Glenda - Get Carter

Throughout the film, Glenda is represented as a tool and an object to be used by Kinnear. She is exploited for her sexual nature, but also based on her preconceived role in society, which, as a woman in that time period, was to serve males. She acts as a perfect example of the 'Visual Pleasure and the Narrative Cinema' theory, devised by Laura Mulvey in 1975, in which she discusses the notion of the male gaze.

The car scene with Glenda and Jack Carter demonstrates the 'Visual Pleasure and the Narrative Cinema' theory in the most evident of ways. From the outset, the 'male gaze' is tapped into by establishing that all of the shots within the car are taken from Carter's perspective. (This can be inferred when the camera follows his eye-line when he looks down at Glenda's chest.) It is obvious that he is taking advantage of her position; she solely exists to follow orders from other men; Kinnear. The cutaway to the two having sexual intercourse conveys how Carter has objectified Glenda and, thusly, has gotten his way with her. She is just a tool to be used by men for sexual gratification, and to serve men. Additionally, she is shot in a series of close ups, fragmenting her body. In this regard, she is not a woman, she is just a body; chest, legs, hands, etc - she is fetishised. The way in which this sequence has been formed shows how women have been reduced to nothing more than a way to feed an over driven libido, which can be seen from the way that she complies to the wishes of Carter, even though they are unreasonable and, frankly, offensive.

The use of phallic imagery within the car, for example the close up of the hand on the gear stick, shows how, in Carter's eyes, Glenda is nothing more than an object to be used to fulfil sexual desires. From his perspective, she is not only physically attractive, but also lives to fulfil his 'sexual needs'; everything she does or touches is something he takes as being a sexual advancement or invitation. The Visual Pleasure and the Narrative Cinema theory can be implemented here; her only purpose is to provide sexual gratification to Carter and the audience (who are forced to share a POV.) Laura Mulvey stated that females in cinema exist for two different reasons; to act as an erotic object for the character and to act as an erotic object for the spectator. The fact that we see these events from Carter's POV (and also why we have no insert shots of himself undressing as we do Glenda) supports the notions Mulvey put forth about the Male Gaze.

In the gambling scene with Kinnear and several other men, Glenda is spoken to as if she is an employed maid. She is issued orders of which she is expected to follow, which speaks a lot about the context in which this film is set. In the eyes of the director, the notion of female liberation is a complete myth and in no way exists - female liberation has been taken by men as a way of further establishing gender-specific roles in society. This scene conveys this ideology perfectly and concisely - every single shot of Glenda has double the amount of men in the frame. From this, I can infer that, to the men in the room, she is not an individual entity that deserves attention, but something of an item that is picked up and used whenever men wish so. Kinnear's order "don't give a man like Jack a glass like that" implies that Glenda is somehow expected to act whenever a man says so, and that this sort of behaviour is the standard relationship between Kinnear and Glenda.

In this scene also, Glenda talks to Jack in a seductive manner, but is subtly warning him that he is in severe danger. Jack, however, is not listening to a word she is saying, as he is focussing more so on the seductive and promiscuous tone she is eliciting. This not only presents the attitudes towards women in the 1970's, but also discusses the idea of male ignorance in regards to their thoughts on gender roles. When she talks, her voice is drowned out by other diegetic voices (men) - what she is saying is not important, and she may as well not exist if she is not 'working.'

After Jack and Glenda have actually had intercourse, she lies lifelessly at the side of him; she took no sexual pleasure from the events that unfolded, she simply acted as an object for Jack to use. Interestingly, she does not protest to Jack's advancements, to which Jack accepts as an invitation (whereas the audience understands that this is just a subsequent result of the acknowledgement of gender roles of 1970's Britain.) She is shot in close up, staring into space without emotion on her face - the significance of this is that, after she has been used, her existence is petty and unnecessary. Jack, who is lying next to her, does not seem to show any sort of care for her.

Jack's attitude towards here is also blatant when the car Glenda is in is pushed into the water. We see a mid-shot of Carter looking down towards the sinking vehicle apathetically, only truly caring about the fact that he failed in his own mission as opposed to the fact that he is, quite literally, watching Glenda die.