Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle: a late night interpretation

Upon watching the first part of Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle, I found it amusing how Barney plays back and forth  between a lingerie group flashing their skirts and what appears to be the lines of the football field, alternating between side to side and top to bottom. His syncing of music is right on for both shots in that they follow a sort of burlesque dance across the stage.His use of camera movement and focal length make it almost feel like the room is breathing and alive. For the most part, we should be able to see this happening a lot in traditional cinema, however we are trained to focus on the actor rather than the room around them in these dramatic swoops of the camera.

From the way Barney is sequencing his shots, it looks like two parties are going on in the opposing blimps. The two colors of grapes are the only distinguishing characteristic between the two rooms. The play on vertical and horizontal lines is a pretty strong theme in his first part as the legs are a huge emphasis in the beginning and at this point. There is the metaphor of the women's legs being as fine as porcelain as they are leaning out the window. This relationship is established during the overhead camera view in which all the legs are horizontal, much like the supporting structure of the centerpiece of the table. The guiding lines of the legs and the centerpiece would lead you side to side to make the comparison for yourself.

In addition to the lines, there is a voyeuristic sort of theme going on in the piece. The women start out as scantily clad and willing to show off what is underneath their skirts. On the blimp however, the dress style of the women appear to be quite prudish, almost like catholic school nuns. There is a lot of peeking at them from under the table, staring at their feet and crossed legs. It almost illustrates the subtle way men look at women when they aren't aware of it.

Barney seems to start a new sequence with the woman under the table. Due to the way she is dressed and the broken music box sort of background ambiance, it feels like we are staring at a broken doll that is laid to rest. I feel like the grapes illustrate a sort of male stimulation in which the movement  conveys a stirring in the loins. The way Barney cuts from the prudish woman to the one under the bed shows, at least to me, that she is harboring some kind of sexual desire that she is keeping under the covers. They constantly stare out the window for the  fear that someone is judging their outer appearance.It looks to me like the football field is masculinity portrayed as a monolith and the women are put on a pedestal way up in the blimps.