Laura Mulvey

Male gaze explained

1. Laura Mulvey Laura Mulvey  (born August 15, 1941) is a British film and media studies professor at  Birkbeck , University of London and has worked at the British Film Institute for many years. Mulvey is best known for her essay,  Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema , written in 1973 and published in 1975 in the influential British film theory journal  Screen . Mulvey's combative text, inaugurated the intersection of  film theory ,  psychoanalysis  and feminism . This article is an analysis of Hollywood cinema narratives , based on the theories of  Sigmund Freud  as formulated in his Three essays on Sexuality (1905) and  Jacques Lacan in The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I (1966 )

2. Laura Mulvey As a filmmaker she co-wrote and co-directed with her husband Peter Wollen : Penthesilea : 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) The Bad Sister . Other films Disgraced Monuments ( 1991), documentary film co-directed with Mark Lewis.

3. Laura Mulvey Mulvey is best known for her essay,  Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema , written in 1973 and published in 1975 in the influential British film theory journal  Screen . It later appeared in a collection of her essays entitled  Visual and Other Pleasures , as well as in numerous other anthologies.

4. Is a feminist theory that looks at representation of women and how this is perceived by the audience. For Laura Mulvey , this can be thought of in three different ways : How men look at women How women look at themselves How women look at other women The ‘Male Gaze’

5. Laura Mulvey : Gender representation Prior to Mulvey , film theorists such as  Jean-Louis Baudry  and  Christian Metz  used psychoanalytic ideas in their theoretical accounts of the cinema . Her article is one of the first major essays that helped shift the orientation of film theory towards a  psychoanalytic framework . Mulvey's combative text, however, inaugurated the intersection of  film theory ,  psychoanalysis  and feminism . This article is based on the theories of  Sigmund Freud  as formulated in his Three essays on Sexuality (1905) and  Jacques Lacan in The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I (1966),

6. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema Use of semiotic analysis and psychoanalysis (Freud and Lacan) to elaborate a feminist thesis about traditional narrative fiction cinema ( “ Psychoanalysis as a political weapon” ) Proposes an alternative avant-garde cinema which will differ politically and aesthetically from the mainstream Hollywood film

7. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema Symbolic order of society is dominated by the heterosexual male gaze . Dichotomy and sexual imbalance in that symbolic order: male-active / female-passive . Objectification of women as representation / signifier of male desires and fears . Audience are forced to identify with the heterosexual male gaze of the male protagonist, even if they are homosexual males or women.

8. Terminology Scopophilia (Freud) Love to look at. From Greek Scopo (Mirror), scopein (to look at) and philia / philein (love to/ to love) Voyeurism (from French voyeur ): A person who gains sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity. A person who enjoys seeing the pain or distress of others Diegesis vs. Mimesis (Aristotle)

9. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema Here is an illustrated example of this theory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUcvlJmCVcI

10. GQ’s Men of the year GQ’s Woman of the year Objectification of women as representation / signifier of male desires .

11. Audience are forced to identify with the heterosexual male gaze , even if they are homosexual males or women .

12. Lesson Aims All (C grade) : will identify the male gaze in music videos. Most (B grade) : will identify and analyse the ‘male gaze’ and apply it to examples of music videos. Some (A grade) : will identify , analyse and evaluate the ‘male gaze’ and apply it to examples of music video, discussing female representation in detai l .

13. Starter 1) How do you think heterosexual men look at these women ? 2) How do you think these women look at themselves ? 3) How do you think other women look at these women ? 3 minutes to DISCUSS these questions in groups of three. EXT: what role does the gender of the audience have on the way these women are represented?

14. Miley Cyrus “Wrecking Ball” https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=My2FRPA3Gf8 https ://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/12/28/my-two-cents-on-feminism-and-miley-cyrus /

15. Robin Thicke , T.I . & Pharrell   Williams “Blurred Lines” https:// vimeo.com/72954787 https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwT6DZCQi9k

16. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema ( 1975) was published in the context of the Second Wave of Feminism and the arrival of a structured feminist theory . Active gaze male/passive gaze female Men look at women for visual pleasure , derived from their fears and desires ( Scopophilia (Freud )- pleasure in looking) Audiences ‘look at’ characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male . Women look at other women from the point of view of the heterosexual male’s gaze. “The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure” “Cinema screen acts as distorting mirror ( Lacan ) for spectators who then ( mis ) recognise themselves” Mulvey and the Male Gaze: Summary

17. Terminology Scopophilia (Freud) Love to look at. From Greek Scopo (Mirror), scopein (to look at) and philia / philein (love to/ to love) Voyeurism (from French voyeur ): A person who gains sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity. A person who enjoys seeing the pain or distress of others Diegesis vs. Mimesis (Aristotle)

18. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema in a nutshell Symbolic order of a patriarchal society is dominated by the heterosexual male gaze . Dichotomy and sexual imbalance in that symbolic order: male-active / female-passive . Objectification of women as representation / signifier of male desires and fears . A udience are forced to identify with the heterosexual male gaze of the male protagonist, even if they are homosexual males or women. Terminology: Scopophilia (Freud) Love to look at. From Greek Scopo (Mirror), scopein (to look at) and philia / philein (love to/ to love) Voyeurism (from French voyeur ): A person who enjoys seeing the pain or distress of others. A person who gains sexual pleasure from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity . Diegesis vs. Mimesis (Aristotle )

19. Using your case of study, identify why/how your chosen video conforms to Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’theory . Justify your reasons by referring to specific examples from the video and the main points from the lesson. Illustrate your post with images taken from the video. Your case of study

20. How do you think women are represented in this clip? Refer to an example . Discuss the use of cinematography and the representation of women. Refer to an example . What do you think is being connoted by the way women are represented? Analysis of y our case of study Success criteria: P oint (thesis) Illustrate with clear references to the video (example) Explain what those examples represent (analysis) E valuate the impact that this female representation has on the audience ( refer to Mulvey’s theory) Terminology (use specific media terminology: representation, connotation, denotation, sign, signifier, symbol, hegemonic ideology, male gaze, etc . Conclusion (summarise your arguments, linking them to your thesis)

21. Essay structure Intro : Explanation of Mulvey’s theory. Case of study : Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ analysis of a music video . Thesis (the main point of your argumentation) Evidence /Examples from your case of study Analysis (refer to Mulvey’s theory) Conclusion

22. Dance Discuss whether the genre you have chosen relates to Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ theory and, if so, to what extent : Is this representation an isolated example or is it more a convention? Hip Hop Pop Conclusion