Laura Mulvey's Theory

1. LAURA MULVEY’S
‘MALE GAZE THEORY’
By Naseha Yasmin

2. What is Male Gaze?
• The concept of gaze is one which deals with the way an
audience perceives people they are exposed to on
screen
• Feminism is concerned with three things:
1) How men look at women
2) How women look at themselves
3) How women look at other women

3. Laura Mulvey
Mulvey established this theory in
1975, as she believes the
representation audiences see of
women are dominated by males and
solely used to benefit patriarchal
society. Women are seen as
‘passive,’ and are portrayed in
derogatory ways in media, whether
it be film or music, in order to
please a male audience. Not only
does this influence men, but
women as well – women feel
insecure for being exposed to such
‘idealised’ depictions of women and
feel the need to look the same. It is
corrupted as it undermines women
as a whole.

4. In the above music video, there is clear evidence of women being exploited –
they are depicted in a way to appeal to a male audience, sexually. The use of
camerawork is essential as certain angles allow the audience to perceive
women in certain ways. E.g. low angle shot or a slow pan on a woman’s body
allows the audience to closely focus on every inch of her body, all the curves,
etc. Thus, this confirms Mulvey’s theory of how women are presented and
the roles they undertaken. Although, we assume there would be some
improvement in the way females are presented across different types of
films and genres of music, it is still continuing which raises many concerns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRcnnId15BA