The Male Gaze
The concept of gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people presented.
For feminists it can be thought of in 3 ways:
- How men look at women
- How women look at themselves
- How women look at other women
Gaze and Feminist Theory
Laura Mulvey coined the term 'Male Gaze' in 1975. She believes that in film audiences have to 'view' characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.
Features of the Male Gaze
The camera lingers on the curves of the female body, and events which occur to women are presented largely in the context of a man's reaction to these events.
Relegates women to the status of objects. The female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with the male.
Answer these questions for Scouting For Girls - She's So Lovely
- What colour top was he and she wearing?
- What bowling lane was used?
- What colour belt did he and she wear?
- What colour shoes did he and she wear?
Red shoes for the girl
- What colour eyes did he and she have?
I could not answer the majority of these questions as I was too focused on the woman to take any notice of the surroundings and what she looked like apart from her face.
Some theorists also have noticed the sexualizing of the female body even in situations where female sexiness have nothing to do with the product being advertised.
Perfume, Chocolate, Hair Products, Make-Up, Clothes are just many of the public advertisements which use a woman and her body to gain attention from both genders.
Answer these questions for Scouting For Girls - She's So Lovely
- What colour top was he and she wearing?
- What bowling lane was used?
- What colour belt did he and she wear?
- What colour shoes did he and she wear?
Red shoes for the girl
- What colour eyes did he and she have?
I could not answer the majority of these questions as I was too focused on the woman to take any notice of the surroundings and what she looked like apart from her face.
Some theorists also have noticed the sexualizing of the female body even in situations where female sexiness have nothing to do with the product being advertised.
Perfume, Chocolate, Hair Products, Make-Up, Clothes are just many of the public advertisements which use a woman and her body to gain attention from both genders.
WWW: You have fully explained the theory using notes and resources from the lesson. You have recognised the way in which the audience was focused on the woman in the music video and explained why the audience would be unable to answer questions unrelated to the woman.
ReplyDeleteEBI: You had linked the homework to the theory. How is the theory shown in the task? How is it related? You also need to fully explain certain parts of your write up as at the moment it is in note form. What has ‘beauty pageant’ got to do with criticism of theory? Why do you think men and women are represented differently when looking at their facial expressions?
SBT