Although the victim-turned avenger of any rape-revenge film is the main character, her body is treated as an object either in point-of-view shots from the rapists or from the voyeuristic lens of the camera. After the rape, her body continues to be a focus. The majority of rape-revenge films include the avenger weaponizing her sexuality against her attackers, which some feminist critics see as a fetishistic use of the male gaze, rather than a subversion of it.
Mary Beth McAndrews, a prominent critic of rape-revenge films, argues that the use of women’s nudity in comparison to men is disproportionate, and that this unfair difference is a fetishistic use of the male gaze within rape-revenge films. McAndrews claims,“Even when the wronged woman gets her revenge, her rapists are typically given some semblance of modesty whether coming through clothing or the suds of a bubble bath.” (McAndrews). McAndrews’ point about the disparity in nudity speaks to a broader issue of nudity in film. However, her analysis of the male gaze as inherently fetishistic works on a simplistic understanding of the theory.
Much of McAndrews’ article focuses on Meir Zarchi’s 1978 film, I Spit on Your Grave, a notable film for the rape-revenge subgenre. Perhaps the most influential essay on the subgenre is Carol Clover’s “Getting Even” from Men, Women, and Chainsaws. Clover uses I Spit on Your Grave for the primary example of the complicated use of feminist themes in the subgenre, which she describes as “exploitative and appropriative” (165). She similarly uses the film to show that the audience is not meant to take pleasure in the rape as much as they are supposed to share horror and catharsis with the victim-turned-avenger, though she reminds us the catharsis is still filtered through a male point-of-view, and thus, a male gaze. So, why does Clover use the film as a primary text to explain rape-revenge films?
Although I Spit on Your Grave was not the first rape-revenge film, it is considered a model for the genre’s basic plot beats moving forward. The film follows Jennifer Hill, a young feminist writer, who goes to a secluded, woodland area to spend her vacation away from the city. The town surrounding her vacation spot is home to a gang of men who meet her when she gets necessities. The men rape her multiple times, believing to have left her for dead. Once she has physically recovered, she plans and executes her revenge. Her sexuality is a primary weapon, as she seduces the men in order to gain access to their bodies and take their lives.
What is the Male Gaze
Laura Mulvey’s essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” introduced the concept of the male gaze to film. In current discussions of the male gaze, the primary purpose of Mulvey’s analysis has been lost. In recent mainstream feminist analysis, the term has been used as shorthand for sexualized women characters, which misses the point of the male gaze theory.
The male gaze is based on voyeurism. In some discussion of the male gaze, the camera itself is described as the holder of the gaze, which overlooks an important part of Mulvey’s analysis. Mulvey writes,“As the spectator identifies with the main male protagonist, he projects his look onto that of his like, his screen surrogate, so that the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the erotic look.” (838) The male gaze comes from identification with a male character and not from the masculinity of the camera. The gaze is based on how the camera, and subsequently the audience, identifies a character.
Mulvey’s analysis is based on the concept of scopophilia, the pleasure one derives from looking at others, and Lacan’s concept of the mirror stage, the time in which we no longer are interested in discovering the world and turn towards discovering ourselves. Mulvey focuses on the internal result of the mirror stage, a process where,“his recognition of himself is joyous in that he imagines his mirror image to be more complete, more perfect than he experiences his own body” (836). Representation in cinema serves as a mirror. We see the characters as representative of ourselves. They are the perfected versions of ourselves, leading us to identify with them.
A common misconception of the male gaze is that the female has no power within it, making the male gaze inherently repressive. Mulvey argues the absence of a penis implied in the image of a female is part of the power of the female image. “Her lack of a penis, implying a threat of castration and hence lack of pleasure for life. Ultimately, the meaning of a woman is sexual difference” (Mulvey, 840)While, sexual difference as Mulvey describes here indicates that women are non-sexual and joyless, sexual difference of the woman in the rape-revenge film is used both to show her victimization and her power over men. She is seen as smaller at first, as something that can be overpowered due to the male’s ability to gaze, and usually her outward appearance of innocence. However, during the revenge, her sexual difference is a power. Her lack of a penis is no longer a reason for sexual innocence but rather a weapon for castration.
