Lola, Spectatorship, And Cabaret In The Blue Angel Analysis

​The treatment of Lola in terms of how the camera represents her further emphasizes the male discontent of the Weimar Republic in the way the mise en scene reduces her character to an image. Additionally, it is clear that the male gaze is the lens that Lola’s presence embodies as is articulated in Jennifer Williams’s article “Gazes In Conflict: Lola Lola, Spectatorship, and Cabaret in The Blue Angel” where she states: “capturing a gaze, the body becomes inscribed with the cultural anxieties that motivate the gaze”. In fact, Lola’s characterization as a cabaret performer codes the male gaze in that fact itself as her role is to perform for (mainly) male patrons, tempt their desires, and then act on said desires. Her “image” is built up throughout

the film, most notably in the many shots of Lola that just show her from waist down. When Lola is performing the first number of the film, one of the earliest shots that is shown of her is a medium shot just of her stocking-clad legs performing on stage as she sings “They call me Naughty Lola…”. These sexualized images are frequent throughout the film, especially in moments that take place in her dressing room. The male gaze is further encouraged in the way that her image is really reduced to just that: an image. Countless times, Lola’s figure is shown on postcards, posters, etc., all of which the camera lingers on and makes a point of emphasizing throughout the film. The first time the audience ‘meets’ Lola, in the opening shot, is via a poster of her cabaret show that hangs on a street corner. Therefore, Lola is framed from the outset as a literal image to be consumed. In a very similar note, the first time Rath sees Lola, it is not in person but rather on a postcard that he confiscates from one of his students. Rath holds it in his hands and the camera focuses on the image of Lola’s postcard, which has three-dimensional “frills” in place of her skirt. Rath looks around to make sure no one is watching before he blows at the frills, making the skirt twirl up, and exposing her legs. Here, the male gaze is in full effect as he controls her image in a way that satisfies him. While the male gaze is set up and plays a significant role throughout the film, its power is ultimately usurped by Lola herself. The disruption of such an established power structure is a direct response to the historical reality of Weimar women, who were feared to be gaining too much dominance. Lola’s hijacking of the male gaze is most evident through shot-reverse-shot editing that occurs in scenes when she is performing. By controlling the gaze of the diegetic audience that she performs for, she is also controlling the gaze of the live audience, an important connection to note when analyzing the historical context and the implications that may have on this film. Feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey suggests that camera and editing techniques are the most important mechanisms when it comes to asserting the relationship of power on-screen and, as Lola claims it through shot-reverse-shot, she is disrupting the “omnipotence of phallocentric scopophilia”. Such examples of the shot-reverse-shot being used in this manner include the previously discussed scene of Lola’s first on-screen cabaret performance. Later on in this sequence, she changes into a costume that has a full skirt in the front and, when she turns around, almost no skirt in the back. The first reveal of Lola is from the perspective of the audience, as she dances and flirts on stage, suggestively shaking her hips. Then, there is a cut to a reverse shot of a group of young men who ogle the desirable Lola from offstage. This reverse shot shows the reaction of the audience from the perspective of Lola.

She then is able to play off of their reactions in the next shot, which cuts back to her onstage and, now knowing the extent of the allure she has, uses it to further tease the audience members as she turns her backside towards them and reveals her bloomers. The control that Lola asserts in such shot-reverse-shot edits unravels the “primacy of the male perspective” and allows her to hijack the gaze. It is also rather interesting to note that Heinrich Mann’s 1905 novel, Professor Unrat, which the film bases itself on, is told entirely from the perspective of the male protagonist Rath. It would be remiss to ignore this significant change regarding which character occupies narrative control as it relates to the release dates of these two associated works. While the novel was published in 1905, pre World War I, the film was released in the years following the war and, thus, reflects certain historical realities and anxieties of the people. Therefore, it makes sense that the filmic reimagining of this pre-war text would give control to the female character in order to emphasize the prevailing anxiety regarding the upgraded status of women in Weimar society via the

workplace.