Vagabond as Counter-Cinema
The European road movie grounds the meaning of the quest…(Laderman 248)
The film, Vagabond, embraces a narrative structure of a feminist counter-cinema through the differences it portrays when compared to an American road film. The first instance in the film when this occurs is when Mona is walking out of the sea after bathing. In an American film she would have probably been looked at as an object for the male to gaze upon for his own pleasure, but this film simply notes her presence in the background of the scene while the main focus is on the men on the motorcycle in the foreground. Another example is the reason why Mona is on the road in the first place. As she sets off on her journey there is no real way for the audience to determine where or why she is going. IN no way has she been forced to travel in the first place and the feeling of escapism is no where to be found as it would be in an American road film. This takes away from the male gaze by placing Mona in a role that more closely represents a role that a male character would possess. She talks and acts as a male would if he were to be in her situation, causing her to be undesirable through her dirty appearance and violent actions. Mona also takes on the role of a male through her interactions with others. Instead of being in situations in which she needs to be rescued or saved, she is constantly in some position of power, which weakens the phallocentricism of the film. In most situations she is the character to initiate the action instead of having the action initiated upon her. She is able to find her own ride on the side of the road, she rolls her own weed, and she ultimately determines when and where she wants to go. Her ability to be on her own and determine her own outcome is enough to take the gaze away from her breasts or her behind and to focus it more on the meaning of her journey as a whole.