Right Back on Men - female gaze in SPN. Meta-picspam
Friday, 5 June 2015 22:52![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aletheiafelineaWe're used to what feminist research calls the “male gaze” turned on women; fandom turns the “female gaze” right back on men.
This isn’t the only quotable thing Katherine Larsen and Lynn S. Zubernis say in Fangasm: Supernatural Fangirls, but this one made me thinking about female gaze (on men) also in the canon itself. Would be interesting to gather examples, I thought.
Unlike my previous picspams, this one's not supposed to be a complete list. These are not all cases of female gaze (on men) in the show, just the ones I found most explicit and/or interesting, for many reasons. You may notice any of them could not have been just a minor detail the very existence of which is a matter of interpretation in the eye of beholder, a thing born of and depending on things as individual as an artistic choice of the given actress or her general style of acting. Every each one had to be an actual piece of the script – an actual task for the actress, being there before she even read it, and not just an interpretation she made up on her own. This means they demanded the attention and collaborative work of the whole creative team, writer to director to actress (and her male partner in the scene), and all between. Also, some of them are plot relevant, this meaning the episode's main plot, not just marginal embellishments of secondary scenes.
The only order is by the episode's number, because all the cases are too diverse and have too many factors combined to fit them exclusively into narrow classes. And perhaps it's surprising they can be diverse at all, but they are, or at least they turn out to be in SPN: the gazes are appreciative, gleeful, curious, taken aback, disdainful, friendly, confused, possessive, playful, hostile, amused, predatory, smug, worshiping, lascivious, professionally detached... or many of these combined. Whatever form it takes, though, it's always women (one or more at time) watching, assessing and judging men (one or more at time). And 'gaze' is a figurative term here, at times including also talking to and about, touching and breaching personal space. Or skin, for that matter.
One warning yet: the picspam is deliberately biased and made to emphasize the theme. I (mostly) leave out the 'gazed on' part's spoken replies and in case of mixed reactions I most often pick out evading and indirect over confrontational and/or enthusiastic. As the result, only women get to speak and generally be active part here, so it can and should be considered an out-of-context thing, and therefore watching the whole scene is advisable before using it for an example or argument. On the other hand, it's worth to notice that in some cases the shy reaction is visible even more (or only) when watched as the whole scene, because it's not always possible to show this as clearly in still frames. Nevertheless, I assure and warrant the essence hasn't been really changed, reversed or twisted in any of the cases. The keyword here is 'emphasized', not 'skewed'.
Okay, okay, I know you want just pics, so enough of this longish blabbering and let's get down to the matter. :)
1.16 Shadow
Meg
”The trap isn't for you.”
3.02 The Kids Are Alright
Moms at the kinder party
”You don't know about Dean? The Dean. Best-night-of-my-life Dean?”
“No! Tell me.”
3.06 Red Sky at Morning
Bela Talbot
”All right, get it out – I look ridiculous.”
“Not exactly the word I'd use.”
…and also
Gertrude Case
”You remind me of my late husband. He was shy too, till we got below deck.”
3.16 No Rest for the Wicked
Lilith
”Your lips are soft.”
4.01 Lazarus Rising, 4.10 Heaven and Hell, 4.15 Death Takes a Holiday
Pamela Barnes
”So, these the boys?”
”That perky little ass of yours. You could bounce a nickel off that thing.”
Even blindness doesn't stop Pamela from watching, and not only watching. Anyway, refusing to avert her eyes and forcing Castiel to show up was what made her blind in the first place, which may or may not be a case in point, since it's still not clear whether angels out of vessel have a gender on their own.
4.14 Sex and Violence
Dr. Cara Roberts
”I have been thinking about you, all night. Well, parts of you. Like your lips. They're very distracting. It's a problem. And I can't stop thinking about kissing them.”
4.18 The Monster at the End of This Book
Sera Siege
”Awesome.”
5.01 Sympathy for the Devil
Becky Rosen
”You’re so firm.”
”And you're...”
”...not what I pictured.”
5.11 Sam, Interrupted
Dr. Erica Cartwright
”And you're my paranoid schizophrenic with narcissistic personality disorder and religious psychosis.”
…and also
Wendy
”He's larger.”
…and also
Nurse Foreman the Wraith
”I make all of your problems disappear.”
(I shoot the first who says ‘pudding’. In spite of being a case very much in point.)
6.03 The Third Man
Lana
”Don't stop on my account.”
6.06 You Can’t Handle the Truth
Veritas
”How about we play a little truth or truth?”
7.11 Adventures in Babysitting
Sally
”Hunter day at the all-you-can-eat. ... Strong silent. Fine. I don't need much entertainment with my meal.”
7.12
Ezra Moore
”Who's he? Some farmer clown?”
7.13 The Slice Girls
Lydia
”Nice suit, by the way. Guys don’t dress up much. I like it.”
