Who is Laura Mulvey?Laura Mulvey is a British feminist

film theorist and film maker and

currently professor of film and

media studies at Birkbeck College,

University of London, Between 1974

And 1982 Mulvey co-Wrote and co

directed with her husband , Peter

Wollen , six theoretical style

films ,dealing in the discourse of

feminist theory, semiotics ,

psychoanalysis and leftist politics

which include Pemhesilea: Queen of

the Amazons (1974), Riddles of the

Sphinx(1977 - perhaps their most

Influential film), AMY! (1980),

crystal Gazing (1982), Frida Kahlo

and Tina Modotti (1982), and The

Bad Sister. In 1991, she returned to

filmmaking with Disgraced

Monuments, which she co-directed

with Mark Lewis.

The male gaze theory

She was famously known for her article “Visual and other Pleasures” that

helped shift the orientation of film theory towards a psychoanalytic

framework, influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud and Jacques

Lacan. Prior to Mulvey, film theorists such as Jean-Louis Baudry and Christian

Metz attempted to use psychoanalytic ideas in their theoretical accounts of

the cinema, but Mulvey's contribution was to inaugurate the intersection of

film theory, psychoanalysis, and feminism. Her article revealed classic

Hollywood film as an expression of the patriarchal ideology. Where the view

can be offered identification by one of the characters (e.g. male

character), through which to experience the scenes. The ‘gaze’ is

'constmcted’ by the film. Mulvey takes the stance that the gaze of a male

heterosexual is increasingly adopted by the mainstream cinema. This is when

film directors represent woman as sexual objects and therefore in some way

or another all films with women in are directed at men She believes that the

‘male gaze’ dominates the ‘female gaze’ in this way. Mulvey argues that

the relationship between theviewer and what is on screen is unbalanced by

this.

The person ‘gazed` at are objectified -treated as an

object whose sole value is to be enjoyed or

possessed by the voyeur (voyeuristic is the mode of

the male gaze - an obsessive observer of sordid or

sensational subjects). Objectified characters( such as

women) are devalued and their humanity is removed

and may encourage Women to see this is as the

hegemonic norm for the benefit of men. On the other

hand Fetishism is another mode of the male gaze

Which is an excessive attention or attachment to

something, According to Mulvey Hollywood female

characters of the 19505 and 60s were coded with

“to-be-looked-at-ness”.

The concept of gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people

presented.

Feminists have divided this concept into the following three dimensions:

How men look at women

How women look at themselves

How women look at other women

How men look at women.Men tend to look at the ‘curvy parts’ of the women. Like the idea that men

don’t tend to look women in the eyes, but at the other parts of their bodies.

(Camera in films sometimes focuses more on the women’s bodies)

How women look at themselves.Some have argued that the female gaze is only whereby women act

as men in their objection of others. Women are made to look at

themselves in a negative way, picking fault with parts of their

appearance when they see how women look in the media; when they

have been airbrushed. It triggers a lack of self esteem and makes

women aspire to be like models in magazines or on TV Women

Became reflective.

How women look at other women.Women can look it other in a sexual way. But

mainly they judge and compare themselves to

other girls. E.g. looking at what another girl is

wearing and then comparing it to your own

clothing.

Men are often represented as active and women as passive.

Camera lingering on the curves of the female body.

Anything that happens to a woman is presented largely in the

man’s reactions to this event.

The film degrades the woman to the extent of making her an

object or possession. Moreover female roles are sidelined and scarce lead

roles.

Female viewers must experience the narrative secondarily by

identification with the male

The gaze suggests that women are weak and defenseless.

Stereotypes attached to women are

Bimbo, easy, weak, housewife, mother, defenseless, intelligent yet

Willing to settle down.

Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. Women are presented as sexual spectacle (show) objects of pleasure for the

characters and audience.

Laura Mulvey believed that in films audiences have to view characters from

the perspective of a heterosexual male. Stating that the way women are

viewed in cinema is ‘unequal’. The camera necessarily present women as

‘sexualised for the pleasure of men.

Men fetishies women which she referred to as ‘fetishistic scopophilia’.

Men have this gaze to avoid being ‘castrated’.

Hitchcock was known as controlling director,

particularly when it came to women. His female

characters reflected the same qualities over and

over again. They were:

Blond

Icy and remote

They were imprisoned in costumes that subtly

combined fashion with fetishism

They were mesmerized their men, who often

has psychological problems

Sooner or later they were humiliated/ killed

Movie making and movie viewing have lung been

analyzed as socophilic practices (which literally

means ‘love of watching). The term socophilia

derives from Freud’s study of the psyche.

Socophilia and the gaze are key themes of

Hitchcock’s work-especially in Vertigo. The main

Characters are a detective (who watches others

without their knowledge ) and an actress of sorts

(Judy/Madeleine) whose role is to be watched by

Scotty

TV serial "Two and a Half Men" episode

Starring Megan FOX

Mid-shot/close-up shot of Prudence Shots

focus on her looks and figure

Clothing-revealing/figure hugging

Charlie and Alan-Men are literally

drooling over her

Staring at prudence .... cant keep their eyes

off her

Even Jake (young boy) is shown looking

at Prudence .... implies all men treat

women like objects

Criticism.Critics of the article objected to the fact that Laura Mulvey’s argument implied the impossibility of genuine 'feminine' enjoyment of the classical Hollywood cinema, and to the fact that her argument did not seem to take into account spectator ships that were not organized along the normative lines of gender (for example, a metaphoric 'transvestism' might be possible when viewing a film -- a male viewer might enjoy a 'feminine' point-of view provided by a film, or vice versa; gay and lesbian spectatorships might also be different).

Changes in society.

As women's roles change so does media representation. Still objectified but also likely to be...

- Career driven

- Intelligent

- Confident

- Empowered

- Able (violent)

Remember changes may

be made cynically and in

order to make money rather than

change ideologies

A Terminators Feminist Timeline- T1 - Sarah Connor is hysterical, screaming

in need of rescue

- T2 - Strong, empowered, able to hold her

own against Arnie

- T3 - We have female terminator TX (uses

femininity to advantage)

Terminator: Sarah Connor chronicles - save

the World.

MADE BY:

SUMBUL KHAN

AS-F