Gazing at Medusa: Adaptation as phallocentric dynamics in Blue is the Warmest Colour

Cixous’s ‘The Laugh of Medusa’ calls for a challenge of traditional representations of femininity and prompts women to inscribe their hitherto concealed femininity into the world. Depicting the love and loss experienced by two female characters, Maroh’s Blue is the warmest color provides a narrative sustained by a matrixial Gaze which challenges patriarchal definitions of women. Whereas the original comic book acts in concert with Cixous’, the 2013 film adaptation by Kechiche presents a different economy and could be read as promoting heteronormative leitmotivs and clichés.