Popular Culture Review 32.1
Marieme ’ s brother , Djibril , her love-interest , Ismaël , and the drug-dealer and pimp , Abou . Each of these men is an exemplar of the imbrication of surveillance , colonialist thought , and masculinism . For the fundamental power inequities and racist and misogynist categorization inherent to colonialism required carefully watching both colonists and the colonized ( Sa ’ di 152 ; Smith 21 ). This practice continues today , as post-colonial nation-building and the inequities of colonialism are intertwined with the development of modern surveillance systems ( Ogasawara 727 ), systems which are often aimed at migrants and other subalterns ( Berda 629 ). Moreover , toxic masculinity and political power are tightly imbricated with this legacy , where powerful masculine figures rule by violence , exceptionalism , and a blurred distinction between governing and civilizing ( Baker 246 ). In Bande de filles , one objective of this colonialist and masculinist surveillance is the control of Marieme ’ s sexuality , and this control is systematically associated with the use of hors-champ , creating a visual metaphor for misogyny ’ s paradoxical unspoken omnipresence in the film ’ s setting .
Marieme and her sisters live in fear of their brother ’ s wrath , and for good reason . Large and imposing , his deep voice delivers gruff commands , just before his hands surge from out of frame to deliver physical abuse . These characteristics make Djibril an obvious target of feminist critique ; he is the personification of toxic masculinity , for he sees Marieme ’ s sexuality as a liability — and not for her , but for him . Her sexual purity ( or at least the public perception of that purity ) reflects upon his status in the local community , which in turn seems to be at least partially determined by his ability to control the women in his household . Djibril is reacting to a larger context of social aggression and venting his anxiety upon Marieme , an emotion that he has only ever learned to express
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