Outlander's tactile caress: a multisensory romance. Issue 5 (3rd September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bellas, Athena
• Is Part Of: Continuum. Volume 33:Issue 5(2019)
• Page Start: 507
• Page End: 524
• Publication Date: 2019-09-03
• Subjects: Outlander -- haptics -- GIFs -- sex scenes -- female gaze; Motion pictures -- Australia -- Periodicals; Broadcasting -- Australia -- Periodicals; Mass media -- Periodicals; 306.05
• DOI: 10.1080/10304312.2019.1641584
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1030-4312

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Much of the existing literature on Outlander emphasises its prioritisation of a female gaze. This is important to discussions of shifting representations of gender and sex in contemporary television. In this paper, however, I consider how the lush tactility of 'The Wedding' episode's sex scenes forms a potentially feminist sensuous aesthetic. Techniques like high contrast lighting, caressing gestures, extended shot duration, heavy use of extreme close-ups, slow panning camera-work, and a rich, warm colour palette, encourage a fleshy spectatorial encounter with the image. The purpose of this paper is to theorise this carnal dimension of engaging with Outlander .