Study Task: The Male Gaze

Mulvey. L (1975) Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema:
Structure:
– intro in psychoanalysis as a feminist weapon 
– radical scopophilia emerging from classic hollywood cinema 

– Sscopophilia  in cinema 

– narcissistic pleasure- in relation to cinema 

– summarises cinema and castration 

– active male passive female 

– A: role of women 

– B: roles of male 

– structures of the gaze and relation with castration threats

– 2X case study

 summary and conclusion  

Discusion:

Paragraph 1:

– how people react to human body in film 

– women inferior as they don't have a penis

– men are dominant because they have a penis and therefor are leaders, we've created a society where men are leaders because women don't have a penis, there role is to be maternal.

– on board with psychoanalysis, using it as a means to understand oppression 

– gives women power through castration threat 

Paragraph 2:

– Hollywood is dominated by male dominance despite resent development which allow women to lead, this will never be a constant

– alternative cinema make it possible to break away from male dominance 

– cinema today has improved through the use of powerful female figures

– the ability to be seen is more accessible through the development of social media 

– the male gaze is still relevant today 

Paragraph 3:

– discusses scopophilia's place within cinema, through the pleasure of seeing 

– main focus on cinema, darkeness of cinema gives impression your spying on someone

– pleasure of seeing develops at young age, extremes can develop to pepping toms and pedophilia  

– discusses the link between the pleasure of seeing and the ego, how this develops 

– scopophilia is the joy of watching, voyerism in a perverse sense 

– in relation to psychoanalysis, not aware of it in reality but it is there 

  

Paragraph 4:

– narcissistic pleasure, view yourself as the male protagonist and gain pleasure from that 

– recognition of human form and film 

– how the ego develops and narcissistic pleasure

–  identification with the dominant male character which dictates the story line 

– we're all obessed with the ideal version of ourselves 

Paragraph 5:

– male role as spectator and female roll on screen, discusses the flatness of representation of women on screen to appear object like, women as object/persessions

– male seen in more 3-d from 

– women displayed in two forms, erotic form within the narrative and as an object seen by the spectator 

– role of men within cinema of the protagonists, controls the film fantasy, drives the story forward

– male spectator, feels they can relate to male protagonist character by objectifying female 

– man can't handle sexual objectification 

Paragraph 6:

– castration, intimidates men through the female body (lack of penis), boost men ego by controlling the female role within cinema to dissolve the threat of castration 

– women object of affection but also presents a threat  

Storey, J(2001) Cultural Theory and Popular Culture:

Cine-psychoanalysis:

– analysis of Laura Mulvey's text , secondary text 

– aimed at students, explains/explores the original text, interpretation 

– recognise difference in texts, always look at primary texts

– use text book to aid understanding after reading primary text 

Dyer, R (1979) Stars:

– argument against Mulvey 

– presenting a counter argument to counter but not contrast, theoretically filling the gaps  

– uses conflation, to present his argument, including own text 

– are continuing examples where looks are directed at the male body 

– the male disavows this look, male rejects idea of his own erotic potential 

– incorporates Mulvey's idea but develops them further with the psychoanalytical theory 

In terms of Graphic Design:

– male gaze used when investigating adverting and social media 

– relate theories to visual circumstances 

– developing theories further based on argument 

Study Task: Questions

What kind of document:

Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, L.Mulvey 

Storey, J(2001) Cultural Theory and Popular Culture - textbook 

Dyer, R (1979) Stars - 

What is being discussed:

Triangulate:

The male gaze as discussed by Mulvey. L (1975) in 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' explores the sexualisation of women in cinema which is derived from the psychoanalytical theory that men are leaders because they have a penis and the women's roll is to be looked at due to her lack of penis and is forced to be maternal. Furthermore Mulvey. L (1975) explains the use of psychoanalysis as a feminist weapon in order to gain control over the male gaze. The male gaze is explained further by Storey, J (2001) in 'Cultural Theory and Popular Culture' where its discussed in relation to the ego and how the male gaze is linked to the pleasure of seeing which results in the sexualisation of women in cinema and life as the cinema gives the audience the experience of watching as the darkness creates the impression of spying on someone.  Additionally the male gaze is discussed further by Dyer, R (1979) 'Stars' in which he expands on the theory in relation to men and how today the man is sexualised just as much as women.