The end of Electricity @ Wembley Arena, 12.04.2014
In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness. Woman displayed as sexual object is the leit-motif of erotic spectacleMulvey, Laura (1975) Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, in Screen, 16.3, p. 11
It is no secret that Charlotte Wessels is an exquisite vocalist. Any Delain track can demonstrate both her ability and her expressiveness; and such qualities were in abundance during the band's outstanding performance at Wembley Arena last week. Moreover, Charlotte is extraordinary in terms of her critical perception of the objectification of women artists by the music industry, not least of all given her background in gender studies. In other words, she is much more than meets 'the eye', that is to say the male gaze. In a recent interview with FaceCulture on the band's new album The Human Contradiction, Charlotte set the terms of reference as follows (2.50-6.05):
Army of Dolls is [...] explicitly [...] about objectification, the kind of standard that you are supposed to fit, in order [...] not even to be considered perfect or pretty, but just normal. This is nothing new, but within a normative society I think that it puts a lot of pressure [...] especially [on] girls. And this is something that was from direct personal experience [...] because of course the entertainment industry is filled with these kinds of expectations. When we were promoting We Are the Others, a song about being able to be who you are regardless of whether you kind of conform to whatever norm you feel is put upon you, [...] we did a photo-shoot, and I got the photos back and they photoshopped me half my size. And I was like, how stupid can you be to think that you can get away with a move like that, when we are working on a song which is about being ok with who you are. So, I made a big riot and I got my own legs back and everything. These are the types of things [...] it is really frustrating to see and also to hear the comments I got back then, which were really in the vein of 'if you say we cannot photoshop your body, you will get a problem with your label' [...] People think that these things happen in beauty magazines [...] but we're doing metal [...], even there it is that bad. So, Army of Dolls is dedicated to that strange norm, and dedicated to crushing it, basically.
How do you look into the mirror
When you’re too tired to fake a smile
Your misery won’t make you look thinner
Reality is bitter
It’s your hand and yours alone that has opened
The door to let their voices in
Into your head, under your skin
Fix your face or you will never fit in
Do you want me, do you want me
To burst your bubble now
Do you want me
I will break it, make it loud
Do you want me, do you want me
To break the paradigm
These rules were made by us
They break you up inside
Army of dolls stole your reflection
Army of dolls stole all your perfect imperfections
Just shut them out, don’t let them in
Into our head, do you really think
Misery tastes so much sweeter
Served with a perfect smile
Do you want me, do you want me
To burst your bubble now
Do you want me
I will break it, make it loud
Do you want me, do you want me
To break the paradigm
These rules were made by us
They break you up inside
Don’t you look into the mirror
Army of dolls made you so bitter
Make-up magpul follow the leader
Never have seen a face much sweeter
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