It's often said that SPN is filmed for female viewers and that it's visible in sex scenes, with the camera clinging more to male bodies. My personal estimation is rather that it's more or less even ratio (though males take obviously more space and are more difficult to hide, so this can explain the impression *g*), with this episode being a distinct exception. Here the camera takes the female point of view, and increasingly so, until the only what's left is what Lydia is seeing. Before that, every time the camera briefly turns on her, it focuses on her intent stare. Notice also, it's her who takes the clothes off Dean or he does it himself, but not the other way around. Only much later it becomes clear she was a hunting predator, and Dean a hunted prey, unaware though willing at the time.
8.03 Heartache
Randa Moreno
”So, if I go real slow and take my time and enjoy this, I can actually show you your own beating heart before you die.”
8.10 Torn and Frayed
Amelia Richardson
”Do you know you're the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing before I go to sleep?”
8.11 LARP and the Real Girl
Charlie Bradbury
”You're gonna have to ditch the suit if you're gonna walk and talk with the queen.”
A curious case of playing into someone's fantasy – and in quite enthusiastic way – not sexual fantasy though, but fantasy fantasy.
8.17 Goodbye Stranger
Meg
”And you're kind of bad – which is actually all manner of hot.”
9.02 Devil May Care
Abaddon ”I've loved this body since the moment I first saw it. You're the perfect vessel, Dean. You give a girl all sorts of nasty ideas. So go ahead and play hard to get, and I'll peel off this 'no demons allowed' tattoo and blow smoke up your ass. ... Once I'm on top, I'll make you watch. And I'll use your body. Have you ever felt an infant's blood drip down your chin? Or listened to a girl scream as you rip her guts out? Because you will. You and me, lover. We'll have a grand old time.”
9.03 I’m No Angel
April
”I can't say I didn't find you attractive.”
9.08 Rock and a Hard Place
The chastity group’s members
”Stay strong. Stay pure.”
10.01 Black
Hannah
”…?”
“I'm sensing awkwardness,” Castiel says. Yeah, you wouldn’t, if you have rather tried to anticipate and prevent it, you know, before opening the door.
10.05 Fan Fiction
Marie and Maeve
”You guys are way too old to be Sam, or Dean.”
10.06 Ask Jeeves
Heddy and Beverley
”You two are adorable. ... So, Sam, tell me, do you work out? ”
” (Did you see how long his fingers were?)”
10.22 The Prisoner
Rowena
”I'm sorry, you're just fascinating. An angel that rejected Heaven.
That's like a fish that wants to fly. Or a dog that thinks it's people. ”
A case in point only technically, since it’s witch gaze on angel before all, the witch only coincidentally being female, and the angel even more coincidentally and temporarily being male.
~*~
All photos come from Swannee’s Place, Home of the Nutty, Screencapped.net, Supernatural Fans Online, Oxioniensis Screencaps and KissThemGoodbye.net. Also SupernaturalWiki was a big help.
ETA
Now you can comment on it also by Disqus, here.
This isn’t the only quotable thing Katherine Larsen and Lynn S. Zubernis say in Fangasm: Supernatural Fangirls, but this one made me thinking about female gaze (on men) also in the canon itself. Would be interesting to gather examples, I thought.
Unlike my previous picspams, this one's not supposed to be a complete list. These are not all cases of female gaze (on men) in the show, just the ones I found most explicit and/or interesting, for many reasons. You may notice any of them could not have been just a minor detail the very existence of which is a matter of interpretation in the eye of beholder, a thing born of and depending on things as individual as an artistic choice of the given actress or her general style of acting. Every each one had to be an actual piece of the script – an actual task for the actress, being there before she even read it, and not just an interpretation she made up on her own. This means they demanded the attention and collaborative work of the whole creative team, writer to director to actress (and her male partner in the scene), and all between. Also, some of them are plot relevant, this meaning the episode's main plot, not just marginal embellishments of secondary scenes.
The only order is by the episode's number, because all the cases are too diverse and have too many factors combined to fit them exclusively into narrow classes. And perhaps it's surprising they can be diverse at all, but they are, or at least they turn out to be in SPN: the gazes are appreciative, gleeful, curious, taken aback, disdainful, friendly, confused, possessive, playful, hostile, amused, predatory, smug, worshiping, lascivious, professionally detached... or many of these combined. Whatever form it takes, though, it's always women (one or more at time) watching, assessing and judging men (one or more at time). And 'gaze' is a figurative term here, at times including also talking to and about, touching and breaching personal space. Or skin, for that matter.
