"The Piano:" Is this really the best we can do, to arm wrestle over whose world it's gonna be? (the one according to you or the one according to me)
I believe that any reference to Jane Campion's film, "The Piano," as being a "feminist film" ie, a film propagating feminist themes and beliefs, is highly problematic. First of all, let me clarify, I am in no way arguing the artistic merit or questioning the cinematic “value� of this filmic event. I am not debating the content of the film, its sex appeal, or questioning its themes (though I could).What I see as the danger, surrounding this film is any reference to it as being a “feminist film.� This statement (to be highly unprofessional and personal) fills me with horror.
To begin with, let me offer a working definition of feminism. I offer this definition as a base to work off and I am not making assumptions that disregard intersectionality.To clarify, due to time constraints I will try to restrict myself to simply addressing the relations between the two lovers (Ada and Bains). I am failing to address the issues of race, colonization, silenceing of women, mother daughter relations, and the stereotyping of women and men. I am simply offering a working definition that I feel will provide me adequate fuel to argue.
“Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression� (hooks).
Under this definition, I question any claim that “The Piano� propagates a feminist viewpoint, or that its themes support the struggle against sexist exploitation and oppression. For me, the key factor is that issues of violence, racial difference, and aggressive sexuality “(...) is portrayed uncritically, as though it is "natural" the inevitable climax of conflicting passions. The outcome of this violence is positive� (hooks).
To present issues addressed by feminism without commentary on them further perpetrates these stereotypes instead of questioning them. We are meant to accept them as the norm, to internalize them, not to think about the implications of them.
One of my main issues regarding this film is its representation of heterosexual love. What starts out as an exchanging of commodities, Ada’s body for her piano, becomes an exchange of love with seemingly no transition inbetween. First of all, this act of exchanging a female body for material goods (to my understanding) does nothing to call for the end of sexual exploitation. Second of all, to call what these two individuals share “love� is most certainly perpetuating a patriarchal, oppressive structure of male/female relations. Bell hooks beautifully argues that:
“ (…)patriarchy, like any colonizing system, does not create the context for women and men to love one another (...) genuine love between females and males could emerge only in a context where the sexes would come together to challenge and change patriachal thought. To continue to speak of love, we would have had to break through the wall of denial that seduces us all to accept subordination and domination as natural facts of everyday life (...) domination and love do not go together (...) if one is present, the other is not� (bell hooks).
It is not an innocent act to show or suggest that “male sexual domination of women in no way threatens female autonomy or independence� (hooks). This is not a question of desire, this is not an issue of giving space and voice to the practice of sadomasochism as a legitimate sexual experience. A female expressing sexuality or acting upon her desires does not just inherently equal a feminist. Feminism does not equal a woman doing whatever she wants. For instance, we must constantly question why we want what we want. Who is it that has constructed the society that we live in and how are these powers being used to construct the ways in which we think? The study of historiography tells us that very way in which we think is organized in a particular fashion by the institutions under which we function. In the society we function in, it does not service the institutions that govern us to promote love and sex between genders in a way that disempowers marriage, or “traditional� Christian notions of heterosexuality.
One cannot generalize a sexual act as being feminist as every woman has her own intentions and circumstance. For what purpose is the sexual act being used? Both celibacy and active sexuality can be used to empower and liberate individuals in the correct context. But to assume that expressions of sexual expression or lack of is “inherently� feminist is problematic and incorrect.
Bell hooks explains,
“We are bombarded with images suggesting that male sexual domination of women in no way threatens female autonomy or independence. In actuality, male domination of females in the sexual arena (whether they maintain control by wanting too much sex or none at all) is a constant reminder that females are not free, that we have not attained full equal rights or equity.�
-bell hooks
I would argue that Ada never employs agency within the film. She simply operates within a patriarchal structure, drifting between masters and loving the man who can dominate her most fully, allowing her to “be so wholly his that I exist no longer� (simone de beauvoir quote from “Janet�). This seductive idea of heterosexual love is deeply problematic for the contemporary feminist when it is romanticized and allowed to exist without commentary. It echos the love stories and fairy tales we were raised with as children. When will our knight ride in to rescue us? When will the man strong enough to tame me arrive? What makes this dream so seductive is that it is the ultimate Oedipal fantasty, “the fantasy of the all-powerful parents who will take care of you forever�(hooks).
As long as women are conditioned to believe that they are not their own saviors, that they do not need to exercise agency in love, women will not be free to love or to exist free of patriarchal control. “It takes courage for women to challenge the seduction of domination, the making of love synonymous with the erotic conflict between the powerful and the powerless� (hooks). Women need to have the courage to question the sexual sadomasochism in both the public and private arenas of their lives and see this sadomasochism not as, an innocent portal of sexual normality, but as a response to the “unresolved changes in the nature of gender roles� (hooks). If we feel we are without agency and lack the courage to change our inadequate model of relationships in which neither party truly loves the other, then it helps to romanticize, erotizes, and pretend we want the model we already have. This is a mistake. Our power as both women and men to challenge the “essential differences� in our attitudes towards loving and towards each other is one of our greatest weponds.
“Women who learn to love represent the greatest threat to the patriarchal status quo� (hooks).
As long as men and women allow ourselves to believe that love can exit in relationships charged with pain, humiliation, and domination (Ada and Bains), we negate all possibility that we may someday learn to love each other in a way that promotes the end of sexism and oppression. In order to promote feminism, this film would have to approach this relationship between a man and a woman in a way that allowed them to come together to challenge the patriarchy. It does not. It instead presents us with a woman who asks to be given away by her husband to another man in the hope that he will be able to “save� her.
Allow me to propose that “There is a silence where hath been no sound. There is a silence where no sound may be� and that that silence must be filled and broken down. It takes courage to have agency and to take responsibility for ones actions, but until we jump together, men and women, into the unknown, into a parallel world where we redefine our notions of viewing each other, we will never see each other. As long as we allow ourselves to be duped by our institutions into believing that the current mainstream representations of love given visibility are harmless, we will continue to rationalize and exist within a structure that promotes a gender binary that oppresses and exploits us.
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