We Need to Talk About Kevin Flashcards
What are the three ideological approaches we studied?
Women as ‘The Mother’
Psychoanlysis
Queen Theory
Summarise the theory of ‘The Monstrous Womb’
Creed suggest the male body has integrity. The female body is ‘vulnerable’ to the changes of pregnancy, which evoke FEAR from male-positioned audiences. Women giving birth to ‘monsters’ symbolise this fear.
Summarise the Oedipus complex
Psychoanalytical idea of Freud’s, describes the feelings of DESIRE a boy has for his mother, and his jealousy of the father, who detracts from her attention.
What is the ‘Primal Scene’ and how does it relate to the Oedipus complex?
The mother and father having sex. If a child witnesses this, Freud says that the feelings of arousal, confusion and upset lay the foundations for the Oedipus Complex.
What is Julia Kristeva’s definition of ‘The Abject’?
That which “…disturbs identity, system [and] order.” For example, bodily horror and mutation.
What does Judith Butler say About gender?
Gender is performative, a decision we make based on our socialisation. Gender exists on a sliding scale between the two hegemonic descriptions of masculinity and femininity.
What is Queer Theory in cinema?
Plays on our fear of the other and internalised queerphobia by depicting antagonists as possessing ‘queer’ traits that exist outside of the heteronormative gender binary.
What is queercoding and what issue does it represent?
Heteronormativity = Trustworthy
Queering = Untrustworthy, deviant
Fixed ideas of otherness often lead to suspicion, maltreatment oppression and violence.
Examples of bodily horror / “The Monstrous Womb” in WNTTAK
-Tomato festival, use of red to represent blood/menstruation positioned over Eva’s crotch.
-Pregnancy class shot, frame crowded by naked bellies, Eva is the only one covered, bellies loom into shot, framed centrally.
-Birth Scene, Eva’s reflection in the surgical steel, distorted and mutated - fits Kristeva’s definition of the abject
Examples of Oedipus Complex in WNTTAK
-Broken arm, Kevin doesn’t tell Franklin it was Eva, protects his mother?
-Kevin witnesses the ‘Primal Scene’
-Eva reads Robin Hood to him, rare moment of bonding between them, he gets a bow and arrow - perverts their shared moment with violence, is the gesture for her?
-Eva sees Kevin staring at her portrait at the bookshop, bus obscures her view he’s gone, was it him?
-He hears “Custody is a no-brainer”, THEN commits massacre (making sure to kill Franklin and Celie), to stop loss of his mother? (Spared)
-Final sequence, Lonnie Donegan sings nobody’s child - “eyes that could not see” - references the blinding of Oedipus; symbol of Kevin’s guilt?
Examples of Queer Theory/queering of character?
-Cinematography sexualises Kevin in a way we’d expect to see a woman (Male Gaze)
-Kevin and Eva’s costume, she has short hair, he has long. He wears crop tops, she wears loose shirts.
-Casting, Ezra Miller/Tilda Swinton both known for playing more androgynous characters, John C. Reilly represent the comically heteronormative ‘everydad’ in comparison.
-Personality/Performance, Eva’s harshness might be ‘powerful’ in a man, she is driven and successful - comes off as a hardened biznatch.
-Gender as performative, she acts as a stay at home mum, despite being the major bread winner, Franklin goes off to work and appears to be classic masculine breadwinner, superficially gender roles are maintained- realistically not so simple.
Story Todorov of WNTTAK?
Equilibrium; domestic life, lack of freedom
Disruption; massacre, release of psychic energy
Quest; Eva tries to make sense of the killings
New Equilibrium; She realises Kevin has no answers for her, either; kills herself; accepts Kevin and motherhood; leaves him and disappears
———–OR————-
Equilibrium: Eva’s freedom and career
Disruption: Kevin’s birth
Quest: Motherhood
New Equilibrium: Eva fails as mother, left to pick up the pieces.
