2. Pleasurable Spectatorship
• Laura Mulvey analysed the way mainstream
films ‘construct an ideal viewer’.
• i.e. she analysed the way men and women were
represented in films, and speculated about how
this would appeal to a spectator.
• She mixed psychoanalytic film theory (the ideas
of Freud and Lacan) for a ‘politically feminist’
end.
• She said that ‘spectatorship’ and the act of
looking itself provided a form of sexual
gratification
3. Scopophilia and Voyeurism
• Scopophilia = Freud’s phrase for when
we get (sexual pleasure) from looking
at other people;
• but Mulvey also noted that Freud said
people feel guilty when getting
pleasure in this way.
4. • Mulvey suggested that cinema was the
ideal place to get ‘scopophilic’ pleasure
because
a.) the people in the film aren’t aware the
spectator is watching (so can’t be made
to feel guilty)
b.) no-one else can see the spectator
getting pleasure because the theatre is in
darkness, plus everyone else is watching
the screen, too
5. • Mulvey said the cinema provides
voyeuristic pleasure: pleasure achieved
through watching others who don’t know
they’re being observed
• How might video/DVD/on-line films
provide a similar pleasure, despite not
being in the viewing conditions of the
cinema?
6. A bit of Lacan…
• Jacques Lacan was a psychoanalyst who
expanded and developed Freudian ideas.
• One idea useful for understanding why
audiences like films (and other media) =
the ‘mirror stage’
7. ‘Mirror Stage’
• Lacan said this is a stage in child’s
development where they recognise
themselves in other people with similar
features.
• Child develops sense of ‘self’ and ‘Other’
that influence it’s thinking for the rest of its
life.
8. And back to Mulvey:
• Mulvey used Lacan’s idea about the
importance of seeing your self ‘visually
reflected’ to explain why people like films.
• When we see a character on the screen like
us, we identify with it – and this helps
reinforce our sense of self.
• Can you think of a film character who you
have identified with, and which has made
your own identity ‘stronger’?
9. Mulvey’s Conclusions
• Most mainstream films are made by male
filmmakers for male spectators
• This results in ACTIVE male characters (they
are the protagonists i.e. a subject whose actions
push the narrative forward; so the audience are
encouraged to identify with them)
• Female characters are usually passive (they are
often seen as a ‘prize’, an object of desire that
men fight over; don’t act or think for themselves)
10. How do these appeal to the (male)
spectator?
• Mulvey said that mainstream films appeal to the
‘Male Gaze’;
• Women are presented as ‘spectacle’ –
something pleasurable for the male spectator to
look at;
• In her own words, popular films “are obsessively
subordinated to the neurotic needs of the male
ego”.
• What does this sentence mean? Put it in your
own words.
11. Narcissistic identification
• Narcissus was a figure in Greek mythology, a boy who
was so attractive he fell in love with his own reflection
• Narcissism = loving your own image
• Narcissistic identification = male spectator sees male
hero on screen and gets pleasure by both feeling similar
to the hero (he’s a man, too, so the screen is like a
mirror) and admiring/loving the idealised image of
masculinity
• E.g. James Bond – personification of what men wish
they were; get pleasure from admiring him and
identifying with him, because they aren’t like him in real
life.
12. Voyeuristic Objectification
• What is voyeurism?
• What is objectification?
• Voyeuristic objectification = when the male
spectator gets pleasure by desiring the
female character, and feeling he owns her
because she is passive (like an object)
and because he can look at her with out
guilt (because she doesn’t know she is
being watched)
13. Fetishisation
• Mulvey also noted that sometimes there
were active female characters, especially
those portrayed by a female star.
• However, she said that these weren’t
characters that were presented for the
female spectator to identify with..
• … instead their power seemed to be
based around their beauty.
14. Fetishisation cont’d
• She said that female beauty was fetishised
• A fetish (in her terms) is when a source of fear
becomes a source of pleasure.
• Humans don’t like feeling scared and anxious –
so, psychologically, they sometimes turn a
source of fear into something that gives pleasure
• So… a male spectator, made anxious by a
female characters empowered actions, can turn
her into a source of visual pleasure by
concentrating on her beauty and sexiness. (i.e.
fetishised or sexualised)
15. Problems with Mulvey
• Mulvey had some good ideas, that are
certainly evident in some films… but there
are also lots of holes in her argument. Can
you think of any?
• One main problem is that she didn’t do
any audience research, she based all her
ideas on her own (psychoanalytic)
analysis of films.
