Reading Power Through the Camera: Gender Representation, Trauma, and Resistance in the Short Film Hotspot
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37278/artcomm.v9i1.1467Keywords:
Gender Representation, Male Gaze, Sexual Harassment, Feminist Film Theory, Indonesian Independent FilmAbstract
This study analyzes how the Indonesian independent short film Hotspot constructs representations of sexual harassment, power relations, and female resistance through visual and narrative structures. Drawing on Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory, bell hoo ks's feminist critique of objectification, Michel Foucault's conception of power as relational practice, and Bordwell and Thompson's film theory, the study employs qualitative close-reading analysis at the scene and shot level, combined with feminist discourse analysis. Findings show that sexual harassment is represented through digital messages, tight framing, and nonverbal expressions of distress, while power dynamics manifest through the perpetrator's symbolic dominance, the victim's silence, and the structural vulnerability of female interns. Resistance emerges through solidarity, the act of recording, and a shift in aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9—marking a transition from confinement to the public sphere. This study contributes to Indonesian film studies by establishing a feminist analytical framework for independent short films and demonstrating how audiovisual texts produce systems of meaning regarding power, trauma, and gender-based violence.
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