Citation

Banwell S, Fiddler M. Holocaust Stud. 2018; 24(2): 150-171.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Informa - Taylor and Francis)

DOI

10.1080/17504902.2017.1383021

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This piece unpacks how Holocaust-related films - ranging from Nazisploitation cinema (Love Camp 7, 1968; Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS, 1975) through to 'art house' (The Night Porter, 1974) and mainstream representations (Schindler's List, 1994) - eroticize Nazi atrocities and violence against women. Following on from Caldwell's analysis of gender 'realness' we argue that there has been a tendency for such films to present masculinity as the dominant power-simulacra. Using Schweickart's (1986) androcentric reading strategy and Mulvey's (1992) scopophilic male gaze, we ask whether gender hierarchies and inequalities are reproduced in these cinematic representations.

Language: en

Keywords

Eroticization of fascism; female-as-object; male gaze; S/M; simulacra gender code