...theorises that visual pleasure in the mainstream cinema is largely founded upon a male gaze that fetishises the female body and positions the male spectator voyeuristically in relation to the film. To what extent you agree with this hypothesis? The ‘Male Gaze’ is a term that refers to instances in film, where the audience view a scene through the perspective of a heterosexual man. For example, a scene that focuses on a woman’s curves and these features are accentuated in some way, such as, purposeful camera movements or through the use of slow motion and/or cut-aways. The term was first coined by Laura Mulvey in her article “Visual pleasure and Narrative cinema”. In this article, Mulvey advocates that the use of the Male Gaze in films, causes women to only be admired for their physical appearance and therefore relegates women to the stature of objects, refusing them human identity. She demonstrates this by using film examples that infer a female’s existence in the film world is only in relation to the male, that she has no real importance, besides how she makes the male feel or act. Mulvey states female characters only serve two roles in a narrative: 1) As an erotic object for the characters within the narrative to view, and 2) As an erotic object for the spectators with the cinema to view. They tend to slow the narrative down; they give men inspiration to act, they are considered passive. Where as male characters push the narrative forwards making events happen, they are seen...
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...Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film, Taxi Driver, seen through the maladjusted protagonist, Travis Brickle, is both of seeing and of being. Taxi Driver affirms Laura Mulvey’s idea of the “male gaze,” a combination of the interaction of looks, fetishism, voyeurism, and pleasure in (Hollywood) cinema. Mulvey outlines three different looks within film: of the director and camera, of the spectator, and of the male protagonist. Film, as Mulvey argued, perpetuates the “male gaze.” In the film, emblematic of the “male gaze,” Travis is presented as the dominant male while most female characters are treated and seen as objects of sex and desire—cheapened, eroticized, submissive—though he one female, Betsy, is treated and seen with reverent affection. In addition,...
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...motivation for writing, “Chick Flicks” as Feminist texts: The Appropriation of the Male Gaze in Thelma & Lousie, is to inform us on how the explanation for the movie’s wide appeal among women spectators. “The film's female gazes undercut and appropriate the dominant male gazes typical of mainstream Hollywood cinema by using mockery as a narrative device to illustrate the sexism inherent in the male gaze, and it is precisely this appropriation of patriarchal construction that offers pleasure to women spectators” (Cooper). The movie Thelma & Lousie caused so much controversy that she wanted to inform us on the topic, and explain how, “a conceptual framework for explicating these subversive gazes within film narratives” (Cooper)....
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...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 and reinforced by preexisting social patterns which have shaped the fascinated subject. Mulvey's analysis in "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" combines semiotic methodology of cinematic means of expression with psychoanalytic analysis of desire structures and the formation of subjectivity. The semiotic end of Mulvey's analysis enables the deciphering of how films produce the meanings they produce, while the psychoanalytic side of the article provides the link between the cinematic text and the viewer and explains his fascination through the way cinematic representations interact with his (culturally determined) subconscious. Mulvey's main argument in "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" is that Hollywood narrative films use women in order to provide a pleasurable visual experience for men. The narrative film structures its gaze as masculine. The woman is always the object of the reifying gaze, not the bearer of it (this has something reminiscent of John Berger's "Ways of Seeing") The cinematic gaze is always produced a masculine both by means of the identification produced with the male hero and through the use of the camera. Mulvey identifies two...
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...Persepolis is a movie about girl, Marjane and her struggle to identify her true identity within the confines of eastern and western views. Marjane and her family’s lifestyle in this film are seen to be challenging the dynamics of orientalism. Their progressive, educated and liberal outlook builds the foundation of breaking down Western’s pre conceived notions about the people of Iran. It is evidently proven by the perception, style and actions of Marjane and her family’s that the orientalist view of Iran being backwards, restricted and dogmatic is not entirely true. This film presents a convincing challenge to the concept of orientalism and it showed how the stereotypical images set by the western of the orient are not entirely correct. This is evident through the scene when Marjane is about to marry, her mother is found crying the bathroom because she is upset over the fact that her daughter is giving her life away when she wanted her to be liberated, literate and independent. This shows that even though Marjane was in an Iranian society and was forced to veil herself and follow the set of Islamic rules, the film challenges the orientalist impression of Marjane being completely suppressed or controlled in the society, which would be expected by the western audience. In fact, Marjane is seen to have a liberal and supportive family, her mother and grandmother at several instances are seen to encourage her to stand up for herself and make a future for herself by being...
