Rewatching Superbad: Point of View, The Gaze, and Formal Analysis

For discussion on Thursday, 10.17, rewatch Superbad with an eye toward how the film establishes point of view. Take careful notes on how the camera shows you what characters see, and blog about that rewatching here.

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Rewatching Superbad: Point of View, The Gaze, and Formal Analysis — 15 Comments

  1. The camera essentially presents a look that defines the film. In Superbad, the camera portrays how women are looked at with a gaze that objectifies women as objects of desire. The gaze of the camera presents the point of view of Seth and Evan, in which the illusion is created that the camera is a human eye and controls the perception of subjects. Women are inherently objectified, in which Evan and Seth’s points of view are centrally focused on their scopophilic view of women. The women become the gaze of not only Seth and Evan, but also the audience, to which they are sexualized and put on display. Not only does the camera solely portray the point of view of Seth and Evan, it suggests that this is the gaze of most of the men in and out of the film. There are two distinct incidents that present this concept, including Seth looking at Evan’s mom and Fogell looking at Monica. In both scenes, the camera highlights the scopophilic view of women as the center of the gaze is Evan’s mom’s boobs and Monica’s thong. Both points of view represent how the camera is forcing you to objectify women in the point of view of the boys, directing the audience to focus on certain characters that present the scopophilic pleasure. Such objectification is overly emphasized so that the audience clearly knows where to look, to which the film plays upon the audience’s scopophilic instinct and ego libido.

  2. Even though I have seen Superbad numerous times, I noticed some hidden nuances that pertained to the gaze. At the beginning of the movie I noticed that Seth was staring at Evan’s mother’s chest. The producers of Superbad were very clever with camera placement in this scene because they brought the camera to Seth’s eye level. As a result, we as viewers were able to see through Seth’s line of vision. This use of camera placement creates the allusion that we as viewers are participating in Seth’s gaze of Evan’s mother. Another instance that I noticed clever camera placement in order to enhance the effect of the gaze was when Fogul was staring at Annika’s thong. When I was watching this scene, the “mobility” of the camera synched with Fogul walking while looking at the thong. This gave the scene a very realistic feel and I was fully immersed in Fogul’s gaze of Annika’s thong. The Camera angles in Superbad help to eliminate reflexivity. As a result Superbad builds a fourth wall and the viewer “becomes” the characters within the movie. Since the viewer is so immersed in the events in the movie, the viewer is able to have the point of view of the characters in Superbad. As a result we can infer what the characters are thinking during a specific shot. The ambiguity of the thoughts of the characters during shots such as Seth looking at Evan’s mother is a result of the polysemic style of Superbad.

  3. Firstly, I would just like to say this response has been the hardest to write about. But here is my best effort, so here we go. Right off the bat in the scene when they talk to Evan’s mom the camera angle has her bending over and clearly reveling her breasts to the viewers. This angle gives the sense that the only thing Seth is looking at or even thinking about is her boobs. The camera shot’s portrayal of Evan’s mom is trying to show us in that scene that in Seth’s eyes that is all she is, “eye-candy”. The second best scene to look at is when Fogell is walking down the hallway looking at Nicola’s thong from behind. The camera angle is shot from above as if it was Fogell’s eyes. The shot is looking down, the low camera angle is showing how she is possibly being degraded. I think the purpose of this camera shot/ angle was to show just how pretty much everything a high school guy thinks about is hooking up with a girl. This shot is like the director’s way of showing what Fogell wants without him saying it out loud. Alright, this is harder than I thought.

  4. Obviously the filming of Superbad is based on the portrayal of women in a sexual way. I completely agree with Arielle in her observations that Seth and Evan’s point of view is focused entirely on their scopophilic view on females. After watching with a more in depth view than before I realized that the camera never displays the point of view of any women in the show. At first I watched Superbad as a movie created solely for the entertainment of men. However after understanding terms like voyerism and scopophilia it became apparent to me that the film was made based on the main characters quest for masculinity. While women may not be able to relate to the Seth and Evan’s desire to reach manhood, surely they can understand their reasoning when lusting after women the way that they do. Also I find it interesting that women are not the only things lusted after when the camera is in the point of view of the males in the show. For example when Seth is walking through the party before he goes to Jules, his gaze is not just on the females in the party but also on the potential for male camaraderie and the possibility to acquire alcohol. While it can be debated that their desire for alcohol was needed solely for their ultimate goal of getting women, I believe that the participating in adulthood behavior like drinking has the same affect on young men as getting women for the progressing towards manhood. Without question the camera views in Superbad give a somewhat realistic view of what males look at when progressing into masculinity yet is still extremely overly stereotypical.

