A reiteration of the different extremes of the male gaze. In the first we have the open, naive "tourist" gaze of Mr. Smith taking in his first sight of Washington; in the second we have the intense, acquisitive stare of obsession.
The first is usually associated with feminine or youthful countenance's--both outside the conventionally masculine definition (even if the youth is a boy); the second presents a more typically traditional image of the masculine gaze.
The two gazes also display the youthful, naive prewar and tortured (and sometimes torturing) postwar Stewart personas.
The first is usually associated with feminine or youthful countenance's--both outside the conventionally masculine definition (even if the youth is a boy); the second presents a more typically traditional image of the masculine gaze.
The two gazes also display the youthful, naive prewar and tortured (and sometimes torturing) postwar Stewart personas.
There certainly is a vast difference in the two. The young Stewart gives us the boyish gaze full of wonder and amazed by the world around him. This is not the kind of gaze we often think of when we invision masculine men. Fast forward to the older Stewart and we don't see any of that boyish gaze in him. This is the type of thing we think of even though many times in this movie he behaves more boyishly by being taken in and fooled.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your assessment of Stewart's gazes. However, i would like to add that in the end of Vertigo his gaze goes beyond the intense obsession and becomes more of a crazed look. This crazed look is when he finally gains some control, as he learns everything and confronts his female counterpart about it. Then his look changes after she falls out the window and he looks looses this crazy stare and seems obsessed and troubled. He seems to be back where he was before finding his love again. Therefore, he will never gain the control in his life he needs.
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