The Piano: Analysis Of Cinema Language Based On The Roles Of Women (Movie Review Sample)

The Piano (NZ/Austral, 1993): Analysis Of Cinema Language Based On The Roles Of Women 
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The Piano (NZ/Austral, 1993): Analysis of Cinema Language Based on The Roles Of Women 
Gender roles in movies focused on men have been so pervasive in the mainstream that now it has become less controversial contrary to the topic of female specificity that has been highly elusive and very contentious. One of these films that addressees’ genders roles on women's specificity is "The Piano" (193) that Jane Campion directs. The movie is set in the Victorian Era in New Zealand. The protagonist in this particular film is Ada, who is obligated to marry Stewart by her father. Ada is quickly smitten with his Maori-friendly acquaintance, George Baines, which leads to dramatic, life-changing confrontations. Since the age of six years, the character was unable to speak and communicates, and through the film, she communicates using sign language. The film deconstructs issues of a patriarchal narrative of the male and promotes the female gaze as it is narrated from the viewpoint of female protagonists. The film features various cinematic Languages that help in bringing roles of women (feminism). Using cinematic language based on the role of Ada, the paper analyses roles of women in deconstructing the dominant patriarchal ideology in the European culture in the Victorian era
Campion uses camera framing in portraying women's specificity in the scene where Ada is observed getting fitted with the wedding gown. In the scene, Ada is led out in the pouring rain where is there is a photographer. This is in correlation with the fact that there was an invention of photography in the Victorian era. The framing of the camera shows emphasis on the dress of Ada with a close-up shot. Female pretense is a critical element observed here in the emphasis of Ada's costumes. In the scene, Ada is observed positioned against the backdrop of a photographer. The photographer and Stewart seem to be participating in scopophilia. Campion deconstructs this assertion by not using the viewpoint of Stewart but retaining his view by making gaze through the lens and camera aperture. In this short, an individual notices the deconstruction of a patriarchal ideology of scopophilia which is common in the holy wood mainstream. Avoidance of scopophilia by CampionCampion shows the deconstruction of Patriarchal ideology, just like many other Campions, considers the look revealing, threatening, and penetrating to the women.
Moreover, the performance of the protagonist Ada is indeed fascinating in the film. She shows a non-expected side of a Victorian woman. At the beginning of the film, we are introduced to Ada, who refused to speak at the early age of six years. In the movie, we are not shown why she stopped speaking. One can interpret his muteness as a sign of a woman who is giving up in a world dominated by male hegemony, and therefore, she using muteness to express her frustration. On another side, she shows resistance to a paratracheal ideology that women lack sovereignty. In the film, Ada is further strict and functions according to the established Victorian-era patriarchal system. We also noticed her father preplan her marriage with the Steward; therefore, in order to maintain her sovereignty as a woman, she decides to mute. Moreover, with Stewart, the male gaze leaves her helpless, and the defense mechanism for the gaze is not to speak a decision. The decision of her not speaking cannot be taken away and is a way of her maintaining sovereignty.
In addition, in the film, we note an exciting shift of roles and change in the women's role where we see a woman courting a man, which is a shift from the Victorian types of marriage that were pre-arranged. In one particular scene where Ada goes to the forest to find Baines, we see for the first that Ada is rejecting her daughter Flora, something that enrages her, and Steward asks us about her mother, she angrily replies, "go to hell"(Campion, 1993). Her reply was a note of the Victorian era woman as it was rude to the father since his father is conacred about her mother. Through a crack in the wall, Steward sees Baines kneeling in Front of Ada as she takes off her clothes. In this particular scene, Campion does not pause the scopophilia desires. In addition, Campion achieves deconstructing this scene by not showing Baines but only the clothes Ada and shifts the scene with a dog rubbing the hands of Baines. Baines and Ada consummate their desires, which are a rare thing in the male-dominated world. In this, there is deconstruction masculinity where despite Ada being married, she has another affair that she feels is satisfying; similarly, it reconstructs femininity.
Campion presents Ada as a woman who challenges the roles of women in the Victorian era. When Ada engages Baines in her relationship, she is seen by the spectator as a desiring subject. It is a shift of the role of women in the Victorian era who were to remain loyal to their rightfully chosen husbands. Ad