1. Laura Mulvey’s theory relates to classical Hollywood
cinema.
The male gaze =
• women viewed as the objects of male erotic desire – in
film and audience
• men active / women passive.
• Women do not have agency – they do not move the plot
forward.
• The audience is forced to identify with male gaze.
• Cinema reflects patriarchal (male dominated) society
• Patriarchy and phallocentrism linked – phallus (penis) a
symbol of power – e.g. in cinema guns = phallus = power.
Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory
2. •The theory suggests that the male gaze denies
women human identity, relegating them to the
status of objects to be admired for physical
appearance. Woman can more often only watch
a film from a secondary perspective and only
view themselves from a mans perspective
In the media industry there is 16% creators
who are female.
•However the presence of a woman in
mainstream film texts is something that is vital
Often a female character has no real importance
herself, it is how she makes the male feel or act
that is the importance.The female only exist in
relation to the male.
Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory
3. The male gaze leads to Hegemonic ideologies within our society
Hegemonic = ruling or dominant in a political or social context
4. Visual Pleasure
Mulvey states that the role of a female character in a narrative has two
functions
1.As an erotic object for the characters within the narrative to view
2.As an erotic object for the spectators within the cinema to view
Gender roles in film
Usually males are the ones who tend too look at females, putting them in a
active role whereas the females are passiv which means they are the ones
who are being looked at. They are under control of the males gaze and only
exist for visual pleasure. In most films it is rare to find a female that plays
protagonist, in stead they would be the mans accessory seeing as they are
pleasurable to look at and gives the man more of a dominant figure. Females
often slow the narrative down, they act as inspiration for men to act.
Males on the other hand, push the narrative forwards and make things
happen and are seen as active
5. Female Objectification
Objectification is related to the gaze
The persons gazed at are objectified, treated as
an object whose sole value is to be enjoyed or
possessed by the voyeur. Objectified characters
are devalued and their humanity removed.
An example of this is Megan fox in
‘Transformers’, Megan's character in the film
doesn’t do much she is just the protagonists
‘object’ who follows him around. In the photos it is
clear that Megan is sexually provoking the
audience especially the position she stands in
when on the motorbike. Likewise the camera
angles make it worse seeing that they focus on
explicit parts of the female body which draws
more attention.
6. Patriarchal society = Men dictate the rules
Mulvey argued we live in a patriarchal society in which
men set the majority of the rules and construct and
represent the ideal visions, roles and male dominance
over woman.
The worry is a passive audience will be influenced by this
representation of reality and copy it and it will actually
become reality…if it hasn’t all ready.
7. Sexism in Pop Videos : Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus was well known for playing the
character Hannah Montanna which was viewed by
young children. When Miley broke in to the music
industry, she destroyed her Hannah Montanna
image and built a new one, one that the audience
where un familiar with. Take into consideration
her music video ‘wrecking ball’ that took everyone
off the edge, it was so unexpected coming from
Miley. Miley made this video in response to her
heart break however it could be said she dealt
with it unprofessionally and let her emotions get
on top of it all. Miley is shown to be very sexual
and explicit in some scenes , especially the part
where she is hanging of a giant ball naked. This
came as a shock to many of her fans, beginning
her career of as an innocent girl to an artist who
no longer knows what they want. Sinead
O’Connor warned Miley, “Not to let them
prostitute you!” It could be said that Miley has
been exploited and may be perceived differently
from her old image .
8. Jennifer Lopez “Booty” 2014.
Lopez’s video ‘Big Booty’ was a collaborate with
Iggy Azela. Both of these Female artist share a
common feature which is their bum. In a way it
could be argued that the music video was to an
extent very much revealing, however the fact
that the song was directed to such asset it
makes it of a less of focus and shock. The music
video is illustrative music video seeing that the
lyrics link to the actual. Additionally the lyrics to
the song is directed to the ‘males’ by pleasuring
them in a way & the video purposely focuses on
their bums. This links to Mulveys theory that
‘females are the male gaze’ … providing males
with such pleasure by exploiting body parts. In
the music video there are many extreme close
ups of Lopez & Iggy’s booty which attract more
attention. The pace in the music video is very
fast, which brings a sense of adrenaline and
excitement. This music video presents women
as an enjoyment and sex symbol. To some
extent sexually provoking men , and enhancing
their views on women even more by making
them think women are only there for their
pleasure.
