9/18 Pumping Iron II is Filmed Through a Male Lens

I’ve thought more into Pumping Iron II. It actually is a male-dominated film; all of the women, besides Carla, are surrounded by men. This came off to me as a message that frequently women must be validated by association. However, I later took back this thought when Carla won the competition.
THE ENDING, wow, can you get more ambiguous? Here is what I keep questioning: Was it a racial message about black women’s bodies being naturally more strong and muscular? Was it a message that by doing exercises that are associated with femininity, a female will win a body building contest? Was that a message to get women not to lift weights, but to partake in activities that require less strength?
Regardless of my questions, one thing is sure: the female body building competition is controlled by the male gaze. This movie fetishized the view of women’s bodies and although progressive in the view of the female body, it still had a male lens. However, because the judges seemingly did not know Carla’s background and way of obtaining her physique, I must assert that her win had some racial undertones.
Carla being number one in the competition established the idea that black individuals excel at physical activity. It exoticizes the African-American woman as more physical than the white woman and therefore separates black America from white America.
I did take away something positive, that being that is so easy to shape one’s body; it is a personal choice and is essentially beautiful that women have full control over how they want to appear, whether it be softer or more toned. Yet, I will never know if the choice to display Carla as the winner was racially charged or not and if it was, I feel disgusted. In addition, I can’t help but hate how the lens focused on the female body SO MUCH; that shower scene… a bit ridiculous if you ask me. This to me was less about empowerment and more about taking a perverted peak into a sport that people became engrossed in because they saw feminine body builders as somewhat unnatural.