The document discusses Laura Mulvey's theory of the "male gaze", which argues that women are typically objectified in film from the perspective of the heterosexual male viewer. Mulvey states that mainstream cinema prioritizes the male gaze, reflecting an underlying gender power imbalance. The male gaze lingers on women's bodies and presents them as sexual objects for male pleasure. Some criticisms of Mulvey's theory are that it does not consider female viewers or how some women enjoy being looked at. The document also discusses how the male gaze framework has been applied in analyzing genres like horror films.

1. The Male Gaze – Laura Mulvey
(gender)

2. The Male Gaze
The ‘Male gaze’ is a feminist theory, used by Laura
Mulvey to explain the visual pleasure and the
narrative cinema.
The Male Gaze is used to feature the gender power
in any film shown
Mulvey stated that women were objectified in film
because hetrosecual men were in control of the
camera
This theory thus has been influential in femenist
film theory and media studies.

3. When the Male Gaze occurs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaze
• The male gaze occurs when the camera puts the audience
into the perspective of a hetrosexual man
• It may linger over the curves of a woman’s body
• The woman is usually displayed on two different levels; as
an erotic object or both the characters within the film as
well as the spectator who is watching the film
• The man emerges as the dominant power within the
created film fantasy.
• The woman is passive to the active gaze of a man
• This adds and element of patriarchal order.
• Mulvey argues that in mainstream cinema the male gaze
typically takes precedence over the female gaze relecting
an underlying power of asymmetry.

4. Female Gaze
• The Female gaze is the same as the male gaze
• This means that women look at themselves
through the eyes of a man
• The male gaze may be seen by a feminist
either as manifestation or unequal power
between gazer and gazed, or as a conscious or
subconscious attempt to develop inequality.

5. Visual pleasure and narrative cinema:
• Women are presented as a sexual spectacle
and an object of pleasure for the characters
audience
• The camera necessarily present women as a
‘sexualized part’ for pleasure for men
• Men fantasies and fetishised, which is referred
to as ‘Fetishistic scopophilia’

6. Crtiicism of Mulvey and the Gaze
theory
• Some women enjoy being ‘looked at’ such example van be
seen with beauty pagents and models who enjoy the lime light
• The gaze can also be directed towards members of the same
gender because not all of which are sexual, such as in
comparison of body image or clothing
• She doesn't’t consider female spectators
• Mulvey also doesn't’t include the idea of women being
sexualised as a way to provoke feministic ideals for example in
‘Alien’ she is striped down to her underwear – showing that
even though she has been stripped all of what she’s is, she is
still a strong independent women fighting a battle

7. Theories applied now…
• Until the 1990s horror viewing was primarily a
pleased for by men, as most characters were
based on an active process as men were typically
in the role of someone who was attacking, and
women were being attacked, showing that they
are typically the passive characters within a
horror film, however now, it is argued that
woman also enjoy horror films. As woman are
also more prone to mental illness, other horror
films have come around that woman are the
attacker and men are the passive characters.

8. Mulvey’s types of ‘looking’
• The look of the cameras as it records the filmic
event
• The look of the audience as it watches the final
product
• The look of the characters at each other in the
visual images of screen illusion
• Mulvey thus says that these looks are linked to
the issue of genre and representation because
many relations of looking in the cinema are
informed and disrupted by sexual desire and
erotic contemplation of the female form

9. Carl Clover-Men, women and a
chainsaw (1992)
• The analysis of the narrative and style in horror films
led her to evaluate that horror ‘is victim identified’.
This mean that horror more than any other genre
vicitmises and try's to sympathies with specific
characters than in any other genre of film.
• The pleasure of horror are ‘masochistic’ (someone
who enjoys when they’re in pain) for example S&M for
both females and males
• Audience responses involved a wide spectrum of
emtional responses from being scared, having joy,
laughing, anxiety and fear