Strange Days (1995)
In âWhite Privilege and Looking Relations: Race and Gender in Feminist Film Theory, â Jane Gaines argues that the white female image is related to objectification, fetishization, and symbolic absence while the black female is linked to a representation of symbolic resistance and the 'paradox of not being.' In Kathryn Bigelowâs Strange Days, we can clearly observe the distinction between the white female image and the black female image mentioned above. For instance, in the scene where Mace is caught by the police officers who are trying to destroy the copy of a video she has, she is beaten up by the two officers without any objectification of the female figure. The way she is beaten up is similar to the classical way that the badass âmale heroâ is beaten up. This particular scene can be contrasted to the ones of the white female figures been physically assaulted where thereâs always objectification and sexualization such as in Irisâ murder. Additionally, the scene where Mace is beaten up by the police officers, the audience sees how the black crowd in the background reacts almost immediately to defend her which is a clear representation of the resistance of the black community as mentioned by Gaines. Â













