The invisibility of the female body in the phallic mountains: "Picnic on the Mysterious Mountain" (1975)

Abstract

Based on discussions that are anchored in reception theorists and the female body and its dimension in literature, this article discusses the filmic narrative of Picnic at the Hanging Mountain (1975), by Peter Weir, adapted from the homonymous novel by Joan Lindsay (1967). The study intends to understand the mythification of the female figure through the effects produced by the cinematographic work of the director in question, having as a counterpoint the figure of the audience and its apprehension to formalize the meaning of the work. Therefore, it is important to highlight the reflections that encompass gender relations in cinema, as, as in other languages, the representation of the feminine almost always alternates between presence and absence, that is, sometimes as an object through a male gaze, sometimes as a faded image when she is the protagonist in the creation of meaning. In contrast, feminist film theory (Rosen, 1973, Mellen, 1974 & Haskell, 1987) has long proposed a new perspective on the space obscured by the social construction of genders. Cinema is an important area for discussions on gender to be established.