Moulin Rouge: How Satine
Within the film Moulin Rouge the character of Satine is defined by her relationship with men and their behavior towards her. The audience is made aware of how each male character, and their personal views and relations with Satine ultimately alter the image she creates of herself. Harold Zidler, Christian, and the Duke all affect Satine and her development as a character, and thus the way she is represented to the audience. As exemplified in Jackie Stacey’s article “How Do I Look?”, Satine’s character has great influence over the female spectator. Women view themselves through spectatorship, and it is characters like Satine, with her exotic image and sexual behavior, that influence so greatly a women’s self-perception. Satine’s image is represented through the relationships she builds with each of the main male characters. As the owner of the Moulin Rouge, Harold Zidler takes on the role as the father figure to Satine. Zidler and Satine share a special relationship in which they both benefit from the other, and provide support and progression towards fulfilling each of their personal goals. Zidler’s character can be viewed as the epitome of the stereotypical greedy businessman. His exploitation of women and
their bodies for monetary gain and his lack of moral priority lost in the greed of corporate life make up what is Harold Zidler. In a business sense, Satine is Zidler’s greatest asset. As the image of beauty, sex, and desire, Satine, the sparkling diamond of the Moulin Rouge, draws hundreds of men to the show every night. The female spectator may recognize many aspects of Satine’s character that mirror sex symbols of the 20th century. She exemplifies the sexual prowess of Madonna, the beauty of Marilyn Monroe, and Mae West’s talent for seduction. As Stacey wrote, her “feminine ideals are on display to be admired by the women in the cinema audience” (Stacey, 53). Although Zidler seems to control Satine, as the star of the Moulin Rouge it is evident she also has power over him. While he manipulates her with promises of fame and fortune, she manipulates him through the power of her sexuality. Individually they represent great assets to one another, and in turn work together to build the Moulin Rouge into a successful theatre. Although Satine looks to Zidler as a father figure, she also learns to resent him for holding her back from the love she felt for Christian. Yet still she respects his wishes and conforms to her life as a courtesan, the life that Zidler confined her to through manipulation. The last male character we look at is that of Christian, the poet of love, truth, and freedom who is able to separate Satine from her image as a courtesan and look deeper into her character, to uncover the woman within. Christian is clearly a different type of male character than anyone else in the film. He is the only character that does not regard Satine as a commodity and proves this during the scene when Satine mistakes him for the Duke. Although she tries to tempt him with sexual noises and bodily seductions, Christian is able to resist and in turn open her eyes up to true love. At first however she is afraid of love as she has been taught by Zidler and constantly made to believe she is nothing more than a courtesan. During one of the first intimate scenes between Christian and Satine they sing, - Christian: “All you need is love”, Satine: “L
Some topics in this essay:
Moulin Rouge,
MacKinnon Stacey’s,
Christian Satine,
Satine Duke,
Rouge Zidler,
Zidler Satine,
Look” Satine’s,
Duke Christian,
Mae West’s,
Satine Zidler,
moulin rouge,
female spectator,
male character,
love christian,
harold zidler,
christian satine,
father figure,
image satine,
satine’s character,
jackie stacey’s article,
jackie stacey’s,
role father figure,
moulin rouge 2001,
women today’s society,
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Approximate Word count = 1472
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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