Learning Objectives:: To Be Able To

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
To be able to…
1.Understand Laura Mulvey’s theory, ‘The Male Gaze’
2.Understand the opposing theory, ‘The Female Gaze’
3.Understand how to use Gender Theories in the Critical Perspectives exam

WOMEN AND FILM
Feminist Film Theory and the Male Gaze

LIST THE LAST 3 FILMS YOU
HAVE SEEN
How were women represented in each?

‘VISUAL PLEASURE & NARRATIVE CINEMA’
ainstream Hollywood narrative films represent women as passive objects of male sexual
desire.
ale characters are bearers of ‘the look’ which is aimed, far more often than not- at
physically desirable, sexually submissive female characters.
e the spectators watch cinematic films through the eyes of the dominant male protagonist
& we are implicitly addressed as though we were men desiring heterosexual pleasures,
even if we are heterosexual women or homosexual males.
REPRESENTATION AND STEREOTYPING OF
WOMEN IN THE MEDIA
ow women are represented in the media may encourage particular expectations

of women which are extremely limiting.
or instance, that women are always based in the home, that they are inferior to
men, that they like men who are violent
WOMEN’S CINEMA AS COUNTER
CINEMA
laire Johnston’s ‘Women’s Cinema as Counter Cinema’ shows

how women have been stereotyped in film since the days of
the silent cinema, and argues for a cinema that challenges
such narrow conventions, but which will also be entertaining.
LAURA MULVEY
‘The Male Gaze’

MULVEY’S 3 WAYS OF LOOKING
1. The look of the camera that records the film
2. The look of the audience that views the film
3. The look of the characters in the film

PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY
mphasises the importance of the patriarchal viewpoint in the cinema
States that the pleasure gained from looking (called scopophilia) is a

male pleasure, and that “the look” in cinema is directed at the male.
his is often referred to as the “male gaze”.

SCOPOPHILIA
oyeurism scopophilic pleasure linked to sexual attraction
copophilic pleasure which is linked to narcissistic identification.
ulvey argues that the identification is always with the male, who is
the pivot of the film, its hero, while the female is often seen as a
threat.
ROLE OF WOMEN IN FILM
rotic object for the characters in the story
rotic object for the spectator.
ulvey refers to Hitchcock because of the complicit understanding in his films that the
audience gains a voyeuristic pleasure from watching a film. In such films as Rear
Window the “look” is central to the plot oscillating between voyeurism and fetishistic
fascination.
Rear Window'
APPLYING THE THEORY
atch the following music video
onsider how women are represented in the video, using the 3 ways of looking.
ake notes & be prepared to discuss your ideas with the group.
Carry Out'
EXPLAIN ‘THE MALE GAZE’
THEORY IN NO MORE THAN 2
SENTENCES
Write this on your post-it note

‘THE FEMALE GAZE’
Jacques Lacan
FEMALE GAZE
direct Female equivalent of the Male Gaze occasionally appears in films centered
heavily on female characters, especially if they are also directed by women.
ne example occurs in the film The Virgin Suicides, directed by Sophia Coppola.
As Trip Fontaine (Josh Hartnett) strolls down the school hall, the heads of his
female classmates turn one by one as he passes - the female gaze made literal -
while the camera lingers lovingly on the graceful swing of his hips, toss of his
hair.
'THE FEMALE GAZE'
Vogue’ literalizes the Female Gaze. "Strike a pose!"

sings Madonna, as the video lingers lovingly on
slow motion abs and biceps and thighs in action, on
graceful tilt of head, curl of lip, swirl of cloak
WRITE A DEFINITION OF
‘THE FEMALE GAZE’
PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE
hoose and advert or magazine cover to analyse using Mulvey’s theory ‘The Male Gaze’.
hoose another advert or magazine cover to analyse using the ‘The Female Gaze’ theory.
1
5 minutes
Y
ou can use these as examples for your Postmodernism answer
(
Q2 Critical Perspectives Examination)
POSTFEMINISM & THE THIRD WAVE
ostfeminists assume that equality has been more or less

achieved and women are victimised by a patriarchal
order. Natasha Walter (1999) claims that: ‘everywhere
you look, you see individual women freer and more
powerful than women have ever been before.’
GIRL POWER
he rhetoric of young female singers like the Spice Girls, who associate
their bright clothes with girlpower, has resonated with a generation of
young girls. Girl power is also evident in television series such as Sex in
the City (1998-2004) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003). ‘Post-
feminist woman can try on identities and adopt them’ (C. Brunsdon
1997) she does not conform to either feminine or feminist
stereotypes.
PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE
hoose a contemporary music video to analyse using Postfeminist theory.
rite 1 paragraph which debates how the images and lyrics used in the
artist's video do not meet their intentions if we analyse it using this
theory.
1
5 minutes

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What are the three ways of looking according to Mulvey?

What are the three ways of looking according to Mulvey?

How does Mulvey argue that women are represented in mainstream films?

How does Mulvey argue that women are represented in mainstream films?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

2.Understand the opposing theory, ‘The Female Gaze’

3.Understand how to use Gender Theories in the Critical Perspectives exam

Feminist Film Theory and the Male Gaze

How were women represented in each?

ow women are represented in the media may encourage particular expectations

laire Johnston’s ‘Women’s Cinema as Counter Cinema’ shows

‘The Male Gaze’

1. The look of the camera that records the film

2. The look of the audience that views the film

3. The look of the characters in the film

mphasises the importance of the patriarchal viewpoint in the cinema

States that the pleasure gained from looking (called scopophilia) is a

his is often referred to as the “male gaze”.

copophilic pleasure which is linked to narcissistic identification.

rotic object for the characters in the story

rotic object for the spectator.

atch the following music video

Write this on your post-it note

Vogue’ literalizes the Female Gaze. "Strike a pose!"

ostfeminists assume that equality has been more or less

hoose a contemporary music video to analyse using Postfeminist theory.

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