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Heaven: Bodies and Boys and Sexuality and a ‘Perve’.
Vyvyan Stranieri, Youth Programmer, Screen Education Cinemedia
| [ Go to this paper in the timetable ] |
Tracey Moffatt’s HEAVEN presents an interesting and valuable ‘perspective’ on the culture of surfing, sexuality and in particular masculine bodies. Obviously a piece like HEAVEN lends itself to a multitude of thinking and discussion. One critique could be regarding voyeurism and issues of gender representation. Who is looking at who and why. What does it suggest about the audience and the ‘gaze’, the filmmaker and the ‘gaze’ and the relationship between the two? Are the meanings for an audience and artist, different because Moffatt is a female filmmaker ‘perving’ on young male tanned bodies than if she were male perving on the traditional female body? Does it matter? What are the implications of the process of filming this footage? Is it fair game to look whilst seating on your beach towel under the umbrella but not so with a camera from a distance? How do the males react or more precisely perform on camera and how do we the audiences engage with their engagement with the camera? What does it suggest about the role of the artist, issues of ethics or ‘surveillance’?
