Lacking Liberation
I seem to have trouble getting my entries in on time...this time my computer was in the shop since Friday. Oh well, glad to finally have it back...
"Girl on a Motorcycle" failed to prove liberating from male constrictions at the beginning. Rebecca is tied down by two men, her husband and her lover, and cannot break free from either, bouncing back and forth between them until she meets her tragic end. The opening dream of her being denuded by the ringleader, as she sits atop a horse, a method of transport remarkably similar to a motorcycle, starts the cycle of phallocentrism continued throughout the film. The shots of her zipping into her leather suit, her animal-like skin, are obviously through the eyes of a male, perpetuating the male gaze. Shots similar to these continue and keep her an object of male affection, nearly always viewed as a sexual object. While on her motorcycle, a "gift" from her lover (more like a leash if you ask me), she may feel free and rebellious, but she is always travelling between men, never free to ride where she desires. It is this whip that she travels back and forth on that ultimately leads to her death, finally thrown from the phallus that kept her bound by men, her motorcycle.