norwich36: (Lex earnest)
norwich36 ([personal profile] norwich36) wrote2006-10-06 09:11 am

Quick thoughts on voyeurism in Sneeze

I wrote this on the bus to work today--I have a gazillion work projects to finish and I can't stop thinking about SV! So if I don't reply to comments on this until this weekend, sorry--I probably won't be able to check lj again today.

Spoilers, obviously, for SV: Sneeze


I was thinking of the role of voyeurism and power in SV. From the very beginning of the show, Clark is described as a watcher, a voyeur into human life, symbolized by his telescope, in which he watches Lana in a way that the show initially suggests is mostly innocent, not stalkery: Clark is an outsider trying to understand human life by watching. And in a way it foreshadows the role of Superman: watching over human beings in order to save them.

Later, of course, voyeurism takes on a more sinister cast, as a series of watchers (Phelan, Nixon, Lex) put Clark's secret in danger. Cameras are a particular source of danger, since they can potentially reveal Clark (like the blur Lex sees in Rogue, or the tapes that Nixon makes of Clark's superpower. I think it's significant when Lex creates the famous Chamber of Clark Kent that there is a giant photo of Clark at the center of it; this is not simply to encourage speculation about Lex's homoerotic desire for Clark, but also to depict the dangerous power of Lex's gaze.

So I think it's very interesting that the show is now depicting Lex's gaze literally turned on Lana (even though he denies it--come on, we all know he watched that clip repeatedly! Why else was it the first one to appear?) He's trying to control his life by becoming all-seeing, which is a lovely nod to his future iconic self, in which there's nothing that goes on in Metropolis that Lex doesn't know about. I think, in a sense, he's also trying to control Lana this way: to *collect* her, like he collected Clark. What's really interesting about this is Lana's reaction: unlike Clark, when exposed to Lex's voyeurism, she doesn't flee; instead she attempts to set boundaries. (Of course, the Chamber of Clark Kent is a bit creepier than one shot of her undressing, and she doesn't have the same secrets to hide Clark does, so exposure is not as inherently dangerous to her, but still, I think most women would have left after discovering something like that.) Does Lana secretly enjoy being watched/collected? Will she stay with Lex and his (probably necessary) paranoid need to control his environment with omnipresent cameras?

And it's interesting that the connection between cameras, watching, and power was reinforced by the Oliver Queen storyline. Oliver knows about Lex's powers because his corporation had the only functioning satellite during Dark Thursday. This reinforces my conviction that Queen is being set up to deliberately parallel Lex, as I discussed in my earlier review : a billionaire interested in investigating humans with special abilities, not necessarily using ethical means to do so.

Since Queen is also a superhero in DC canon, I am excited by the potential triangulation of Clark-Lex-Oliver: Is Queen's characterization going to be closer to Lex's or Clark's? And what will each learn from him (or interactions with him) about heroism or villainy?

[identity profile] mobiusklein.livejournal.com 2006-10-06 04:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I think there has always been an air of Lana as "object" and thing to be "collected." The pilot has Whitney acting very possessive (violently so) over her but it's his inattention that drives her away. There was also the whole bizarre speech about Magnetic!boy where she praises him for honesty despite all the things he could've done to her. There's a strong strain of narcissism in Lana that almost demands attention and I think she'll tolerate a lot of really peculiar stuff (especially w/o a backup) for quite a while.

[identity profile] random-serious.livejournal.com 2006-10-06 06:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah (It's not polite to butt in...but, I had to), you are right. Lana is an object to be own, rather than a real person, in the SV verse. Lana is often, IMO, presented less than human: she is a prize, a collectible, an object that brings pretige to the holder/ owner rather than a person. (This is the way she is portrayed, I am not suggesting this is what she necessarily is.)

What's more Lana is portrayed as enjoying this objectification: This is what really pisses me off. She is being controlled by elevating her to this blameless status of someone who is never wrong, nor ever scolded for actions that in and by others cause blame, yet these actions result in injury/ death/ voyeristic experiences/ her to be praises for her beauty etc. and all the while she remains in-active, passive.

In addition, she is portrayed ... smug, it could be said, so smug that she accepts and expects controlling/ voyerism as her due. (Again, she is portrayed this way.) She is also seen using her object status to gain favor from people whose favors she needs/ wants, somehow passively again. Favors just fall in her lap: trips to Paris, dead ex-bfs, coffee shops. It's all related to her being an object, rather than a person, in SV verse.

In short, I agree with you.

[identity profile] mobiusklein.livejournal.com 2006-10-06 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
A lot of people on other blogs usually comment to comments, so don't worry.

I know that a lot of people have warmed up to Lexana and all but I still see a lot of the same dynamic in that I think that in many ways Lex hooked up with her for reasons other than romantic love: to piss off Clark, to show Lionel that he was wrong, to prove to his dead mother that he could have most of the good stuff w/o the bad. This is my trophy, I win. Dysfunctionality can be interesting but . . .

