1975‚ Laura Mulvey‚ a British feminist film theorist‚ introduced the idea of the male gaze in her paper on visual pleasure and narrative cinema. She pinpoints the man as the active pro-tagonist in mainstream Hollywood movies (838). Mulvey believes that the audience‚ regard-less of sex or gender‚ identifies with the “active male figure” (838) due to the means of cine-matography and the rooted patriarchy in Western cultures. Thus‚ women in film become sub-ject to the gaze of the active – the male. However
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"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" - Laura Mulvey In her "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" Laura Mulvey utilizes psychoanalysis theory as a "political weapon" to demonstrate how the patriarchic subconscious of society shapes our film watching experience and cinema itself. According to Mulvey the cinematic text is organized along lines that are corresponding to the cultural subconscious with is essentially patriarchic. Mulvey argues that the popularity of Hollywood films is determined
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this presentation. In 1970‚ males were the dominant superheroes and only 15 percent of the protagonists were females. Women were generally underrepresented in accordance with society’s norms at the time. There were inequality between the sexes especially the status of women were poor. Women were not independent enough to vote and there was also unequal distinction of housework. Now the number of female superheroes
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the gaze‚ as established by psychologists Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan‚ discusses the idea of being the object of a person’s look. When one realizes that he or she is the object of a person’s gaze‚ he or she may experience feelings of anxiety because of the loss of control over one’s own body. In 1999‚ Laura Mulvey builds upon the theory of the gaze in her article “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” by constructing the concept of a male gaze. Mulvey summarizes the notion of the male gaze as
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of the ‘male gaze’ has been applied to feminist studies of the media. “One thing I really envy about men‚ ’ a friend once said to me‚ ’is the right to look ’ (Dyer 1982) Johnathan Schroeder posited ‘...to gaze implies more than to look at- it signifies psychological relationship of power‚ in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze.(Schroeder‚ 1998)’ Keeping this in mind‚ in Laura Mulvey’s article ‘Visual pleasure and narrative cinema’‚ she proposes that the male gaze is paramount
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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
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How have women been portrayed through photography? 16/01/2009 How have women been portrayed through photography? The gaze deals with how the audience views the people presented in visual culture‚ in this case‚ adverts‚ magazines and Cinema. The ‘male gaze’ is the male ability to exercise control over women by representing them in visual means as passive‚ sexual objects of male desire. The power of men over women has always existed. They are seen as the more powerful and clever species. This control
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Is the gaze male? Book Title: Women and Film: Both Sides of the Camera. Contributors: E. Ann Kaplan author. Publisher: Methuen. Place of Publication: London. Publication Year: 1983. Page Number: 35. Since the beginning of the recent women’s movement‚ American feminists have been exploring the representation of female sexuality in the arts—in literature‚ painting‚ film‚ and television. As we struggle towards meaningful theory‚ it is important to note that feminist criticism‚ as a new way of reading
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2012 Male Gaze in Vertigo Several film theorists have used a variety of tactics and view points to analyze feature films since their inception. One of the most prominent theorists of those that analyze films from a feminist perspective is Laura Mulvey. Mulvey is famous for her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema‚” which presents an array of theories involving the treatment of women in films. Arguably the most notable idea presented in Mulvey’s work is the existence of the “male gaze”
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Lester encapsulates the stereotypical gaze of Male > Female gaze. Lester suffers from what appears to be a mid-life crisis and fantasizing about Angela . On the other hand‚ Ricky adopts a voyeuristic gaze when he films those around him (i.e. Jane‚ Lester). However‚ the gaze is not held predominantly by the male viewer. For example‚ Jane turns the camera around back on Ricky. He doesn’t mind because he already feels free‚ though
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