asserts that women are characterized as “others” or as “not male” . This distinction would not be possible if women were not recognizable by sight as not male. Due to this, it is relevant to look at film and its associations with visual representations of the woman and the male gaze. As John Berger recognises “men act, women appear…men look at women…women themselves being looked at” . This succinctly defines that the position of women in patriarchal culture depends on look and elucidates that women exist
In the early 1990s Laura Mulvey’s thesis concerning the patriarchal structure of an active male gaze has influenced feminist film critiques and Hollywood. Mulvey’s project is to use psychoanalysis to uncover the power of patriarchy in Hollywood cinema. Patriarchal influence upon cinema is found primarily in pleasure (pleasure in looking) or as Freud’s has put it, scopophilia. Mulvey suggests that it may be possible to create a new for of cinema due to the fact that patriarchy power to control cinematic
foreshadower of Lucretia’s suicide (Shakespeare 1239). The insinuation present in this snapshot of the patriarchal household is that women, when left to their own nature without male guidance, are easily overcome with emotion and thus rendered incapable of rationality. Shakespeare’s potent description of this interaction begins to reveal how such anti-feminist ideology was the lifeblood of patriarchal authority in monarchical Rome. As this interaction between mistress and servant progresses, the definition
is also acceptably womanly, a baker, and pits two conniving women against each other in competition for another women’s friendship (Smalls). Along these imperfections, the women onscreen come to reject the possibility of a male gaze by deviating from the passive object of male desire, to the active subject of female agency. This transition is supported by the fact that the script was written by two females, Wiig and Annie Mumolo, which serves to empower women because it gives women a voice in a field
even Angel who seemingly personifies progressiveness is an enforcer of the “male gaze” — Victorian men with a wide spectrum of personalities all fall prey to the “male gaze”. Moreover, the magnified contour of Tess’ lips coupled with erotic descriptions of her “bouncing handsome womanliness” unveil an unhealthy voyeuristic focus on female physicality, signalling the physical essentialism of femininity which spawned the “male
soccer ball. Even though her body is objectified through the male gaze during opening scene at the beach, her personality proclaims that she is not very ladylike at all. An example of this is when she yells at her mother that she, “hate(s) the dress” her mom got her and that she doesn’t “want to be a debutant girl”. This establishes that Viola does not identify with the female gender, nor does she fit into a stereotypical patriarchal female character stated previously. Her statements to her mother
theory of the male gaze is still prominent. The phallocentric narrative is still an underlining feature within the main body of the film. The castrated female is represented as a character in dire need for the influence of the male, be it in a voyeuristic or scopophilic presence. Contemporary animations such as Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Mulan and Frozen all encounter Mulvey’s notions of the male gaze and show the female as passive within the narrative, whilst in today’s patriarchal society they
Despite Cher 's confident didacticism when it comes to dating, she falls short in her own seduction attempt, which further calls her "expert" status into question. She positions the viewer on the receiving end of her dating advice, laying out multiple steps via voice-over in her plan to...seduce Christian, but she fails to read the signs of his homosexuality. (135) This failure to read clearly coded visual cues may also reveal that Cher herself is the one who is “adorably clueless” as she gets
oppressive male gaze towards female characters in the movie. Most mainstream films pay extra attention to how the human form is presented to the audience. Women in film are continuously used solely as part of the landscape in films. The gaze the director focuses on the female form turns them (females) into objects, whose appearance is used to deliver a strong visual and erotic impact that provokes the male desire. I support Mulvey’s argument that, “woman as icon, displayed for the gaze and enjoyment
pleasure of looking as the active dominant male, and the pleasure in being looked at as the passive female. I plan to analyze Mulvey’s ideas of patriarchy in film, specifically the “male gaze” and how these ideas are portrayed through the film of Eyes Wide Shut. The male protagonist in film is often caught by the viewer, in the pleasuring act of looking at females. Through film, Mulvey argues that the male is seen as the dominant figure, imposing a “male gaze” on his female victim. This phenomenon