Reaserch - Laura Mulvey, The Male Gaze Theory!

Laura Mulvey and The Male Gaze Theory

The Male Gaze, developed by feminist, Laura Mulvey describes how the audience, or viewer, is put into the perspective of a heterosexual male. Mulvey believes that women should enjoy the attention of attracting the gaze, and put themselves in positions to be looked at. The concept of ‘the gaze’ is one that deals with how an audience views the people/person presented. Mulvey states that in film women are typically the objects, rather than the possessors, of gaze because the control of the camera (and thus the gaze) comes from factors such as the as the assumption of heterosexual men as the default target audience for most film genres.

The male gaze occurs when the camera puts the audience into the perspective of a heterosexual man. It may, for instance linger over the curves of a woman's body.

The woman is usually displayed on two different levels:

-         as an erotic object for both the characters within the film

-         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 from the man. This adds an element of 'patriarchal' order and it is often seen in "illusionistic narrative film".

Mulvey argues that, in mainstream cinema, the male gaze typically takes precedence over the female gaze, reflecting an underlying power asymmetry.

Mulvey' also states that the female gaze is the same as the male gaze because women look at themselves through the eyes of men. A feminist may see the male gaze as either a manifestation of unequal power between gazer and gazed, or as a conscious or subconscious attempt to develop that inequality. From this perspective, a woman who welcomes an objectifying gaze may be simply seeking to benefit men, welcoming such objectification may be viewed as akin to exhibitionism.

The Male Gaze typically focuses on:

-         Emphasising curves of the female body

-         Referring to women as objects rather than people

-         The display of women is how men think they should be perceived

-         Female viewers, view the content through the eyes of

     a man

The Male Gaze has noted how

female sexiness is brought into

the equation even when the

media product is not sexy. For

instance, in Paolo Nutini’s Pencil

Full Of Lead, the women are

dancing around in little outfits

and men are watching them. 

There are some flaws and disagreements with the theory however:

-         Some of the women may enjoy the attention and like people to look at them

-    There are videos and media
      products which use men in the same light, for instance in Kelly Rowland’s Motivation the men have less clothes on than she does and she treats them as though they are objects.

-         How is the heterosexual male gaze different from the homosexual (mainly lesbian) gaze?

-         The Matrixial Gaze – Bracha L. Ettinger

-         The Female Gaze - The position of a female possessing the gaze is the female assuming the male gaze. Eva-Maria Jacobsson supports this by describing a "female gaze" as "a mere cross identification with masculinity". However, disregarding the viewpoint of gendered possession of gaze as proposed by Mulvey, there is evidence to support a view of a female gaze – women objectifying men. Furthermore the gaze can also be directed toward members of the same sex for several reasons, not all of which are sexual, such as in comparison of body image or in clothing.

Sin City

How Typical is Sin City to its genre(s)?

Sin City is a hybrid of two main genre's, these are Film Noir and Comic book. At times Sin City can be very typical to its genre, and portray the classic Film Noir and Comic book conventions however they can sometimes be diluted. For example, a typical Film Noir convention is that the protagonist would wear a trench coat, and in the film Sin City, protagonist John Hartigan, Marv and Dwight all wear trench coats. This is a typical noir convention, and the audience is able to recognise this. However the trench coat can also be seen as a hybrid. For example, in the scene where Marv is running down the street, and his leather coat is flapping in the wind behind him, it could represent a ,'cape' which be a typical comic book convention. Therefore, just by Mise en scene, and the item of a coat, it shows that the film is typical to both it's genres.

Another typical Noir convention is non-linear narrative. For example, one moment it's the scene with John being killed, and then suddenly jumps to a new character, Marv. Its in no particular order, and this helps create theme of mis-trust and paranoia. This is because the audience is questioning what's going on in the film, wondering whats happening and it helps build tension. Which once again mis-trust and paranoia is another typical convention of a film noir.

Another typical noir convention is the characters within the film. These characters include: the Protagonists (John Hartigan, Marv and Dwight), the Corrupts cops (Senator Roarke, Cardinal Roarke and Bob) and lastly the Femme Fatals (Goldiem Shelley, Gail and Nancy). These characters are very important within the film as they make up the storyline. A typical Noir Protagonist is willing to put themselves before others, this quote that the character Hartigan says shows this; "an old man dies, a little girl lives" why is a typical noir personality trait. He would rather save someone else's life rather then their own. A typical Femme fatal trait would be, using their femminity in order to manipulate the male protagonists, this usually ends up with them ending up into trouble. This is shown in the scene where Cecile tries to take matters in her own hands, to save both her and \marv, however ends up being killed herself. This represents women characters in the film as being naïve, as she tries to do right however doesn't realise that the cops are corrupt and ends up dead. Therefore emphaises the fact that women need the men in order too look after them and keep them safe, because without them (i.e. Cecile not having Marv) they end up in trouble.

 

To what extent are your chosen texts typical of their Genre?

My chosen text is Fish Tank, and the genre of the text is Social Realism. A way in which Fish Tank is typical to its chosen genre is the use of the technical conventions of a hand-held camera's. For example, in the scene where Mia chases after Connor when he is leaving, when Mia begins to run so does the camera. Its puts us as an audience in the perspective of Mia, as we see what she see's, i.e. blurred, jumpy vision, bouncing up and down. It puts us in the shoes of Mia and helps create empathy which is the main purpose of the film, allows us to understand her and her under-class. We begin to not think that under-class people are just lazy and bad people, but that the reason they are like this is because of the build up of events that have happened in their lives, i.e. in the film Mia's mum treats her horribly, and the result of this is that Mia turns into a nasty, vulnerable broken child herself.

Another technical convention that is used to show that the text is typical to its genre through its use of no 'non-diegetic sound'. Throughout the whole of the film their is constant diegetic sound, for example, you are always able to see the source of where the music is playing out of either a stereo, headphones etc. Constant background noise of either trains, cars, kids playing, shouting. This helps to show social realism, as it is a realistic view of everyday lives growing up in that neighbourhood.

- other point is that it represents the under-represented ... location etc.