Sexual comedy is one of the most universal and popular genres of comedy in cinema.
It's something pretty much every adult can relate to and has the potential for big laughs. While
often used for comedic effect, I want to look at how sexual imagery, specifically phallic
symbols, can be used to achieve dramatic effects. Filmmakers can use phallic symbols to tremendously
contribute to the visual storytelling of a film.
Penis shapes are everywhere, and while not always acknowledged, there’s no doubt that skyscrapers
guns
or even a pipe
can be treated as phallic symbols. Psychologist Sigmund
Freud is famous for theorizing that we notice these objects are phallic on a subconscious
level. In a similar way of thinking, filmmakers use phallic symbols in place of actual sex
to get a subconscious emotional reaction from the viewer.
The simplest and most noticeable use of a phallic symbol is to imply sex. In film, sex
is more often implied than actually shown, especially with strict censorship during the
Golden Age of Cinema that banned showing sex on screen, so instead of actual sex, we see
sex represented in a phallic object.
The object can be anything, from a bedpost in The Birth of a Nation, a train entering a
tunnel in North by Northwest, a man pumping gas into a woman’s car in Written on the
Wind, or a gun in Bonnie and Clyde. Through a phallic symbol, we see there’s some kind
of sexual relationship or desired sexual relationship between the two characters.
Another common form of phallic symbol is to show masculinity. A gun is a powerful phallic
symbol that indicates the masculinity of a character. A big gun means you’re manly,
and the heroes in classic action movies seem to always have ridiculously sized weapons.
And if a girl has a big gun, we know she’s reversing
gender roles and taking on masculine qualities. Small guns, on the other hand, are a sign
of weakness or vulnerability.
The gun size issue even gets addressed in the James Bond
film Dr. No. As a spy, Bond has to conceal a small gun, but the film makes it clear that
it’s still manly. Another example is Written on the Wind. When Kyle threatens Mitch with
a pistol, the small size of the gun further reinforces the idea that Kyle is cowardly,
weak, and feminine. He doesn’t appear threatening with such a small weapon. This parallels nicely
with the fact that Kyle is impotent and so he’s missing a major aspect of being a man.
Phallic symbols can also be used to convey domination and control. We see this symbolism
hyperbolically in A Clockwork Orange. A Clockwork Orange conveys the idea that if you can expose
someone sexually, you have complete and utter domination over them. So when Alex wears a
phallic mask and beats the couple with a phallic stick or uses a phallic statue to toy with
an old lady, he’s asserting his complete control over them. It shows that to physically
dominate someone is to also sexually dominate someone. Sex and violence go hand in hand.
Phallic symbols aid the visual storytelling of the film because they help show Alex go
from dominating to being dominated. He goes from overpowering everyone
to literally being squished by authority.
Alien uses phallic symbols to convey fear. The writer of the film intentionally made
Alien contain rape imagery to make the film more terrifying.
The parallels between the alien attacks and real-life rape make the alien
attacks more horrific. Getting raped is a scary thing, and the writers use the horrors
of rape to make the alien a scarier villain. The design of the alien is very phallic, and
the set pieces look equally as phallic and vaginal. This design was done very intentionally
by set designer H.R. Giger.
From the erect mouth inside alien, to the face-huger laying eggs orally,
to the phallic chest buster, the whole alien is phallic
but instead of using phallic symbols to show manliness or domination, Alien uses phallic symbols to
show us being sexually dominated by the alien. The phallic symbols evoke terror by making
the humans sexual victims to the alien. The phallic symbols add to visual storytelling
in the film by making the alien attacks visually and emotionally similar to sexual assault.
Phallic symbols work even when they’re subtle. A film like The Social Network is a perfect
opportunity to use phallic symbols because the whole film revolves around the fight for
power, sex, and high social status. The Winklevoss twins take Mark Zuckerburg to their final
club house as a way to show off their high status and power in order to help convince
Mark to work for them. They offer him a sandwich to further show off their luxuries, and the
way it’s presented to him is just so… oddly phallic. And then he holds it like this…
and then after Mark questions their idea and internally thinks of a better one, he holds
the sandwich like this. Is it just a coincidence? Maybe. But maybe not.
There’s definitely a point where the analysis of phallic symbols becomes overkill. Sigmund
Freud once said, “Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar.” Not everything that looks
phallic has some sexual meaning. But when used intentionally, a phallic symbol can be
a powerful visual that adds meaning to what’s happening on screen. So the next time you
watch a film with your friends and notice a phallic symbol, feel free to point it out,
just don’t be a huge dick about it.
Thanks for watching.