To Be Used and Discarded
"The spectator is obviously in the voyeur position when there are sex scenes on the screen, but screen images of women are sexualized no matter what the women are doing, literally or what kind of plot may be involved."
Phallocentrism and the male gaze are both maintained throughout the film The Girl on a Motorcycle. The opening scene immediately brings the viewers eyes to Rebecca's breasts while riding a horse, or rather a white stallion, perhaps an illusion to her lover "Daniel" (profilmic event). She then walks nakedly from the bed to zip herself into an ostentatiously skin tight suit and straddles her beloved motorcycle. The camera cuts to her phallic region while she speeds off into the morning. She straddles the bike as if a lover and rides it like she's being bucked. Quite literally, her ride on the bike is an allusion to (riding) Daniel, the bike is simply an extension of his body. It's as if the bike is a means of foreplay, as she screams with excitement and joy the whole time she rides to meet her master. I say master because Daniel quite literally has all control over Rebecca in both mind and body. The last word I would use to describe this film would be 'liberating', as it does nothing but prove how objectified women in cinema are. Upon arriving in Germany Rebecca begins driving wildly and screaming into the air, in this scene we again see the anthromorphism of Daniel. Like the motorcycle, Rebecca acknowledges Germany as Daniel. She confesses herself as a sadist, she enjoys hurting Raymond who does not objectify her (not a "real" man), but reversely allows herself to be hurt over and over again by Daniel (masochism); a "real man". While in the bar we see an example of of the male look within the narrative. She orders shots and revels in the testosterone that surrounds her. The men stare at her breasts and lips as she slowly drinks herself into oblivion. As Kaplan explains, no matter what a woman is doing in a film, it is sexualized. From the way she speaks Daniels name to the way she shoots vodka, Rebecca seems to be dripping sex. And as we've all witnessed, it is this slow drip that empties this woman of any true freedom at all.