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...It is imperial that we understand how the representation of women in film is wholly based on a male perspective. Throughout the history of film, we should acknowledge that the classical studio system in Hollywood has provided audiences with a patriarchal notion of society. Nowadays directors form their films around an institution that best suits the script and therefore, constructing the film. It is not uncommon for films to take advantage of the female body to an extent in which it gains a sexual aspect for the film thus producing a male stance on the matter. Furthermore, the use of women in films has been for the most part “an indispensable element of spectacle… yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a storyline, to freeze the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation” (Mulvey, 346). The film industry has continuously managed to restrict women’s freedom and thus encouraging male dominance in society. Because “cinema’s identity lays in its ability to record reality” (Manovich, 2), then how gender is represented in films alludes to our understanding of set roles in society. Nevertheless, we also need to recognize that there is notion of change relating to gender stereotypes within the film industry. There are countless movies starring women as lead characters who epitomize...
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...“Defeating the Male Monster in Halloween and Halloween H2O” wrote by Kelly Connelly, introduces a new idea about women in slasher films. In the article, Connelly states that women in films dealing with slashing, will have to learn and be able to face the masculine traits of the killer to be able to surive and be the “Final Girl” (13). Kelly uses the movies Halloween, Halloween 2, and Halloween H2O to describe the relationship that is used in each of these movies. The relationship she describes is the female-male relationship, which would be considered the male killer and the Final Girl (13, 14). A few traits that Connelly describes that the “final girl” has is that she is never sexually active and she often acts more like a boy than a woman. If she sees something that is not normal or is out of the ordinary then she is automatically assured to go check to see what it is which causes her to receive the traits of being smart and attentive of her surroundings (14). Clover has come to see that Laurie achieves empowerment as the final girl based on her ability to stay alive long enough to be rescued in the first film, Halloween (14). But twenty years later in Halloween H2O Laurie had become of age as the true final girl” by assuming the male characteristics of her attacker, which would be a necessary step in defeating the slasher film monster. The lessons Laurie learned in Halloween and Halloween 2 will permit her to finally triumph as the final girl by defeating the male monster in...
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...terms of minority groups, such as women, people of color, all non-normative sexualities, the issue of representation is one that many film theorists and filmmaker’s struggle to contend with. Both the scarcity and the importance of minority representations yield what many have called " the burden of representation". Since there are so few who have the means and access to the "apparatus of representation", they are often burdened with the responsibility of "speaking" for their whole group. Furthermore, as Kobena Mercer and bell hooks explore in their respective essays about black gay men and black females, the perspectives amongst the subaltern are not uniform and universal. The problem with the "burden of representation" is to determine who is the voice of the subaltern and how to infuse it in with mainstream culture. In their essays, Mercer and hooks explore the perspective of gay black men and women, respectively, as spectators whose view has been shaped by their marginalized status and provide a context to tackle the problem of representation. Mercer and hooks use aesthetic and spectatorial strategies, such as oppositional gaze, in their attempt to provide these oft ignored spectators with an empowering perspective that will enable them to transform the film experience. ------------------------------------------------- The ‘gaze’, as described by hooks, is a powerful mechanism among blacks, who have long been discouraged from the act of looking, a tradition passed...
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...times of discomfort. Discomfort because I am not used to seeing naked males, kissing and showing affection toward each other. Therefore the screening really got me out of my comfort zone. The scene of the naked male in the bath tub was especially disturbing. I did not expect that level of nudity so it took me by surprise. What confused and resonated with me is how much homosexuality is frowned upon just because a 2000 year old outdated bible said so. I truly felt sorry and empathized for the characters. I could not imagine being hated by so many people for simply being me. The screening showed me how isolated and marginalized homosexual individuals/couples must feel in daily life. I therefore had an emotional and visceral engagement with the screening. I wanted to jump into the film and some points and tell other characters to mind their own business and to not worry what goes on in others’ private life. Some of the ideas explored in this screening are romance, betrayal, tragedy, morality and religion. This screening reminds me of the daily discrimination and hatred that homosexuals experience daily, especially in the southern United Sates. Thankfully, due to education a more open society, homosexuals are finally starting to gain peace of mind. In this concept response, I will be connecting elements of this week’s screening to the Gaze concept. There is a spectator through character point of view in the film. The main characters are objects of identification. The director wants...
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...agua para chocolate”, a Mexican novel/ film by Laura Esquivel. I highlighted that although the narrative appears to be progressive and to celebrate women's willingness to break from tradition, it is clear that neither the novel nor the film achieve true liberation for the characters. Feminine power is derived through the fulfillment of traditional roles such as marriage and motherhood and it is the masculine gaze and agency that determine the course of the novel. Men are physically present only occasionally, yet the legacy of sexism and the confinement of women to the domestic sphere persist. “Danzon” by contrast does attempt to define contemporary...
