Angela Carter Symposium



I spoke at an Angela Carter Symposium in University of Exeter before christmas. It was a great conference, there was real enthusiam for the subject and the atmosphere was relaxed enough that people felt comfortable to speak. Both of which made for lively discussion.

I screened the video piece, I get it 5 times a day and discussed in it in the context of the literary construction of the gaze in Carter's 'The Bloody Chamber'. There were some very interesting comments on the work. Paricularly interesting to screen the work to an entirely female, and I assume feminist audience.

Charlotte Croft commented that she felt uncomfortable, due to the disorientating effect of the mirror - before even consdiering gender issues. (As a film maker, she was able to detect this)There was also comments that an uncomfortable feeling was evoked because the viewer knew the kind of (controlling? erotic? masculinsed?) gaze that they were subejcting me to. (Informed by the feminist knowledge of that particular audience).