Explaining the basics of Mulvey's theory

1. The Male Gaze
A theory by Laura Mulvey

2. Who is Laura Mulvey?
• Mulvey is a feminist who in 1975 wrote an essay called ‘Visual Pleasure and
Narrative Cinema’ in which she used the term ‘the Male Gaze’.
• She noticed that within the film industry and in advertising women are
sometimes objectified and was based around the viewer being a heterosexual
male. (Supported by only 16% of film creators being female.)Which is also
apparent in the music industry.
• Though she states that this theory only works when a deliberate camera
angle, movement or a change in tempo of the scene occurs. (Slow motion.)

3. Explaining the objectification
• Mulvey wanted to explain how women were denied human identity and
instead admired for physical appearance.
• Suggesting that a female must have the perspective of a male to fully
appreciate the content of the media. Also known as the ‘masculinisation’ of
the viewer.
• Though it is known that the presence of a woman in mainstream media is
vital, they usually have no real importance but is only for how she makes the
male feel as a viewer.

4. Visual Pleasure
• Mulvey states that there are two functions of a female character; as an erotic
object for the characters within the narrative and for the spectators within
the cinema.
• A very clear example of visual pleasure and the male gaze is in the James
Bond series, each film uses a woman to seduce James Bond, as well as the
male and female audience.