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...men. Female stars receive the look, while male stars control the narrative and dominate space. She writes, “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 fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness,” (205). What kind of looks, gazes, or points of identification structure (or destabilize) The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Th. Dreyer, 1928)? Your response should engage Mulvey’s claims. The Passion of Joan of Arc is a silent film directed by Carl Th. Dreyer made in France in 1928. In Laura Mulvey's essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” she argues that the female stars receive the look, while male stars take control of film space. She also points out that the women’s role in the Classical Hollywood cinema is to satisfy the viewer and to be a passive character, i.e. being pleasant to look at. This essay will argue Mulvey's analysis such as: active/man and passive/female, a woman/actress being looked at as an attractive object and the female role in the cinema industry depicted by The Passion of Joan of Arc film. I will try to prove that Mulvey's claims cannot be related to this film. First of all, because the film is concentrated on the form, Dryer's goal...
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...The Ways of Seeing What is the male gaze? The male gaze is defined as how men perceive women. It is when you are looking at an object and you begin to see something more than just the thing itself, this is when you see a relation between the object and yourself. This is what men related too. Referring to an article by Berger, Ways of Seeing, male gaze is seeing through the eyes of men. Berger states, “ Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at” (47). This statement explains how women became not only became an object but, “an object of vision: a sight” (47). Basing this among the subject of European oil painting, the nude oil paintings were the mostly focused on this subject. The main idea of the nude oil painting was to define the difference between naked and nudity. According to Berger, “ Naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen by others and yet not recognized for oneself “ (54). These nudes were made to attract viewers, especially men. Even till this day in the modern society, there are many ways that women are being looked at. It is seen in modern day television, fashion, and photography that these women are a sight for men too look at and see women as an appetite. Berger states, “ A woman’s presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her- her presence is manifest in her gestures, voice, opinions, expressions, clothes, chosen surroundings, taste” (46). Even these examples that inquire the same...
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...adaptation of the film Billy Elliot (2000). After a brief discussion of the portrayal of the male ballet dancer in the dancing scene since the 1990s and the inherent voyeuristic inclinations of contemporary audiences, the analysis will focus on five aspects of male presence in Billy Elliot the Musical (2005). The dynamics of working-class masculinity will be contextualised within the framework of the family, the older female, the community, the self and the act of dancing itself. These aspects will be referenced using reviews of the musical version of the work and articles written on the film of Billy Elliot. However, have today‟s audiences conditioned their gendered gaze to allow for the male ballet dancer to dominate the contemporary stage? Or do we still control our social perceptions and cultural associations with out-of-date images of the past? Have popular perceptions about the male ballet dancer changed? Is there a birth of a new male dancer phenomenon? However, have today‟s audiences conditioned their gendered gaze to allow for the male ballet dancer to dominate the contemporary stage? Or do we still control our social perceptions and cultural associations with out-of-date images of the past? Have popular perceptions about the male ballet dancer changed? Is there a birth of a new male dancer phenomenon?Even if nineteenth-century ballet became „so concerned with the display of female bodies that male characters became almost an impossibility. The film Billy elliot changing...
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... Colonialism is a system of direct political, economic and cultural dominationintervention by a powerful country in a weaker one. Simultaneous mise-en-scène analysis of the film clips Cleo from 5 to 7 and the Battle of Algiers establishes a relationship between the two films as expressions of the historical legacy of colonialism. Agnès Varda, true to her dialectical film making practices, showcases Cleo as a sexual commodity and the product of the French colonial male domineering attitude towards women. The Battle of Algiers conversely shows the Muslim women exchanging their veils for lipstick, enabling them to strike against colonialism by utilizing the patrilineal colonialist view of women to their advantage. The persona of the prototypical woman created by the historical legacy of colonialism is used as an effective tactic for revolutionary decolonization purposes. Specific examples will illustrate how the mise-en-scène elements of costumes, lighting, the combination of mirrors with camera work and props as well as lack of props were used to present this concept. An evaluation of the interactions of the actors with these elements and each other will show the way the mise-en-scènes produced meaning about space, gender and culture relative to this topic. Both clips omitted the glitz and male gaze of Hollywood in favour of a rawness emphasized by documentary realism in black and white. The Battle of Algiers setting in a windowless single level represented women grounded...
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...femininity in their respective films: Chicago and Chinatown, to portray various visual fascinations which come with classically styled female characters. With the aid of cinematography and musical acts Marshall conveys how the focus is drawn to the magnetism of violence and murder when the crime is committed by a sexually alluring female character. Subsequently, Polanski works to develop a story also about crime and murder while his female lead strays on and off camera, generally being used to essentially heighten the suspense within the story through the aid of her costuming and mise-en-scène. Both films portray femininity in ways which are dangerously appealing and devastating in their lack...
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