Laura mulvey- Male gaze

2. Background
Laura Mulvey was born on the 15th of August
1941. She studied history at Oxford University
until the early 1970’s where she came to
prominence as a film theorist. Much of her
early critical work investigated the ‘male
gaze’. Between 1974 and 1982 she co-wrote and
co-directed, with her husband, six projects.

3. Laura’s theory
Laura’s theory was the concept of gaze, this is a theory which
deals with how an audience views the people presented. For
female audience’s it can be thought in three ways:
O How men look at women
O How women look at themselves
O How women look at other women
Laura used the term ‘male gaze’ in 1975. The theory was
because she believed that the film audiences have to ‘view’
characters through the eyes of a male. She believes that
because of how women have been shown through media
women that have watched these have become passive
through time.

4. Why the theory impacts us
and references to Laura’s work
What Laura’s theory works on impacts us because
as more movies with the male gaze are watched
ideologies are placed in the our minds. This
means we start to adopt these ideas without
realising what is happening. Laura's theory helps
us to identify when this is happening and not be
susceptible and believe what it shows is fact.
Some pieces of her work include:
O Visual and Other Pleasures
O Death 24x a Second: Stillness...
O Citizen Kane.

5. My opinion
I believe that Laura's theory is correct because
after watching multiple movies I have noticed a
similarities between them all. In all of the movies
that included women all of the women that are
involved are always very attractive. I also have
noticed that after reading into Laura’s theory
that the ‘male gaze’ is very prominent in movies.
For example in some movies the camera when
introducing a female character will look over
their more attractive features.