  5. Upon reviewing Superbad for the second time, I do admit that there were some things that I noticed that I did not before, for I looked less at the story of the film and more towards themes of it and the director’s subtle nuances that he put into the movie. The first one, which is quite apparent, is when Seth looks at Evan’s mom’s chest. It is the first example of the gaze that we see in the movie, and shows us a clear vantage point from Seth’s eyes. The gaze shows us what part of the woman is important to Seth, how the most prominent feature of the women to Seth is the breasts, which shows that Seth cares more about the physical aspects of the woman than the emotional and psychological. The second use of the gaze was when Fogul was staring at Annika’s thong, as it gave us a direct insight into how Fogul viewed Annika. This whole concept of the gaze used in the movie is designed to show how objectified women are by these boys (and perhaps boys in general), which is the universal statement that the director is trying to make. I deeply respect the director for making this type of statement in such a subtle way, but I really have to question whether the way he covers it in his movies (Judd Apatow, the director, is known for his lewd films) is really the best way to approach it.

  6. As I now know after re-watching Superbad a second time, camera angles make up a big part of the overall points of view and stereotypes within the movie. Most of the camera angles are from the point of view of a man’s eyes staring at one or a group of women. The men are almost never looking at the girls’ faces. The only thing they can keep their eyes focused on is a girl’s chest, or her butt. Not only is the chest and butt the only thing the guys can look at, but the camera angles also show these angles from the male’s eye level. The camera angles make it obvious that the male is staring right at the girl. One example of this is when Seth is in the driver’s seat of a car staring at Evan’s mom. It is obvious that we are seeing this from Seth’s gaze. The only thing he is paying any attention to in this moment is Evan’s mom’s chest. In Superbad, we see many different angles of the same type of “gaze” of a man looking at a women in a degrading way as if she is just a piece of meat for entertainment.

  7. Some of the point of views in the film were very obvious and deliberate by ways of camera placement and camera angles. One obvious point of view I noticed was in the beginning of the film when the camera panned in and zoomed directly to Becca’s chest, as seen through the point of view of Evan. I believe the producers were very blatant and obvious when utilizing point of view and camera placement in the scenes in which women were objectified. We also get a view of the different parties the boys attend, specifically through the view of Seth and Fogell. Their views of the what was going on at the parties was essentially identical, mostly a slow motion effect of the girls dancing in front of them. There were other times in the movie in which point of view was merely on the outside, or I wasn’t really sure what point of view the audience was supposed to view the scene from. I am also somewhat confused on the different aspects of point of view of the camera. Can point of view only be directly viewed through the character’s eyes or can the camera even be placed behind the character and still be assumed that it is that specific character’s point of view?

  8. Camera angles are indeed a very important part of a viewer’s watching experience in a movie. From the first watching of Superbad, I already noticed a few things but after distinctly paying attention to POV, I have a few more things to say. From the get go it is apparent that women are highly sexualized in the film, both to Seth and Evan and in addition, us as the viewers. The camera pans in on body parts of the female, demonstrating Seth and Evan’s high interest. They are clearly objectifying women, treating them more as an object to be enjoyed for entertainment rather than a human being.

  9. After re watching this movie and focusing more on the point of views of the characters inside the movie, I could get a better understanding of the characterization of the characters. For example when Seth couldn’t stop himself from drawing all these penis drawings, it shows just a little bit of his personality that he has been addicted to sex related things since a young age. This point is strengthened by another scene in the movie when the producers used Seth’s point of view when he was starring at Evan’s mom. From how the camera is set up in this scene, it is obvious that the producers want us to feel as if we are Seth due to the fact that we are literally placed in Seth’s viewpoint. This somehow makes us understand more of the characterization of Seth in which to him, women are only an object that is being looked at, because we are actually placed in his position. From how this point of view is used in this scene, it also builds the connection of the characters in the movie with the viewers watching it and shows just what the producers want us to feel from watching this movie; that women are being seen as just an object rather than a human being.

