White Girl in Asia: Mobility and Self-Realisation in Just Jaeckin’s “Emmanuelle”
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Abstract
From time immemorial, mobility has always played an important part in the lives of individuals. Some have migrated for health issues, some for various social and political ones, and some for a change in their daily routine. In this process, travel has not only fulfilled their primary aims but has also gifted various experiences which have helped them to relook, relearn and reconstruct their identity. Generally, when a Western traveller’s encounter with Asian destinations gets portrayed in the media, many issues arise. Issues like ‘Otherization’, representations, or the Eurocentric gaze create huge buzz among the audience. Especially when the traveller is a female, these issues become more problematic. Things like Voyeurism and male gaze increase the list. Just Jaeckin’s Emmanuelle (1974), loosely based on an autobiographical erotic novel by Emmanuelle Arsan, portrays these issues.
The plot of the book and film features Emmanuelle, a young, rich, and lonely housewife who undertakes a journey from Paris to Thailand and explores different spheres of sexual pleasures. Emmanuelle’s journey is twofold. Firstly, it refers to her sexual mobility, from innocence to experience. Secondly, it shows her spatial journey, her transition from Paris to Thailand, from a studio-like, lonely apartment to the busy markets and a countryside villa. This article attempts to read how mobility transforms Emmanuelle, and how the interaction between global and local has been represented in the movie.
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non–Commercial No Derivatives License which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of the Publisher must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
