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Vagabond

"...the effect is to unfix the gaze, to render it inoperable. Because there are so many points of view, Mona cannot be caught in any of them" (Hayward 288).

The movie "Vagabond" definitely departs from the use of the male gaze in road films. As Hayward states above, "Vagabond" successfully unfixes the male gaze from the female figure. The feminized sexuality of Mona is basically nonexistent in this film. Mona is never shot in a sexualized way nor is she ever presented in the frame as the object of a masculine gaze. Unlike Rebecca, in "Girl on a Motorcycle," Mona's plight on the road has absolutely nothing to do with a man, and therefore, no shots are framed from a man's perspective. Additionally, Mona is not presented next to or accompanying any phallocentric images. Even though Mona is seemingly in control of herself and her actions on the road, there is no sense of "domination of the road" in this film. Varda's use of feminist counter-cinema portrays Mona more as a piece of the shot than as the object to-be-looked-at.

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