Freedom as a Mirage: Sexual Commodification in Harold Pinter's Films

Luce Irigaray's mimesis is a political action born out of the recognition that women's position in society is based upon the ideal image of masculinity. It is, thus, a strategy that aims to articulate the specific position of women within the phallocentric culture in order to destabilize the foundations of this culture. Three of Harold Pinter's film adaptations--Accident (1967), The Go-Between (1971), and Betrayal (1983)--portray women in intricate relationships with men; consequently, the women are seen by some critics as liberated, yet ultimately, they are commodified. When it comes to the institution of marriage, Irigaray's mimesis theory together with a broad-spectrum feminist critique, see this 'liberation' as a mirage. Keywords: Harold Pinter / mimesis / commodification / patriarchy / power / sexual
THREE SHADES OF COMMODIFICATION Luce Irigaray uses theater terminology to represent women's oppression in the patriarchal social order. In Speculum of the Other Woman, she compares the philosophical discourse to [...]