The Hidden Scopophilia in Wild (2014) and Its Contribution to Feminist Road Film
Abstract
The power of movie in portraying feminist women are incredible, especially when movie are viewed as a low threshold art form. As early as 1965, Russ Meyer directed a feminist road movie called Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Since then, the protagonists of road movies have a second gender besides males. After Thelma and Louise achieving great success in 1991, feminist road movies instantly became a craze, and many directors began making films with similar themes, such as Leaving Normal (1992) and Boys on the Side (1995). The film Wild (2014), directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and written by Nick Hornby, based on the 2012 memoir Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed, focuses on the personal growth of woman in hiking. However, like many other feminist road movies, although the director tries to tell women’s stories, create strong female character and reimagine story structure, but still maintains the pleasure of looking. This article starts with camera language analysis to interpret scopophilia and the to-be-looked-at-ness of female character wrapped in the innovative feminist stories and intentions.
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