Male Gaze
Question 1
“In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly.” (Mulvey 750)
Mulvey refers here to classic Hollywood cinema. Is her analysis still relevant?
Discuss in relation to films from the classic era and contemporary cinema. Refer to films screened in this unit and films of your choice with attention to mise en scene and narrative structure.
Laura Mulvey identifies certain patterns in narrative cinema regarding the model of power between the gaze and the subject of the gaze as written in her text “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, she has concluded that the women in film are treated not as separate entities from the male characters, but instead served only as reflective surfaces for the male characters, echoing their desires and motivations. (Mulvey 43-5) Active/male refers to the male characters in a film as the one leading and always the one looking whereas passive/female, on the contrary, refers to woman as an object; always being looked at and submissive, always submitting to the male. In other words, women are sexual beings, and their passiveness plays to the male’s aggressive nature. The subject’s sexual satisfaction comes from “watching, in an active controlling sense, an objectified other” (Mulvey 43-5). The female figure is being fantasized and used as an erotic object in the classic Hollywood film. This essay will argue if Mulvey’s analysis of the male gaze is still relevant in contemporary cinema. Mulvey’s analysis using visual pleasure and narrative cinema and scopophilia will be discussed in the first three paragraphs. This essay will then further examine Studlar’s theory (Tamiko 24-6) and how spectatorship and subjectivity which challenge her analysis. This essay will conclude by arguing that Mulvey’s analyses even though referring to the classic Hollywood cinema, is
“In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly.” (Mulvey 750)
Mulvey refers here to classic Hollywood cinema. Is her analysis still relevant?
Discuss in relation to films from the classic era and contemporary cinema. Refer to films screened in this unit and films of your choice with attention to mise en scene and narrative structure.
Laura Mulvey identifies certain patterns in narrative cinema regarding the model of power between the gaze and the subject of the gaze as written in her text “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, she has concluded that the women in film are treated not as separate entities from the male characters, but instead served only as reflective surfaces for the male characters, echoing their desires and motivations. (Mulvey 43-5) Active/male refers to the male characters in a film as the one leading and always the one looking whereas passive/female, on the contrary, refers to woman as an object; always being looked at and submissive, always submitting to the male. In other words, women are sexual beings, and their passiveness plays to the male’s aggressive nature. The subject’s sexual satisfaction comes from “watching, in an active controlling sense, an objectified other” (Mulvey 43-5). The female figure is being fantasized and used as an erotic object in the classic Hollywood film. This essay will argue if Mulvey’s analysis of the male gaze is still relevant in contemporary cinema. Mulvey’s analysis using visual pleasure and narrative cinema and scopophilia will be discussed in the first three paragraphs. This essay will then further examine Studlar’s theory (Tamiko 24-6) and how spectatorship and subjectivity which challenge her analysis. This essay will conclude by arguing that Mulvey’s analyses even though referring to the classic Hollywood cinema, is
References: Durham, Meenakshi, and Douglas M. Keller. Media and Cultural Studies. 2nd ed. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 2006. 342-50. Print. Hayter, Tamiko. "Perverse Pleasures - Spectatorship." (2005): 24-26. Web. 26 June 2011 Mulvey, Laura Nicholas, Bill. "Psychoanalytic Semiotics." University of California Press, Ltd. 2. (1985): 610-612. Web. 28 June 2011. Penley, Constance. "Feminism and Film Theory." BFI Publishing (1988): 62. Web. 28 June 2011. Pribram, E. Deidre. Spectatorship and Subjectivity. United Kingdom: Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 1999. 146-152. Print.Ott, Brian, and Eric Aoki Children of Men. Dir Alfonso Cuarón. Universal Pictures DreamWorks, 2006. Only Angels Have Wings The Big Sleep. Dir. Howard Hawks. Warner Bros, 1946. The Fifth Element. Dir. Luc Besson. Patrice Ledoux. Columbia Pictures, 1997. The River of No Return Rear Window. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Paramount Pictures Universal Pictures, 1954, 1983.