1. Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory

2. Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory
•Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema was
an essay written by Laura Mulvey
•An essay which coined the term “Male
Gaze” which soon went on to become a very
well know and discussed theory
•In film, the male gaze occurs when the
audience is put into the perspective of a
heterosexual man. A scene may focus on the
curves of a woman's body, putting you the
viewer in the eyes of a male
•However it is only the Male Gaze theory if
these curves are highlighted with specific
conventions such as slow motion, deliberate
camera movements and cut aways.

3. •The theory suggests that the male gaze
denies women human identity, relegating
them to the status of objects to be
admired for physical appearance
•The theory suggests woman can more
often than not only watch a film from a
secondary perspective and only view
themselves from a mans perspective
Remember the stat from mis
representation, only 16% of media
creaters are female.
Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory
•The “masculinisation” of the viewer

4. Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory
•However the presence of a woman in
mainstream film texts is something that is
vital
•Often a female character has no real
importance herself, it is how she makes
the male feel or act that is the
importance.
•The female only exist in relation to the
male

5. Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory
•The male gaze leads to Hegemonic ideologies within our society
Hegemonic = ruling or dominant in a political or social context

6. Visual Pleasure
Mulvey states that the role of a female character in
a narrative has two functions
1.As an erotic object for the characters within the
narrative to view
2.As an erotic object for the spectators within the
cinema to view

7. Gender roles in film
The characters that look at others are
seen as the active role (male)
The characters that are to be looked at
are passive (female) They are under
control of the males gaze and only exist
for visual pleasure.
Females often slow the narrative down,
they act as inspiration for men to act.
Males on the other hand, push the
narrative forwards and make things
happen and are seen as active

8. Mulvey also discussed the term Scopophilia

9. Female Objectification
Objectification is related to the gaze
The persons gazed at are objectified,
treated as an object whose sole value is
to be enjoyed or possessed by the
voyeur
Objectified characters are devalued and
their humanity removed.

10. Patriarchal society = Men dictate the rules
Mulvey argued we live in a patriarchal society in which
men set the majority of the rules and construct and
represent the ideal visions, roles and male dominance
over woman.
The worry is a passive audience will be influenced by this
representation of reality and copy it and it will actually
become reality…if it hasn’t all ready.

11. The mass media were once thought of as holding up a mirror to, and thereby
reflecting, a wider social reality to what you the individual would see in your
local environment. However in the past it was thought TV reflected reality.
The Theory of Post modernism says yes.
Traditional media representation of reality

12. - Now reality is only definable in terms of the reflections of that mirror.
- It is not a question of distortion since that implies that there is still reality, outside
the influence of the media, which can be distorted.
-Now we are copying copies of reality and representing hyper reality as reality and
thus being influenced by a fake constructed representation of reality,
- The actual reality seems to have been lost, so what actually is reality now?
Post Modernism representation of reality
‘Pure’ reality is thus replaced by the hyperreal where any boundary between the real
and the imaginary is eroded. What we see on television, we see as the real and thus
copy it within our lives, so the real is being lost unconciously. This influenced the film
the Matrix.

13. So are we being influenced by a hyper reality?
Has Hyper reality become reality?
Does the Male Gaze influence and serpress
females?
Is there a lot of evidence of female
objectification via male controled technical
conventions?

14. The Male Gaze is very common in James Bond films

15. List 3 elements from the scene
you think prove the statement
below is correct.
The James Bond franchise is a clear
example of film objectifying females
and forcing the audience to view
females via the male gaze. The scene
within, “Die Another Day” when
James Bond meets the character Jinx
demonstrates my previous statement
by……

16. • A constructed representation of reality
• The female character has been coded
• The post production of the film has edited
• Vignette
• Hyper reality
• A masculine voyeuristic position
• Objectified female
• Representation
• Hegemonic
• Scopophilia
• Patriarchal society

17. This applies when the character Jinx enters the text. Jinx has been swimming in the sea and
is coming onto shore. Bond picks up binoculars to watch jinx swim from a far from a beach
side bar. As Bond picks up the binoculars and looks through them, the camera takes up the
binoculars vignette forcing the audience to look at the female through Bond’s Gaze. Male
or female, the audience has been forced to objectify the character via a masculine
voyeuristic position. The female character has been coded to ensure she has a strong visual
and erotic impact, with large breasts, flawless skin, fully make uped when swimming and a
tiny waste, which draws in “To be looked at ness” (1) The shot then shows Jinx walking to
the bar on the beach dripping wet in a bikini. The post production of the film has edited
Jinx into slow motion. Her body movements are racy and exaggerated her hips sway side to
side and her facial expression is somewhat sexually suggestive. This slow motion edit
represents the intense scrutiny and examination Bond is giving the female form. We at this
point could argue that this racy and suggestive body language is not how she is actually
moving, it is how Bond sees her move in his mind. The character of Jinx has been
objectified before we even know her name or narrative role. The objectification is not
discreet and is confirmed, with Bond’s first words when meeting Jinx, “Magnificent View”
playfully tricking and making fun of the female character into believing he is talking about
the landscape, when the audience knows he is referring to her body. This is also an issue of
female representation as Bond is ridiculing her intelligence, and she is oblivious.

18. • 1.Define the key features of Mulvey’s theory.
2. What effect could this theory have upon woman viewers?
• 3. What effect could this theory have on male viewers?
• 4.Why do we believe the male gaze is present in
films/adverts and T.V today?
• 5.What effect can this have upon society?