The Back of the Image. Harun Farocki and the Playboy Paradigm

Since the entry into circulation of An Imagen, the medium-length film shot by Harun Farocki at the Playboy photographic studio in Munich, the interpretations that have been appearing on this film are diverse. In considering the gender perspective, this essay proposes a different way of traversing its images, investigating questions such as the creation of the male and heterosexual sexual imaginary and the denial of the «woman fact» in sexual representations, the analysis of relations of power between sexes, or the sexualization of the industry. Finally, recalling two famous cases in the audiovisual field, Chantal Akerman’s cinema, and Femme Productions with Candida Royalle as the main leader, we observe the potential of an erotic or pornographic industry where women can invent their own history, body, desire, identity.