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Female Agency and Technological Surveillance in Domestic Settings: A Review of 'Don't Worry Darling'

Introduction

Susitna Voduru’s presentation focuses on female agency and technological surveillance within domestic settings, using the 2022 psychological thriller, Don't Worry Darling, as a case study. The presentation roadmap includes:

  1. Introduction and importance of the research

  2. Methods

  3. Findings and analysis

  4. Conclusion, future research directions, and implications

Three Domains

The research is rooted in three domains:

  1. Technological surveillance

  2. Gender dynamics

  3. Domestic settings

Few studies combine all three domains, especially regarding everyday household activities. This gap, combined with a personal interest in film, led to the central research question:

  • How does Don't Worry Darling depict female agency and technological surveillance within its domestic setting, and what does this depiction reveal about the film's commentary of control versus agency?

Understanding the intersection of gender, power, and technology is crucial, especially with advancements like AI assistance and Ring doorbell cameras. Film serves as a marker of historical progression and societal expectations, especially for marginalized communities.

Foundational Concepts

Key concepts informing the film study:

  1. Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory: Women in film are often portrayed as objects for male pleasure rather than autonomous beings.

  2. Foucault's Panopticon Theory: A metaphor for a prison system where prisoners are watched, creating psychological effects of surveillance even when unwatched.

  3. Feminist Dystopias: Understanding the genre through examples like The Handmaid's Tale and The Stepford Wives.

Research Methodology

The chosen method was a film content analysis which is a qualitative approach that examines a film's themes, symbols, and messages to derive deeper meaning and societal commentary. Don't Worry Darling is set in a 1950s-style victory project area, a virtual reality system entrapping women in a domestic fantasy. The film follows Alice and Jack, where Jack goes to work while Alice performs household chores. Alice experiences glitches in the system, leading to visions of her life as a medical professional and her husband as an unemployed, insecure man, revealing that he entrapped her in the system. The research aims to determine how the film uses surveillance to comment on gender dynamics in domestic settings.

The hypothesis was:

  • If domestic spaces in Don't Worry Darling were designed for control, then surveillance will consistently appear where female agency is most threatened.

Research Process

  1. Multiple viewings of the film.

  2. Detailed notes including visuals and dialogue.

  3. Coding of scenes based on descriptions.

Primary Data Coding Tool

A Google Sheets was used with five columns:

  1. Scene number (48 scenes).

  2. Timestamp.

  3. Codes.

  4. Descriptions.

  5. Evidence and justifications for code applications.

Codes

  1. CO (Control and Oppression): Instances where a woman's actions were dictated by external forces.

  2. S (Surveillance): Constant surveillance due to the virtual reality system.

  3. FA (Female Agency): Instances where a woman makes her own choices autonomously.

  4. RS (Resistance and Subversion): Actions directly opposing the control and oppression.

  5. PDS (Private and Domestic Spaces): Encompassing households where surveillance is unexpected.

Subjectivity was a significant issue due to the lack of director's direct intent and the inability to access audience intent across socio-economic communities. The interpretation of themes by men was also a lapse.

Findings and Analysis

Bar Chart

The bar chart displays the frequency of each code's appearance in the film. Surveillance (S) and Control and Oppression (CO) were the most frequent, while Resistance and Subversion (RS) was the least frequent.

Code Co-occurrence Heat Map

The heat map shows the overlap of codes within scenes. Private and Domestic Spaces (PVS) and Control and Oppression (CO) had the darkest color, indicating frequent co-occurrence. This mirrors real-world instances of oppression and gender-based violence in seemingly autonomous spaces.

Main Themes

  1. Male-Controlled Utopia vs. Female Resistance: The Victory project was created for men, portraying women as passive. Alice's growing awareness of her past life as a medical professional leads her to break free from the system.

  2. Role of Surveillance in Domestic Entrapment: Connecting to the Panopticon theory, technology is used to keep women complacent. Alice's hallucinations signify her breaking the programming, leading to autonomy.

  3. Illusion of Choice: Women believe they want to be housewives, but Alice had a successful career. Her husband, insecure with his own profession, entrapped her in this domestic fantasy.

Conclusion

Don't Worry Darling critiques female agency and technological surveillance by weaving together the three domains and reflecting modern anxieties about technology. Key findings include:

  1. Victory as a controlled utopia mirrors patriarchal control systems.

  2. Surveillance reinforces gender-based oppression and violence.

  3. The illusion of agency mirrors real-world gender dynamics as technology evolves.

Media consumers should understand how gender is portrayed in film (referencing Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory). Technology developers should act ethically, and marginalized communities should detect patterns of surveillance and break free from oppressive systems.

Future Research

Future research should explore how different groups interpret these themes and compare them with other movies such as The Handmaid's Tale and The Stepford Wives to understand the genre better. This allows to see what they're trying to say about society.

Q&A

Research Method Impact

Initially, there were 15 codes, which were later condensed into five themes for clarity and efficiency. Distilling the codes made the research more understandable to a general audience.

Addressing Scholarly Gaps

The research intersects three domains, contributing to the conversation on technology and gender-based violence. It focuses on how violence can be perpetuated through film and technologies like virtual reality systems.

Most Important Research Skill

Learning the qualitative approach to research and grasping the coding process has been very important. This is applicable to various topics, like social media, film, and books. Also the attention to detail when combining various themes and presenting the final research.