One warning yet: the picspam is deliberately biased and made to emphasize the theme. I (mostly) leave out the 'gazed on' part's spoken replies and in case of mixed reactions I most often pick out evading and indirect over confrontational and/or enthusiastic. As the result, only women get to speak and generally be active part here, so it can and should be considered an out-of-context thing, and therefore watching the whole scene is advisable before using it for an example or argument. On the other hand, it's worth to notice that in some cases the shy reaction is visible even more (or only) when watched as the whole scene, because it's not always possible to show this as clearly in still frames. Nevertheless, I assure and warrant the essence hasn't been really changed, reversed or twisted in any of the cases. The keyword here is 'emphasized', not 'skewed'.
Okay, okay, I know you want just pics, so enough of this longish blabbering and let's get down to the matter. :)
Meg
”The trap isn't for you.”
Moms at the kinder party
”You don't know about Dean? The Dean. Best-night-of-my-life Dean?”
“No! Tell me.”
Bela Talbot
”All right, get it out – I look ridiculous.”
“Not exactly the word I'd use.”
…and also
Gertrude Case
”You remind me of my late husband. He was shy too, till we got below deck.”
Lilith
”Your lips are soft.”
Pamela Barnes
”So, these the boys?”
”That perky little ass of yours. You could bounce a nickel off that thing.”
Even blindness doesn't stop Pamela from watching, and not only watching. Anyway, refusing to avert her eyes and forcing Castiel to show up was what made her blind in the first place, which may or may not be a case in point, since it's still not clear whether angels out of vessel have a gender on their own.
Dr. Cara Roberts
”I have been thinking about you, all night. Well, parts of you. Like your lips. They're very distracting. It's a problem. And I can't stop thinking about kissing them.”
Sera Siege
”Awesome.”
Becky Rosen
”You’re so firm.”
”And you're...”
”...not what I pictured.”
Dr. Erica Cartwright
”And you're my paranoid schizophrenic with narcissistic personality disorder and religious psychosis.”
…and also
Wendy
”He's larger.”
…and also
Nurse Foreman the Wraith
”I make all of your problems disappear.”
(I shoot the first who says ‘pudding’. In spite of being a case very much in point.)
Lana
”Don't stop on my account.”
Veritas
”How about we play a little truth or truth?”
Sally
”Hunter day at the all-you-can-eat. ... Strong silent. Fine. I don't need much entertainment with my meal.”
Ezra Moore
”Who's he? Some farmer clown?”
Lydia
”Nice suit, by the way. Guys don’t dress up much. I like it.”
It's often said that SPN is filmed for female viewers and that it's visible in sex scenes, with the camera clinging more to male bodies. My personal estimation is rather that it's more or less even ratio (though males take obviously more space and are more difficult to hide, so this can explain the impression *g*), with this episode being a distinct exception. Here the camera takes the female point of view, and increasingly so, until the only what's left is what Lydia is seeing. Before that, every time the camera briefly turns on her, it focuses on her intent stare. Notice also, it's her who takes the clothes off Dean or he does it himself, but not the other way around. Only much later it becomes clear she was a hunting predator, and Dean a hunted prey, unaware though willing at the time.
Randa Moreno
”So, if I go real slow and take my time and enjoy this, I can actually show you your own beating heart before you die.”
Amelia Richardson
”Do you know you're the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing before I go to sleep?”
Charlie Bradbury
”You're gonna have to ditch the suit if you're gonna walk and talk with the queen.”
A curious case of playing into someone's fantasy – and in quite enthusiastic way – not sexual fantasy though, but fantasy fantasy.
Meg
”And you're kind of bad – which is actually all manner of hot.”
Abaddon
April
”I can't say I didn't find you attractive.”
The chastity group’s members
”Stay strong. Stay pure.”
Hannah
”…?”
“I'm sensing awkwardness,” Castiel says. Yeah, you wouldn’t, if you have rather tried to anticipate and prevent it, you know, before opening the door.
Marie and Maeve
”You guys are way too old to be Sam, or Dean.”
Heddy and Beverley
”You two are adorable. ... So, Sam, tell me, do you work out? ”
” (Did you see how long his fingers were?)”
Rowena
”I'm sorry, you're just fascinating. An angel that rejected Heaven.
That's like a fish that wants to fly. Or a dog that thinks it's people. ”
A case in point only technically, since it’s witch gaze on angel before all, the witch only coincidentally being female, and the angel even more coincidentally and temporarily being male.
All photos come from Swannee’s Place, Home of the Nutty, Screencapped.net, Supernatural Fans Online, Oxioniensis Screencaps and KissThemGoodbye.net. Also SupernaturalWiki was a big help.
ETA
Now you can comment on it also by Disqus, here.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-08 19:09 (UTC)Which reminds me... (http://mariibota.tumblr.com/post/82927411813/ok-i-get-it-dashboard-dean-is-taking-a-shower) :)
no subject
Date: 2015-06-09 08:12 (UTC)Dean had an after shower scene in bugs but only stuck his head out the door, we don't see much but the woman in the scene just before was shown in the shower. Not fair show.
