Interlude: The Male Gaze
LONG POV SHOT of BEAUTIFUL WOMAN in sexy dress, smiling. ZOOM in quickly on face. SLOW PAN downwards, taking in whole body, ending at feet (impossible heels), pausing slightly at ample cleavage. Saxophone music. POV PULLS BACK quickly, then moves in as BEAUTIFUL WOMAN, still smiling fixedly, holds out hand to greet HELPLACE-ZUCKER. BEAUTIFUL WOMAN: Hello. Mr Helplace-Zucker? Nice to meet you. OK, I think we can all see this for what it is, a trope, that is, a locution or idiom, visual shorthand, unoriginal but serviceable, intended to save time. As with most tropes, individual tastes will vary on just how irritating it is found to be. Me, I always found that tenor sax mildly exasperating, since I do not experience lust as a saxophone playing slow jazz, never have. More as a woodwind section, clarinets and oboes and cor anglais. (Make that corblimey anglais, if it's Joan Sims.) The feminists are right about one thing: the eye behind the camera is like...