The gaze on "The Piano"
When reading some of the other post, I would also have to disagree that this film is not feminist. In one post they are talking about how the gaze is sexual when it is on the males. I would also like to add that when Stuart is naked, he is seen as very vulnerable. This is something usually not seen in non feminist films. In this scene Ava is in charge sexually and he is seen as the subdued character. She is taking charge and he is passive and uncomfortable, which would not be seen in a movie about a woman being married off to a man, if it were not feminist. In these films the woman would most likely be violated throughout the movie because she would have been viewed as property. Not in “The Piano” however. Ava is the one deciding what she is going to do and to whom it concerns.