Identity in Feminist Cinema from the Perspective of Queer Theory: Take Blue is the Warmest Color as an Exemplification

Abstract

Recently, queer theory has attracted more scholarly attention as an extension of feminist theory in terms of deconstructionism and postmodern contexts. Queer theory has been utilized by feminists as a significant theoretical framework in art criticism, with cinemas taken as a representation system and cultural practice for the manifesto of gender identity and gender equity. This research will take the prestigious lesbian cinema Blue is the Warmest Color as an exemplification to analyze the embodiment of queer theory, especially gender performativity and body writing, with the methodologies of case study and analysis of the representation of screen images from the perspective of semiotics. The research findings confirm the association between cinematic techniques and representation and the construction of gender identity from the perspective of queer theory and representation theory. Meanwhile, the research explores the expansion and application of body writing in the cinematic field, clarifying several intentions of the large proportion of the explicit and straight representation of women’s bodies in sex scenes. Overall, this research analyzes how the employment of various cinematic techniques and representation contributes to the construction of the protagonists’ gender identities which destroys the binary regulation of sexuality and heterosexual hegemony, as well as acquires the acknowledgment and acceptance of the spectatorship in terms of queer position.