ENTERTAINMENT TO EXPLOITATION A PSYCHOANALYSIS OF SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION OF WOMEN IN FILMS CINEMA
Cinematic films are considered popular for image portrayal of different genders. The study is based on the objectification of female characters and their effects on the recent issues of sexual violence against women in India. The analysis and findings are based on the objectification theory, male gaze theory and Feminist theory. The study reveals that sexual objectification of women in the selected films is stereotypical and they are mostly portrayed as sex object or item for male gaze. The study concludes that the sexual objectification of women can evoke unhealthy social and physical instincts in viewers and provoke the chances of sexual violence. Key wordsObjectification, sexual object, erotic, psychoanalysis, male gaze, scopophilia. I. OBJECTIFICATION TO SEXUAL OBJECTIFICATION Sexual objectification is the treatment of a person just as a body, an experience of being treated as a body which is predominantly presented as an object for the pleasure of men or predominantly for the consumption of male gaze (Fredrickson, &Roberts, 1997) Treating a person as an object is a painful phenomenon rather than a problematic issue which can cause destruction of positive image of women in society. It's a bitter reality of time that films are selling sex but not the messages. In films women are not portrayed as human being but as an object which is an item for the sexual satisfaction of male gaze and men desires. Therefore, it's a common perception that the sexual objectification of women body reflects the cruel reality of patriarchal world that women worth is actually in her body appearance and sexual functions (Szymanski et.al. 2011) For the sake of scopophilia, women are taken just as bodies or for their body parts, to give pleasure to male gaze. Sexual Objectification is a kind of oppression which women face either through employment discrimination or sexual harassment or violence. Objectification of women is actually a denial of subjectivity and emphasizes on the reality that women's feelings and experiences are not important but their body is. Objectification of women is to prove that their ownership is belonged to some men. Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) emphasizes on the cruel effect of sexual objectification which leads the women towards self objectification, due to which women start to objectify themselves and want to be assessed on their looks. Due to these objectification women get obsessed of eating disorders and many health problems. While on the other hand sexual objectification provokes the instinct of sexual harassment, sexual assault and other violent acts such as rape which according to the sexual objectification theory of Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) is the worst impact of sexual objectification of women in films. In the background perspective of frequent rape cases and acts of sexual assault in India, the sexual objectification of women in films could be one of the major causes of sexual violence against women in Indian society. II. BACKGROUND OF INDIAN CINEMA India is a big country in south Asia which is considered as one of the highly populated country in the world. Women are more than 50% of its total population in the country. In Urban as well as in rural areas of the country, women are proving their constructive role and progress in different fields of their personal and professional lives. At the other hand India has been rated as the worst country for women, after the brutal incident in December, 2012 when a young female student was sexually assaulted and gang raped in a public bus. In the largest democratic country of this world, one woman is raped in every 20 minutes in the country. According to Indian National Crime Record Bureau Statistics, sexual violence crimes against women have been increased to 71% since 2010. Indian films industry which was started in 1931 with a small budget film is now reported at the end of 2010 as on the top of the list of the countries which have highest annual film output, followed by Nollywood, Hollywood and Chinese film industry. In 2011 the annual revenues of Bollywood films have been reached to 1.86 billion dollars which is expected to be increased to 3 billion in 2016. Bollywood films are seen in more than 90 countries all over the world where Indian films have great market value. Bollywood is considered influential in shaping the behaviors and mindsets in India. Men perception of women is being guided by their portrayal in the films which are viewed in every class in the Indian society. The sexual objectification of women has a negative impact on society. Rather these films are affecting the Entertainment To Exploitation: A Psycho Analysis Of Sexual Objectification Of Women In Films/Cinema Proceedings of 13 IASTEM International Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 10 February 2016, ISBN: 978 93 85973 26 0 16 minds of people in India where 70% people are living in conservative rural areas where exposure to sexual relations is strictly monitored by social norms. Similarly, the Bollywood films are sabotaging the progress, which women are making to have equal rights and opportunities by struggling on feminist grounds. III. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF OBJECTIFICATION AND MALE GAZE The present study has been done under the theoretical framework of Objectification theory of Fredrickson Roberts (1997) and Laura Mulvey's (1975) theory of Male gaze. The findings have been discussed under the feminist theory to investigate patriarchy as the root cause of sexual objectification and sexual assault of women in films and in society respectively. Sexual objectification is the treatment of a person just as a body, an experience of being treated as a body which is presented as an object for the pleasure of men or predominantly for the consumption of male gaze (Fredrickson Roberts, 1997) It is actually the concept of reduction to body parts; that a person who is identified with her body parts but not as herself. Presenting someone as an object as if that person lacks the skill of speaking. They are just supposed to listen to men and have to follow patriarchy quietly, without speaking. Moreover, women are objectified through their appearance. Objectification is to transfer humanity to the status of an object. Women are never taken for their achievements in their lives but for the achievements they get through the pleasure they give to male gaze from the objectification of their body or body parts in films. Women are objectified not only for men desires but also according to the patriarchal beliefs of men to look at women as passive towards them. Women before 1970's were portrayed more in family relations but after 1970's the concept of extra marital relationships came which change the image of women from family member to a sex object in films or cinema. The real objectification of women could be seen obvious during the last few decades and especially after the wide use of internet and social media, the sexual objectification prevailed rapidly (Rothman; Stephen David, 1993) It's a bitter fact and reality that women have overlapped workforce more than men during the last few decades in America but women portrayal in American films is still stereotypical which is just focused on physical portrayal of women in cinema. The most objective and controversial analysis of sexual objectification of women image comes from Laura Mulvey's highly influential articles. Mulvey (1975) has targeted the political patriarchal approach of male dominant society which portrays women in films with a desire of pleasure of male gaze. Through her article, "Visual pleasure and narrative cinema" Mulvey stresses on this bitter fact that women in films are portrayed through three kinds of spectators' male gaze. The women are sexually objectified first of all from the male gaze of male protagonist and then from the male gaze of camera's eye and lastly from the gaze of male spectator who identified himself as the male protagonist who also likes to gaze at female protagonist as an object for his sexual desires. Mulvey has a strong argument about her point of view is that the major amusement of cinema is 'Scopophilia' Scopophilia is a voyeuristic kind of gaze which is aimed at other people or genders. Therefore, the scopophilia provokes the instinct of a person to look at some other person as an erotic object to get pleasure. Therefore, for this pleasure of male gaze, women are shown as passive sexual object and men are shown as active to absorb that sexual satisfaction under the hidden desire of patriarchy or male domination. Mulvey speaks out that women characters have no important place in films except as an object which is presented as a spectacle for the male character in the films and also for audience which is watching that film. Mulvey asserts that male viewers or men never want to watch male character as a sexual object. The forceful reason is the second kind of amusement offered by films is 'narcissistic voyeurism' that is to watch or suppose oneself in the ideal character and to be identified as the main character of the film. Therefore, male viewers always like to identify themselves with the main male protagonist character and they also like to take the main female protagonist character as a subject of their desiring gaze or as a sexual object for them. More probably women are shown in ways that spotlight on their sexual accessibility, passiveness, and reliance on other people they are motherly or domestic lady. At the same time sexualized, or too frequently portrayed as sufferers or victims of society and indirectly targeted by patriarchy. According to Fredrickson Roberts (1997) through the sexual objectification by giving an ideal image of women, now the focus of audience is more on physical appearance of women rather than on her mental skills or on what she is as a human being. Therefore, it is an "invisible camera" which portrays every kind of image of women on media; either it is s