As for leaving, she has usually ran to Clark when things went bad with Whitney, Jason, Adam, etc. W/o an escape route, it would actually require her to leave on her own which is something we really haven't seen her do. (Even leaving Nell required Chloe to strangely open her house to her and Lana's motivation at the time had a great deal to do with rediscovering her father and Clark.)

I think it's more a matter that she hates the downside of being under the gaze of others yet can't imagine that she's NOT the center of being viewed. The question is if she has to choose between being "collected" or being utterly "alone" (or at least w/o a boyfriend/father figure), which would she choose.

[identity profile] random-serious.livejournal.com 2006-10-06 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I agree, to everything that you say.

I just don't know how this dead end can be turned around. Lana would need to literally become someone else, possessed for good, for Lexana or anything even remotely related to Lana to work at all.

Lana is a plot device that got out of hand. They should have made her third tier/ gone years ago.

(I love your analysis, I lurk the TwoP SV Boards.)

[identity profile] norwich36.livejournal.com 2006-10-07 05:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, aren't you the one who wrote the famous "Lana as fetish object" essay? It's not just Whitney in the Pilot, either--it's how during almost all of season one Lex tries to give Lana to Clark as a substitute for the truck!

[identity profile] mobiusklein.livejournal.com 2006-10-08 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, that's me.

I think part of the problem stems from who AlMiles is using as inspiration: Helen of Troy. A character like Helen of Troy works in the context of myth but 21st century drama, not so much.

I remember a while back in Deadwood, Trixie tells Sol that while her situation may be violent and not the greatest, it's familiar and that's what pulls her to it. While I'm not saying Lana's a hooker like Trixie, I do think that she has gotten used to men/boy's desire for her being mixed with a great huge helping of dysfunction. Clark spies on her and lies to her, Lex spies on her, Bugboy spied on her, Van and a freak joke about her having a stalker network. There's violence involved, etc. It's the only real spin I can put on it that makes psychological sense.

[identity profile] myownghost.livejournal.com 2006-10-06 05:37 pm (UTC)(link)
i always like it when someone with a comprehensive grasp of SV symbology and the span of the whole story points out something like this. very thought-provoking.

>to depict the dangerous power of Lex's gaze.

ooh, yes. i can't help thinking of all those gazes at clark the first year, which were erotic and possessive, but also hawk-like and observant.

one tiny problem with the show that's maybe peculiar to me is this: i find lana so unattractive that i can't understand anyone wanting to watch her take her clothes off. she's so boring to me in every way. oh well, apparently all the guys on the show can't take their eyes off her. *g*

[identity profile] norwich36.livejournal.com 2006-10-07 06:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I think Lana is very attractive. (In the first three seasons, she was a little too plastic-doll attractive for me, but I like her a lot more now that they're dressing her like an adult and she looks like an adult.)

[identity profile] myownghost.livejournal.com 2006-10-07 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
ah, it's probably just me, then. i don't care for her looks at all. chloe, otoh, is looking better and better to me as she grows up.

[identity profile] theclexfactor.livejournal.com 2006-10-06 06:03 pm (UTC)(link)
I think, also, that Lex's voyeurism of Lana just goes to reaffirm that her role in his life replaces Clark's. Although I don't believe Lex will ever not have some modicum of interest in Clark['s secrets] (and his extreme attention to Lana will never match his obsession with Clark), he is redirecting this attention to Lana now.

This is the same as how TPTB always equated Clark's friendship with Lex as equal in power to his feelings for Lana.

[identity profile] norwich36.livejournal.com 2006-10-07 06:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I completely agree that Lex is using Lana, symbolically, to replace Clark, and I also agree that he's not going to give up pursuing Clark's secrets just because he's now turned his gaze to Lana.

[identity profile] theclexfactor.livejournal.com 2006-10-09 11:32 am (UTC)(link)
I wrote up a meta to your post (based on these comments)...it's really long and not as articulate, but I'm going to put it up today.

[identity profile] norwich36.livejournal.com 2006-10-09 01:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Great! I look forward to reading it. (If I don't comment on it for a day or two, it's just because work is crazy crazy this week--I have about 20 minutes of lj reading a day).

[identity profile] theclexfactor.livejournal.com 2006-10-09 01:57 pm (UTC)(link)
It's okay. I'm "in class" right now (online classes) while I'm at work and really should be paying attention to class :P

[identity profile] cinderella81.livejournal.com 2006-10-06 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)
You have made a very interesting point ... the whole idea of voyeurism is an intriguing one to say the least!

[identity profile] norwich36.livejournal.com 2006-10-07 06:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks!

[identity profile] random-serious.livejournal.com 2006-10-06 06:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Intresting, thought-provoking post. Thank you!