Before the rape in I Spit on Your Grave, Jennifer Hill’s innocence and kindness is centered in a similar way to how that attitude was centered in romantic female leads of the classic Hollywood era. The Ingenue’s innocence connotes a lack of threat, leading the men to be comfortable in their subjection of their beauty. The men believe she can be conquered because she is a subject of beauty and innocence.
Rape Scenes in I Spit on Your Grave
The rape scenes expose the violent nature of this assumption. The first rape scene begins with Jennifer basking in the sun on a river in her rowing boat. It is a serene setting that is interrupted by the boisterous attitude of the men.
Andy and Stanley, two of the rapists, use their motor boat to encircle Jennifer in her rowing boat. There is a disparity in power between their modes of transportation, as one is motor-powered where the other depends solely on her body strength, which is assumed to be little considering her size. They tie a rope to her boat, taking her to the forest. She tries to fight them off as they claw at her clothes. When she runs, they chase her. She runs into Johnny, the leader, who encourages the rape by Andy and Stanley. The men take turns raping her and holding her down, except for Matthew, the smallest of the group, who stands, scared of the act. Johnny, Stanley, and Andy are the main attackers, seeing themselves as owners of her body. They are physically stronger than both Jennifer and Matthew. The strong man archetype, as seen in the classic Hollywood era, is subverted. Instead of the strong men using their strength for heroism which gets them access to the subjected woman, the strong men use their strength for violent means against the subject.
Jennifer is raped three times. She limps through the wilderness after the first encounter. She is still interacting with a strange environment, but now the environment is rid of relaxation. The men circle her again, this time pinning her down on a rock. This is the only rape scene to be shown in a wide shot, showing the entirety of the act, rather than showing the perspective of the rapists and Jennifer. The objectivity of the shot does not mean there is no sympathy to be found. Jennifer’s screams make it difficult to not sympathize with her. Regardless, this shot is not interacting with the male gaze due to the observational nature of it. The camera acts as an observer of the events rather than an active participant.
After this rape, the camera focuses on her body. She walks through the forest, bloody and beaten, the camera zooms in on her, from her backside, to her legs, to her breasts. The camera shows what has happened to her rather than objectifying her body, yet, when the victim’s body is examined in this way, one can’t deny there is a gaze at play. Her emotions are not centered; her body is. Considering she is the lead and emotions ground us in the lead, it creates a wall for the audience, stopping her from coming through as a mirror for us.
Jennifer arrives at her house, crawling on the floor, reaching her phone when a foot stomps her hand. She is stopped from receiving help. The men are back. They are determined to have Matthew rape Jennifer. They finally coerce him into doing so. This is the first time that Jennifer does not physically resist the men, although she continues to plead “no.” Even in her environment, her personal power is ignored as the men do not stop. They find many ways to mock her in the scene, including looking at her writings and making fun of it, before ripping it apart as she is raped by Matthew. It is not enough to rape her; her happiness must be destroyed.
The first and last rape scene use perspective for subversion. Often in sex scenes, the male gaze is utilized by focusing on the woman’s body. Her face may be the focus as well, to show the pleasure she receives from the man, giving the audience catharsis as they see themselves in the character who pleases her. Rape scenes will often focus on the woman’s face as well, to show the horror she is going through, but, in I Spit on Your Grave, the rapist’s face receive more attention. Jennifer is given time to show her anguish, but there is fast-paced editing, always immediately showing the joy on her attacker’s face after showing her anguish. With the sex difference between the characters, there is an emotional difference. What is a hobby to them, is a punishment to her. They believe they are owning her body, showing her what pleasure is, while she visually expresses a feeling of displeasure. Seeing these emotions side-by-side shows the disconnect of emotions of the rapists. The male gaze, a gaze that sees the woman as a sexual subject, is subverted by showing that the person who holds the gaze is not someone to identify with on a moral level. This is a use of the male gaze, but it does not affirm the male’s bodily possession of the woman. It condemns it.
