Laura Mulvey's Theory

Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist. She was educated at St Hilda's college, Oxford, and she is currently professor of film and media studies at Birbeck University of London. She is best known for her essay, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Her feminist film theory laid out in the article develops as a logical argument from two assertions:

• Cinema Reflects Society
• Society is Patriarchal

Patriarchy

Patriarchy is a social system in which males hold primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property. Males dominate in the domain of the family, fathers or father figures hold authority over women and children. It implies that the institutions of male domination and entails female subordination. Many patriarchal societies are also patrilineal, which means that property and title are inherited by the male lineage. 

The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey's argument is based upon the theory that the 'gaze' of the camera is the 'male gaze'. Whilst the male gaze is active, the female gaze is passive. Within the narrative, male characters direct their gaze towards female characters, and so the woman is the image, and the man is the bearer of the look. Laura Mulvey criticises Alfred Hitchcock for his portrayal of women, for his movie Rear Window supported her theories on male voyeurism in cinema, for the main male character was looking at two women undressing to get into a jacuzzi, and a ballerina who was wearing revealing clothing. His view of the ballerina's apartment, as well as the audience's view, is unrestrained, and that continues throughout the movie, which puts her character as a figure for the male gaze.

The Triple Gaze 

The spectator is forced to identify with the male gaze for the camera films from the optical, as well as libidinal, point of view of the male character. This created three levels of the cinematic gaze (the camera, the character and the spectator) which objectifies the female character, creating the triple gaze.

In James Bond - Doctor No, the triple gaze is present for Sean Connery is staring at Ursula Andress coming out of the ocean. The triple gaze shows the audience looking through the camera watching Connery looking at Andress. 

In James Bond - Die Another Day, the male gaze is on Halle Berry coming out of the ocean, and it is an obvious gaze for James Bond has binoculars in which he is staring at Halle Berry's character.  Her sexuality is exploited throughout the scene for she is walking in an unnatural way with her hips moving more than normal, and James Bond doesn't take his eyes off of her throughout this scene, and whilst it shoots back to James Bond staring, the camera is almost always on Halle Berry, and so the audience is watching James Bond watch Halle Berry. 

In Transformers, Megan Fox's character is subjected to the male gaze for Shia Laboeuf is staring at Megan Fox's body. Her character is wearing revealing clothing, and when she gets out of the car to look at the bonnet of the car, her top rides up,  showing her stomach.  The audience is forced to watch the exploitation of Megan Fox's body as the camera tilts upwards to show all of her body.

The Triple Gaze is present in James Bond - Casino Royale, however, it is different to the other examples of the Triple Gaze for this time, both the male and female are looking at each other, so the audience is subjected to watching the female watch James Bond, and Bond watching the female. This could be to attract the female audience as well as the male audience, and it challenges the idea that only the male gaze is present in films. 

Erotic Desire

Laura Mulvey argues that women have two roles in classical cinema:

• As an object of erotic desire for the characters
• As an object of erotic desire for the audience.

However, Thelma and Louise challenge this theory and the object of desire is Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt's sexual appeal is exploited for he has no shirt on and the camera is on him throughout the scene. The woman in the scene looks all over Brad Pitt's body, and the audience is subjected to the exploitation.

In Top Gun, there is a homosexual view, for the men are staring at the other male characters. Male sexual appeal is exploited in this film for the men are wearing no shirts, and so the audience is forced to watch the exploitation of the male body. This would have attracted the female audience as well as the male audience, for it is an action film, and so men would be the target audience, however, this scene challenges the idea that action movies target audience is male only. 

Music Videos

Laura Mulvey's argument regarding the male gaze is particularly relevant when considering music videos. A significant proportion of music videos feature women as objects of erotic desire.  

In Madonna's video for Vogue, this idea of the male gaze is music video is present, for Madonna's body is exploited throughout the video. She wears revealing clothing, and in some scenes she is topless with her arms covering her chest. It is not only Madonna who is exploited in this music video but also other women in the video, for they are wearing revealing and short clothing. This subjects the audiences view to the sexual appeal of the women and forces them to the exploitation of women's bodies. 

Another video where the male gaze is present is Rihanna's video for Shut Up And Drive. In this video,  the audience is subjected to the exploitation of Rihanna and the other women in the video, and the video is seemingly aimed at the male audience for the women are working in a garage, mending cars. However, this idea of having women working in a stereotypical male career could suggest that they are trying to challenge the idea that there are male and female careers. However, this idea is then destroyed for the women are wearing revealing clothing and dancing in an desirable form, and so they are still dominated by the male audience. The male audience would be attracted to this video for the use of the exploitation of the female body.

Agency

Agency is a term used for characters which are able to make decisions themselves based on their own desires and ideas, They are characters who are able to act for themselves, and this is called agency. 

In the classical Hollywood cinema, the male protagonist has agency, for he is active and powerful. He is the character in which the dramatic action all unfolds around. The female character is passive and powerless. She is the object of desire for the protagonist and the audience.

There are not many female characters with agency in films, however, the female characters which do are the central characters and they gain a wide fanbase of women.

Katniss from The Hunger Games is a very good example of female characters with agency. She does not wear revealing clothing such as women in other films, and her character is a role model for many female teenagers for Katniss is a main source of independence. Another central female character with agency is Tris from Divergent. Her body is covered up throughout the film and so her sexual appeal is not exploited. Also, her character has many action scenes and she moves the storyline along throughout the film. The whole film is mainly based around her.  Ripley from Alien is another female character with agency for she is the central character and she moves the storyline along. She is not exploited throughout the film, for, like Katniss and Tris, her clothing covers up her body and the audience is not subjected to the male gaze. These characters have created a large amount of female viewers but also, men are a part of the audience for the film.