[identity profile] norwich36.livejournal.com 2006-10-07 06:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm glad you liked it. I thought your discussion with [livejournal.com profile] mobiusklein about the objectification of Lana, above, was interesting, and when I have a little more time (which might not be for a week, alas)I may jump into it--so if you get a comment notification in a week's time, that's why.

[identity profile] random-serious.livejournal.com 2006-10-07 06:20 pm (UTC)(link)
OK, looking forward to it.

[identity profile] bop-radar.livejournal.com 2006-10-07 07:18 am (UTC)(link)
*loves*

Does Lana secretly enjoy being watched/collected? Will she stay with Lex and his (probably necessary) paranoid need to control his environment with omnipresent cameras?
Very interesting questions. Especially since we've seen her fight to be 'behind the camera' as the viewer not the viewed before--in that brief sojourn to Paris. But I do wonder whether part of Lana enjoys being objectified, or at least if she still thinks she can strike some balance--draw some lines but also have intimacy with someone. I found it really interesting that the ep explored the distancing between Lex and Lana--it makes me wonder about HIM and wonder if he's deliberately keeping her at a distance still--he's more comfortable with viewing her from afar than true intimacy?

Queen is being set up to deliberately parallel Lex
Oh, yeah, for SURE! I love that!!

Is Queen's characterization going to be closer to Lex's or Clark's? And what will each learn from him (or interactions with him) about heroism or villainy?
Yes, I will be very very interested to see that. For me, this was the episode that explored the Lexian aspects of Oliver. I suspect we will have an episode that explores the Clarkian side (total guess). I can't wait. *bounces*

[identity profile] norwich36.livejournal.com 2006-10-07 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)
it makes me wonder about HIM and wonder if he's deliberately keeping her at a distance still--he's more comfortable with viewing her from afar than true intimacy?

That's a really good point. We've never actually seen Lex in a relationship in which he wasn't (a) under some sort of external compulsion (Desiree) or (b) pursuing some sort of hidden agenda (Victoria, Helen). Maybe this is actually a sign that he cares for Lana: he's uncomfortable getting really close to her, because it would actually require letting her in in a way he hasn't ever done before?

Of course, there's also a slashy reading of his distance from Lana!

Yeah, I am so excited about the possibilities of Queen's character. I'm not as excited about the actor himself as you were in your review (I mean, he's fine as an actor--he doesn't do a lot for me personally), but what he means both for canon and fanon development is making me happy.

[identity profile] bop-radar.livejournal.com 2006-10-08 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
Yes... there's definitely a slashy reading of his distance from Lana, as there was with his distance from Helen, but I've always felt Lex let his guard down more with Helen than anyone else, and I didn't really feel he initially had a hidden agenda with her. For me, Lex post-Helen will never offer someone the truly open access that he offered Helen: he showed her his soul in a way in showing her the CoCK, and she rejected that. He'll always guard himself against that in the future.

Maybe this is actually a sign that he cares for Lana: he's uncomfortable getting really close to her, because it would actually require letting her in in a way he hasn't ever done before?
Yes fear and desire are linked I think--they often are in the SV universe. I'm going to watch the boundary setting and breaking in that relationship with great interest!

Oh, that's interesting--you like the character not the actor so much. Fair enough. I think he does very well in this type of universe/show, with the sort of lines he's given. On the 'Thirst' commentary (which I still mean to write about at some stage), Al&Miles talk about how important it is to play against the camp in order to pull it off--and this actor seems to already know how to do that. It's so true of SV--and MR in particular--it's played so straight, so seriously, that the camp works rather than becomes an embarrassment.
ciaan: (different eyes)

[personal profile] ciaan 2006-10-10 12:17 am (UTC)(link)
Since I'm rewatching mid/late S2 right now, I've just seen some of the dangers of voyeurism as enacted both by and on Lex in Insurrection and other episodes. He's watched by Lionel, which gives Lionel power over him. So he attempts to watch Lionel back to gain power himself. This is what leads to him seeing Helen speaking to lioenl, and that makes her angry at him. She leaves, and he looses love to pwoer, and has to give up that power to regain love. I haven't yet gotten back up to where he shows her the COCK, but that again is giving up his power to try to get love. Then when Clark sees the COCK, it's like when Helen saw the pictures of her with Lionel, and he leaves. But it was also Lionel who gave Clark the key to the COCK, and Lionel who approached Helen, figuring either she would take the money and go or Lex would learn about it and throw her out. Lionel who was, at that point, pretending to be blind, so that he could gain power by seeing what others thought he couldn't.

[identity profile] norwich36.livejournal.com 2006-10-10 05:36 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, I hadn't thought about "blind" Lionel as the ultimate voyeur--very interesting. And you're right, there's the whole bugging story line, and the CoCK storyline. You're making me wish I hadn't loaned out my s2 DVDs to a friend I'm trying to get into SV.