Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power

2022, NR, 147 min. Directed by Nina Menkes.

REVIEWED By Sarah Jane, Fri., Dec. 2, 2022

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power, the new documentary from Nina Menkes, is based on a lecture series she has been presenting for the past few years that posits, essentially, that the visual language of films and shot design throughout history is linked to the “male gaze." The one-off use of that phrase by film theorist Laura Mulvey (who pops up here as a talking head) in her 1975 article “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” launched a thousand essays – including this documentary, it seems.

Menkes argues that shot design is gendered, and because male directors, lighting designers, and directors of photography make up nearly all professionals in Hollywood, women have been objectified and shown as sexual objects throughout film history. She shows clips from several dozen films, including those “masterpieces” we all know and love from directors like Hitchcock, Scorsese, Welles, Lynch, Antonioni, Godard, Coppola, PTA, Tarantino, Lee, Foreman, etc. Menkes plucks scenes from these films without really any context whatsoever and throws her own description over them. And, yeah, it’s like, holy shit, that is kinda gross. But, wait, where is the context?

So, does Menkes only discuss male directors in her film? Oh, she does not. She throws shade at the likes of Sofia Coppola and Patty Jenkins. She also says, in not so many words, that Kathryn Bigelow only won her Best Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker because the movie was about dudes doing manly things, and because it had explosions and shit. Menkes pretty much shames her, as well, for having all-male department heads. It’s weird because Menkes interviews more than one woman director, like Catherine Hardwicke and Penelope Spheeris, but fails to show any of their work. I guess their films weren’t worth mentioning?

Menkes sure shows us her own films, though, which seems to do a disservice to this documentary. The way she includes what is essentially her own TED Talk was odd, too, and the film's structure would have worked better without it.

Hollywood has a long way to go in terms of parity for women and there absolutely must be a discussion about the way women are portrayed onscreen, still, in 2022. These are all good points, but Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power isn’t doing it the best way possible. If this film is a jumping off point into more and, quite frankly, better discussions, then I guess it is worth watching?

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

Support the Chronicle  

READ MORE
More Nina Menkes Films
Queen of Diamonds
...

Jan. 15, 2023

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power
...

Jan. 15, 2023

More by Sarah Jane
Shin Ultraman
Japan's metal defender gets an ass-kicking modern reboot

Jan. 6, 2023

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
Banderas is back in the boots in this superior Shrek spin-off

Dec. 23, 2022

KEYWORDS FOR THIS FILM

Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power, Nina Menkes

MORE IN THE ARCHIVES
NEWSLETTERS
One click gets you all the newsletters listed below

Breaking news, arts coverage, and daily events

Can't keep up with happenings around town? We can help.

Austin's queerest news and events

Eric Goodman's Austin FC column, other soccer news

Behind the scenes at The Austin Chronicle

Information is power. Support the free press, so we can support Austin.   Support the Chronicle