Feminist Theory

Feminist Theory

­­­­Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist, known for her theory of the “Male Gaze”. Mulvey states that women are sexually objectified within films because the majority of film makers are heterosexual men, whom of which were in control of the camera.

The gaze occurs when the camera puts the viewer in the point of view of a heterosexual man, shots which may focus on a woman’s curves, and then back to the man’s reaction of what he’s looking at. It’s not uncommon to see that sequence of shots within films, nor is it common to see the woman having a “Female Gaze”. When a female does have a gaze of sorts, it’s usually in acknowledgement of the Male Gaze which triggers this.

The above example from Lara Croft is a subtle example of male gaze but none the less it does exist. The Male gaze can be seen when the butler passes Lara Croft a her clothing as she leaves the shower, she then walks across the room slipping her towel off from her body, the camera cuts to a closer shot which is completely aimed at showing the slight slip of her breast. The camera then cuts back to the butlers reaction of looking at her naked. The butler maintains a professional look despite having seen her naked. The theory of male gaze is used to explore how man typically are shown to view women within movies. Which is commonly in a objectifying way.

Below I've attached an example which demonstrates a strong form of male gaze within the movie "Transformers" You can see Megan fox taking control of the problem with the motor, as she does so we see a point of view shot from Shia, here the camera pans around her body as he observes her.

The male gaze incorporates strong levels of voyeurism within film especially when a character demonstrates an expressed interest in observing a women for a period of time, films can also force voyeurism onto the viewer especially when the camera is in the perspective of the male character as he looks at the female.

I feel that the male gaze does have a place within film as it's just human nature, as is a "female gaze" although I would argue that some movies often use the "gaze" as a cheap means to express that a character has a intimate attraction towards another character, and this has typically been the go to device in order to achieve that on camera. However as film has developed over time it seems as though we've stuck to using old codes and conventions which don't necessarily sit too well in today's world.