After the final rape is a montage showing Jennifer healing from the ordeal. She can finally sit down with herself and see what has happened to her. She recognizes the event as much as she recognizes herself. She restores herself back to the perfect image. We see this represented when she takes the scraps of her writings (that were torn during the final rape) and puts them back together. She is in her home at this time. The wilderness was a place of discovery but turned into a place of debauchery. Her home is a representation of herself, and thus, a mirror in its own way.
Vengeance Visualized
Jennifer’s revenge is planned out. She goes to a church, asking God for forgiveness for what she is about to do. After her prayer, she stalks Johnny at his job, seeing his family from a distance. During her healing montage, we see that she has a gun, ready to fire.
Jennifer’s sexuality is deployed in her acts of vengeance. First, she calls Matthew’s place of work, asking for a delivery. When he arrives, she is dressed in white, slowly revealing more of her body before she is completely naked. She plays into his fantasies, asking him to engage with her. He is scared at first, but looks past her potential for castration due to her inviting attitude. They engage in, on the surface, consensual sex for the first time, which she uses as a gateway for murder. She ties a rope around his neck, hanging him by a tree branch.
Johnny, the leader, is tracked down by Jennifer. When she finds him, she points a gun at him, demanding him to take off his clothes. She is in a higher physical position in this shot, demonstrating her newfound power over him. He is on the ground. He takes off a few articles before attempting to disarm her by saying she wanted the sex. His perspective that women want sex regardless of their refusal is used as a weapon against her potential for castration. Rather than denying him, she pretends to agree by taking him back to her place. We are back to a mirror stage environment, where she has more power. Here, she appeals to his male fantasy. Not only does she draw him a bubble bath, a device used to portray romance, but she masturbates his penis while grabbing for her knife. The ability for a female to castrate is employed while appealing to the male fantasy. Pleasure is used as a weapon before displeasure. She castrates Johnny, leaving him screaming. Instead of finalizing the act, Jennifer locks the door, allowing him to die.
The final revenge is a reversal of roles as she encircles Andy and Stanley, using their motor boat. This is the only revenge without any use of sex. Andy and Stanley did not attempt charm with Jennifer as Johnny and Matthew did. Seduction serves no purpose with them, as they do not respond to it. They will only respond to the same brute force they acted on her. Once she successfully makes them aware of her power, she kills them, throwing an ax into Andy and sticking Stanley’s face into the motor while proudly saying, “Suck it, bitch.” Andy’s death is the least ceremonious. It is reflective of his role in the rape. He is the least involved, yet still a cog in the machine. He threw the rope, so she must throw the ax in return. Stanley was the operator of the boat as well as the most outwardly aggressive of the rapists. He is the last to rape her. He began hitting her, almost to the point of death, when she said she would submit in order to stop the aggression. “Suck it, bitch” were words from his mouth when he forced her to perform fellatio. His death is a strict reversal of that phrase and reflects Jennifer’s attention to detail.
Conclusion
The male gaze is a cinematic performance of gender. Affirmative male gaze conditions the audience to see women as objects for a male hero to obtain and subsequently, for women to see themselves as an object and men to see themselves as a potential owner. This does not mean that the gaze is fixed. It can be subverted as is seen in this text. Men and women in this film are both performing their genders, with the men performing overt masculinity in their brutality, and with Jennifer performing overt femininity in her seduction. In both cases, the performance of gender is weaponized, though we are meant to take it as more noble and acceptable when Jennifer performs her gender as she takes the expectations of her and twists it, punishing those who saw her as property.
