‘Stoker’ is the third film I’ve watched this month to deal explicitly with male obsession in regards to women. The first and most overt was ‘Under the Skin’, that particular film intimately explores heterosexual male and female relations, giving particular focus to the role women have as sexual objects for men. It is at times, deeply uncomfortable and in so being forces the watcher to confront a darker reality than is usually witnessed in conversations in the light of day. It concerns itself with what happens in the darkness of a club or the predawn around suburban houses, the edges of existence. To a great extent the film conveys an atmosphere of uncertainty and fear in being alone and objectified.

The second is a film that I am a little confused by, the film is ‘MASH’, a film that is heavily critical of war as a practice, yet the characters who embody this viewpoint in one memorable scene, humiliate a woman, making her suffer for their amusement. My problem with it is that up until that point and even after, I watched a film with a perspective on war that found itself based on compassion. But in that scene the principal characters demonstrated such cruelty and callosness and had their actions rewarded and endorsed.

The third and final one that I mentioned earlier is ‘Stoker’, I won’t get too deep into the specifics of the film, as at least part of my joy in watching it involved unravelling the characters and their motivations. What I will discuss briefly is about the central figure of the film, India. She is throughout defined by her sex, and her sexual awakening coupled with the arrival of her Uncle leads to some disturbing violence. It’s also, out of the three, the one I have least of a handle on and I’m certainly going to try to find a decent article that gives a reading of this film.