Özet:

This article analyzes the objectification of the female body, the function of the male gaze, and the construction of female spectatorship in the American silent movie Love ‘em and Leave ‘em (1926). Directed by Frank Tuttle, the movie features in the opening credits a spectacle of a woman’s legs, in silky, transparent stockings, and high-heeled shoes. This initial scene positions the attractive legs of one of its female characters and prompts the question whether or not the objectification of attractive female legs—in this case in almost monumental proportions— deprives women of their subjectivity by turning them into mere spectacles or commodities. However, it can be argued that the critical stance the movie assumes is a parody of the male gaze, rather than a simple presentation of stereotypical gender roles. While reframing traditional gender norms in a performance of parody, the movie also dismantles what critic Laura Mulvey calls a “hermetically sealed world”, which plays on voyeuristic fantasies of the spectator. Correspondingly, the movie takes a step further by constructing a novel sphere for its spectators, in particular, female spectators, where they could observe distinct representations of the female body. Conjuring up a novel spectatorial sphere in which the spectator views the female body through a critical light, Love ‘em and Leave ‘em creates ruptures in phallocentric cinematic diegesis, destabilizes the spectator’s expectations, and relocates their perception in relation to multifarious questions it poses in scenes of parodies, rather than serving male fantasies.

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