That gif has me thinking of how many times the writers have Dean wash his face. Does anyone else ever wash or is Dean the only one? Clean for fan service only!
no subject
Date: 2015-06-09 18:24 (UTC)Dean had quite a handful shower scenes in the whole canon, I think, but mostly he just sticks his head out, like in "Bugs". However, he wasn't doing anything important for the plot in there, while she was - she died in the shower. Yeah, all these spiders could be suggested instead shown - just one crawling from under the door, and shadows of others on the glass, and her screaming - but it would look rather unnatural, visibly forced, and maybe not as scary as putting the camera closer to her point of view. Even the choice of place adds to it - there's not many places where one feels safer and more relaxed, so when you put a swarm of spiders in there... whoa. Especially that spider is the last critter we usually expect around water. As an arachnophobe I say good job, ugh... Sure, maybe there are some who ogle her (not that there's so much to ogle anyway, with the way it was filmed) or take offence about the fact there's a woman shown in the shower, but personally I just feel with her... Maybe a little more than I'd like to, so this even more proves good job. *shudders*
That gif has me thinking of how many times the writers have Dean wash his face. Does anyone else ever wash or is Dean the only one? Clean for fan service only!
Well, fan service and nothing more as long as one is keeping an eye open just for wet!Dean. When take his overall loath of himself into consideration, it becomes also quite significant in symbolic way - washing as obsessive tries to get clean. I'm pretty sure I came across a gifset pointing something in this line not so long ago, can't remember where...
no subject
Date: 2015-06-10 02:25 (UTC)And that's why I rarely have a problem with anything they do on the show. That scene worked for the story. I was thinking if Dean's in the shower anyway they could have shown more. In Bugs and Meta Fiction the shower scenes look PG and only fanservicy when taken out of context. Thinking about these scenes is starting to make the show look very PG to me lol never thought of it like that before.
When I think of fanservice in supernatural it's in jokes and fan shout out type stuff not cheap skin scenes. The clean for fan service crack was because of the writers having Dean wash so much. It's obviously for a reason like you said, they wouldn't wast time showing it otherwise but why only him? Has it become a part of his character or like a running joke. Stuff happens ...then Dean washes his face lol. I wonder if the wiki has anything on washing/shower scenes.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-10 18:04 (UTC)Thinking about these scenes is starting to make the show look very PG to me
Showers aside, it keeps striking me that sex scenes in SPN - those few that aren't made in 90% of showing-nothing fast-flashing close ups - consist of undressing down to underwear and no further, to the point of verging on oddity (Anna/Dean in "Heaven and Hell"), while at the same time all horror and gore - corpses, severed limbs, gouged out eyes and so on - are shown in details and full frontal, so to speak. From the European point of view (don't know where are you from, sorry ^^' ), such combination is perceived as very American. I wonder how many fans (and crewmembers, too) is even aware of this. I'm sure all of them would say, "Sure it is American, it has roads, guns, rock and Impala, and all!", but the way of filming and the interpretation of rating? Not so obvious, and maybe even transparent for many, I guess. :)
When I think of fanservice in supernatural it's in jokes and fan shout out type stuff not cheap skin scenes.
Agreed! The former definitely predominates!
Stuff happens ...then Dean washes his face lol.
Or the other way around - Dean washes and then stuff happens, mostly in the bathroom mirror. Hehe, indeed. *g* Coming to think of it, it almost seems like a case similar to Dean's general facestuffing. Poor Jensen only ate some decorations in that funeral banquet scene in season 1, as he explained on cons, and now every writer throws in some Dean eating moments...
I wonder if the wiki has anything on washing/shower scenes.
It has Shirtless Scenes, but not washing, I think... Looks like it's a waiting field of studies. :)
no subject
Date: 2015-06-11 04:49 (UTC)I lol'd at Crowley's sex scene, that was weird. But sex without full nudity is pretty common on American TV. Networks have different standards and most won't allow it. On FX Sons of Anarchy had scenes like this: http://pandapunk825.tumblr.com/post/77213255010
They had everything but full frontal nudity and the F word (apparently it's worst than graphic torture) in that show. But most networks are more conservative.
A fan asked about the gore at the Paley Festival https://youtu.be/--skDRg7Uds?t=2m21s and sex scenes around 7:47.
no subject
Date: 2015-06-13 19:00 (UTC)Funny that they say they weren't allowed to show Dean being shot, because it was apparently too much. You'd never guess, seeing what they are allowed to show all the time. *g*
A lovely sequence there: Kripke making, ahem, promises about, presumably, Dean --> Jensen being not exactly happy --> Jared being about this VERY happy --> and choking as the result of it --> with Jensen trying to help him. Serves you right, Jared. They couldn't make it better even as a directed scene... *g*
no subject
Date: 2015-06-15 01:28 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-15 16:57 (UTC)