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Male Gaze Theory Depicted in American Pie

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Male Gaze Theory Depicted in American Pie
THE MALE GAZE THEORY AS PORTRAYED IN AMERICAN PIE

I. Introduction The position of women in the society at present has changed gradually in the last few centuries. The role of women, as dictated by the society, is perceived by how they’re presented. Since the last three centuries, women have always been viewed as just housewives and objects of perversion. Media is one of the factors why women are perceived as secondary to men. This is why media has a major influence to the humanity because it can reach almost all the parts of the world. May it be in print media or in film productions; women are always depicted as inferior and submissive to men’s desires. There have been different movements aimed in altering the sexual equality of the men and women. Some of these movements attained their main goal – the social change. One of the movements that was started by the pioneers is the Male Gaze Theory. The Male Gaze Theory, a feminist theory by Laura Mulvey, was developed in 1975. It happens when the audience, or viewer, is put into the viewpoint of a heterosexual male. Mulvey stressed that the dominant male gaze in mainstream Hollywood films reflects and satisfies the male. It applies wherever you have an audience and a text being presented to that audience. Being the most dominant in the population of directors in Hollywood, the male objectifies the female as sex objects in accordance to one’s visual pleasure. This paper aims to show that the world today is still a space governed by the male gaze and that women are still in their lowest height in terms of social equality and society’s perception. Through the vast commodities, everyone is still to question about why and how women will overcome the stereotypical world. II. Literature Review One of the most concrete examples of the Male Gaze theory is the teenage comedy movie “American Pie”. American Pie is a movie about five boys that made a deal to lose their virginity



Bibliography: IKAW NA LANG MAGAYOS HIHI http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/pages/gaze.htm http://www.whatwherewhy.me/blog/2012/06/11/the-male-gaze/ http://virgin-research.blogspot.com/2007/12/task-121-psychoanalytic-models-of.html http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/2007/08/26/faq-what-is-the-%E2%80%9Cmale-gaze%E2%80%9D/ http://junihsu.com/Major-Project-The-Male-Gaze http://katherine-nolan.blogspot.com/2007/01/negotiating-pleasure-in-male-gaze-in.html http://filmstudiesforfree.wordpress.com/category/gaylyn-studlar/ retrieve

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