The Male Gaze
In today's lesson I had to explore and understand the theory of 'The Male Gaze' considering the strength and effects of this theory, by which applying it to a trailer production.
The concept of the male gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people that are presented e.g. through film.
Feminist view
- How men look at woman
- How women look at themselves
- How women look at other women
The term 'male gaze' was coined by Laura Mulvey (1975) she suggested and also believed that the male point of view is created and also adopted from the perspective of a heterosexual male audience by the camera.
Features of the male gaze include:
The practice of the camera 'lingers' on the curves of the female bodies where by women are viewed as 'sexual objects' to give pleasure and satisfy the desires of the opposite sex. - this automatically forces the audience to look at the woman through the shot types, editing and close ups.
In most film the central active characters are male whereas the females are more passive seen as the 'physic' or back up in which the male audience identifies them in their viewing of this. Woman are also seen as subordinate to men through the 'male's eyes'.
HOWEVER! This theory can be challenged due to the fact that not all 'central heroic characters' in film are male as some may be female too, although Mulvey denies the existence of the female gaze. Which questions, How would 'the female gaze' change film as we see it ?
There has also been many changes to the representation of women which has resulted in challenges to stereotypical gender roles
In most film the central active characters are male whereas the females are more passive seen as the 'physic' or back up in which the male audience identifies them in their viewing of this. Woman are also seen as subordinate to men through the 'male's eyes'.
HOWEVER! This theory can be challenged due to the fact that not all 'central heroic characters' in film are male as some may be female too, although Mulvey denies the existence of the female gaze. Which questions, How would 'the female gaze' change film as we see it ?
There has also been many changes to the representation of women which has resulted in challenges to stereotypical gender roles
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