The Male GazeA theory by Laura Mulvey

Who is Laura Mulvey?

• Mulvey is a feminist who in 1975 wrote an essay called ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ in which she used the term ‘the Male Gaze’.

• She noticed that within the film industry and in advertising women are sometimes objectified and was based around the viewer being a heterosexual male. (Supported by only 16% of film creators being female.)Which is also apparent in the music industry.

• Though she states that this theory only works when a deliberate camera angle, movement or a change in tempo of the scene occurs. (Slow motion.)

Explaining the objectification

• Mulvey wanted to explain how women were denied human identity and instead admired for physical appearance.

• Suggesting that a female must have the perspective of a male to fully appreciate the content of the media. Also known as the ‘masculinisation’ of the viewer.

• Though it is known that the presence of a woman in mainstream media is vital, they usually have no real importance but is only for how she makes the male feel as a viewer.

Visual Pleasure

• Mulvey states that there are two functions of a female character; as an erotic object for the characters within the narrative and for the spectators within the cinema.

• A very clear example of visual pleasure and the male gaze is in the James Bond series, each film uses a woman to seduce James Bond, as well as the male and female audience.