Laura Mulvey was a feminist film theorist who argued that mainstream films portrayed women as objects of male erotic desire based on Freudian psychoanalysis. She believed this reflected a patriarchal society where men are the dominant gender and women lack agency. An example is Transformers, where Megan Fox's character is sexualized through revealing clothing despite having a male-oriented job, reinforcing her role as an object for male characters and the audience. Mulvey's "male gaze" theory described how the camera focuses on female bodies and forces both male and female audiences to view films from a male perspective.

1. Laura Mulvey
Taju J Deen

2. Who is Laura Mulvey?
• Laura Mulvey is a feminist film theorist. Her
most popular essay is “Visual Pleasure and
Narrative Cinema” (1975). The essay consists
of her discussing the roles of males and
females in film.

3. Potrayal of Women in Film
• Mulvey’s own analysis partnered with Freud’s
psychoanalysis to reach the judgement that in
the “unchallenged, mainstream film” women
are objects of male erotic desire. As a result of
this perception that women are objects, men
appear as the dominate gender. She believes
that this relationship between men and
women in film is a representation of a
patriarchal society.

4. How is patriarchal society reflected in
cinema?
• In films it is very often the case that men are portrayed
as the dominate figures who have agency. In contrast,
women lack agency, which means that they are not the
ones who drive the plot forward. Instead Mulvey
believes that the only two roles they have are to be
symbols of male erotic desire for the male characters in
the film and the audience.
• An example of this is Transformers where we see
Megan Fox’s character working on a car as a mechanic
even though it’s a male job stereotypically. But her
revealing and sexual clothing reinforce that she is an
object of erotic desire.

5. The Male Gaze
• This is the theory introduced by Laura Mulvey following
her research. It supposedly occurs whenever the
audience is forced to see the film in the eyes of a
straight male. The “gaze” i.e. the camera, focuses on
the sexual elements of the females body such as her
curves.
• The male gaze is active which leaves the female gaze as
passive which may make the female audience feel
uncomfortable/uninterested in the film. Despite this, in
Transformers, the narrative and mise-en-scene is just
as male orientated, which forces all of the audience to
view the film from a male perspective.

6. The Male Gaze: Three Levels
• The Male Gaze consists of three levels:
• 1) The male character looks at the female
character.
• 2) The camera follows the male character
watching the female character.
• 3) The audience then see the female character
from the male character’s perspective through
a point of view shot.