1. The
Male
Gaze,
The
Opposi0onal
Gaze,
and
Mildred
Pierce
Intro
to
Screen
Studies
April
18,
2013
Guest
Lecture
by
Carrie
Polansky

2. Background
• Jacques
Lacan
– Psychoanaly0c
theorist
and
philosopher
– Developed
the
concept
of
“the
mirror
stage,”
a
psychoanaly0c
theory
about
the
point
in
a
child’s
life
when
the
Ego
is
developed
and
the
child
begins
to
iden0fy
with
his
or
her
own
image
– Lacan
understood
the
filmic
gaze,
then,
as
the
moment
when
the
viewer
iden0fies
with
and
invests
oneself
in
the
filmic
image
• John
Berger
– Adapted
this
concept
to
apply
it
to
looking
at
fine
art;
wrote
about
this
in
his
1972
book,
Ways
of
Seeing
– “…men
act
and
women
appear.
Men
look
at
women.
Women
watch
themselves
being
looked
at.”
(47)

3. “Visual
Pleasure
and
Narra0ve
Cinema”
• Essay
wri^en
by
Laura
Mulvey,
published
in
1975
• Uses
scopophilia
(pleasure
derived
from
looking)
and
the
mirror
stage
(iden0fica0on
with
the
image
seen)
to
explore
the
dominance
of
the
male
perspec0ve
in
film
• The
“ac0ve/passive
heterosexual
division
of
labour”
(720)
structures
the
narra0ve
so
that
the
man
is
always
the
“bearer
of
the
look”
while
the
woman
is
the
image
• The
woman
must
be
fe0shized
by
the
male
spectator
so
that
she
does
not
represent
castra0on
anxiety
• Three
gazes
happening
simultaneously:
the
gaze
of
the
camera,
the
gaze
of
the
audience,
and
the
gaze
of
the
characters
– The
first
two
gazes
are
in
service
to
the
third,
which
takes
priority
due
to
the
conven0ons
of
narra0ve
cinema

4. “Visual
Pleasure
and
Narra0ve
Cinema”
• “In
a
world
ordered
by
sexual
imbalance,
pleasure
in
looking
has
been
split
between
ac0ve/male
and
passive/female.
The
determining
male
gaze
projects
its
phantasy
on
to
the
female
figure
which
is
styled
accordingly.
In
their
tradi0onal
exhibi0onist
role
women
are
simultaneously
looked
at
and
displayed,
with
their
appearance
coded
for
strong
visual
and
ero0c
impact
so
that
they
can
be
said
to
connote
to-­‐be-­‐looked-­‐at-­‐ness.”
(719)

5. “Visual
Pleasure
and
Narra0ve
Cinema”
• Ques0ons
for
discussion:
– What
are
some
examples
of
Mulvey’s
theory
in
ac0on?
– How
relevant
is
Mulvey’s
theory
today?
– What
holes/problems
exist
in
Mulvey’s
theory?
• Film
clips:
Ver;go,
Peeping
Tom

6. “The
Opposi0onal
Gaze:
Black
Female
Spectators”
• Essay
wri^en
by
bell
hooks,
published
in
1992
(as
part
of
her
book
Black
Looks:
Race
and
Representa;on)
• hooks
discusses
slavery
and
says
that
the
control
that
white
people
had
over
the
gaze
“had
produced
in
us
an
overwhelming
longing
to
look,
a
rebellious
desire,
an
opposi0onal
gaze.
By
courageously
looking,
we
defiantly
declared:
‘Not
only
will
I
stare.
I
want
my
look
to
change
reality.’”
(116)
• The
opposi0onal
gaze
is
about
not
iden0fying
“with
either
the
vic0m
or
the
perpetrator”
(122),
which
allows
viewers
to
reclaim
agency
• “Looking
and
looking
back,
black
women
involve
ourselves
in
a
process
whereby
we
see
our
history
as
counter-­‐memory,
using
it
as
a
way
to
know
the
present
and
invent
the
future.”
(131)

7. “The
Opposi0onal
Gaze”
• Today,
hooks’
theory
has
broadened
beyond
issues
of
race
and
is
used
to
discuss
a
variety
of
films
in
which
the
white/straight/male
gaze
is
challenged
or
disrupted
• Ques0ons
for
discussion:
– What
are
some
examples
of
hooks’
theory
in
ac0on?
– Is
hooks’
theory
more,
less,
or
equally
applicable
today
as
Mulvey’s
theory?
• Film
clips:
Thelma
&
Louise,
Madonna’s
Open
Your
Heart
music
video

8. Mildred
Pierce
• 1945
film
directed
by
Michael
Cur0z
and
starring
Joan
Crawford
• Though
there
are
male
characters
in
the
film,
the
narra0ve
is
really
about
the
rela0onship
between
a
mother
and
daughter,
Mildred
and
Veda.
• Discussion:
Is
Mildred
Pierce
an
example
of
the
male
gaze
or
the
opposi0onal
gaze?
Both?
Neither?