  10. After watching Superbad again I was able to notice the different camera angles that were used and what they mean. I like to believe that every way a scene is shot has a meaning, but in this film I thought the camera work was pretty basic because I thought the only shots with much meaning are the ones that objectify women. For example, towards the beginning of the film, Seth is staring at Evan’s mom’s breasts and the camera is in the first person from Seth’s point of view. This angle shows how Seth views women, as objects, rather than as actual human beings. However, Seth is not the only character who is like this. A similar camera angle is used when Foggel is walking down the school hallway looking at Nikola. It is a first person camera shot like the last one and gives the same message. Fogell is showed staring at her thong which means that he has a similar way of viewing women as Seth. I think the director is trying to say that all high school boys objectify women like this, even though I do not believe that too be true. I do not know if the director is trying to get the audience to dislike these boys because of the way they view women. It is hard to tell if he believes that it is good thing or bad thing. However, I think that he thinks that this is just the way things are.

  11. Viewing Superbad the first time, I never payed attention to the gaze and how many times that women were objectified by the camera. Reviewing the film, I was able to focus on the “gazing” concept and I was able to notice when and where this objectification took place. In the scene where the camera focuses on the mothers breasts and Annica’s thong, it shows how the director wanted the viewers to see what fogel and Seth were thinking. The camera angles expressed what they were thinking and how they viewed women simply through that specific view. Now that I know about gazing, I will definitely now implement this concept into the way i view movies.

  12. Watching superbad the second time through was so interesting. The first time watching the film, I had never seen it and I just thought it was goofy, inappropriate, and quite funny. Watching it the second time through keeping in mind the idea of the “gaze” really opened up new areas of the film. To start, it was very clear that we, as viewers, were being forced to look at certain images. For instance, the image of Evan’s mother’s breasts. We see this through the perspective of Seth’s eyes, and the audience is forced to see what he sees through the highlighting of the foreground, as well as the fact that the breasts are centered on the screen. Another place this happens is Annaka’s thong. We see from Fogul’s POV her behind, and it is blatantly centered in the screen for the viewer. The only thing to focus on is her thong. In a way, this forces objectivism down the throat of the consumer. However, I do not think it is overpowering from the entertainment of the film because my first time watching the film, I didn’t catch the “gaze” and the ideas it puts in the audience’s head.

  13. Re-watching Superbad for the second time, I noticed more of how the scenes were set up, and how the producers tried to convey the point of view of Seth, Evan, and Fogel. Interestingly enough, the camera angles, lighting,and the placement of people in the frames really dictated the way we as an audience viewed the story. We were “forced” to gaze at whatever Seth, Evan, or Fogel was looking at (whether it be Evan’s mom, Becca, or Seth being Seth) and because of that, we easily could see where their minds were at with no words. I did notice that over the course of the movie (and especially at the end), the “gaze” of the characters seemed to change from pure objectification of everyone to something deeper and more “mature”. Seth and Evan seemed to grasp and accept the fact that they were at the stage where they needed to grow up and face the world, and in doing so, they also needed to start respecting and truly appreciating their other halves (the girls and possibly even each other in a way).

  14. For the second time around, i can definitely see where the camera was headed and where it wanted us to look. Not just at the breast and thongs of the objectified females but trough the point of view of seth and there other boys. The gaze is definitely blatant and thrown right at the audience. Unfortunately not everyone can interpret or point it out without prior knowledge as to what it is. The camera captured the process of objectification in its various angles as well as the composition used in highlighting certain areas of the body. I thought that looking for the gaze in this movie was pretty obvious and i look forward to “gazing” into other film for this dynamic.

  15. After rewatching Superbad and taking notes on the point of view and the gaze, I noticed some things I hadn’t before. One is that the camera often films from the point of view of perspective of Seth and Evan. In one of the first scenes with Seth and Evan talking to Evan’s Mom, the camera focuses on Evan’s Mom’s chest like how Seth’s eyes would. Later in the movie when they are at the party with older people, Evan is in a room with men who are doing cocaine. The we see the room from Evan’s perspective. Another thing I noticed about the camera shots was how they objectify women. A lot of the time the camera angle focuses on specific parts of the female characters like the chest or butt. In the scene where Fogul follows Annika down the hall and stares at her thong, the audience has no choice but to stare at her thong as well because that is the only thing in focus in the frame. Another scene where this occurs is in class when Evan is staring at Becca. He stares at her face first, so the camera does a close shot of her face, then the camera moves down as Evan’s eyes do to focus on her breasts.