Feminism and the Male gaze theory

The Male Gaze theory is where in films the women are shown in such a way to be particularly attractive. It takes on a voyeuristic nature as if the audience are looking in on the women and they are unaware of the audience’s presence. In some cases (such as Megan Fox in the Transformers films) women in films make certain poses or wear revealing clothing in order to be attractive to men, the perceived target audience.

The Male Gaze theory was introduced by Laura Mulvey, who concluded that audiences look at films in two ways: voyeuristically and fetishistically. The Audience are voyeurs essentially as they are usually in a darkened room and the characters cannot see them, but they can see the characters. This presents to different concepts:

Ø  Objectification of female characters

Ø  Narcissistic identification with an ideal image on screen

The “narcissistic identification” comes from the idea that males in the audience project themselves onto the male characters onscreen.

Below are a few examples of where the male gaze theory may or may not apply:

Quantum of Solace

The James bond franchise is known for having male gaze completely dominate their films. 007 is a perfect example of narcissistic identification as he is a cool, smooth, action hero spy who always gets the girls, while the women in these films have actually gotten the term “Bond girls” for the reputation of always being the woman Bond gets in the end. The term itself implies that they belong to Bond.

Underworld: Awakening

Underworld is interesting as it can be seen as falling under the male gaze theory for having the main character (Kate Beckinsale) always dressed in skin tight leather, however she can defend herself and is generally more powerful than her male counterparts, so it may be difficult to objectify her but there is almost no way for male narcissistic identification.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I don’t think comes under the male gaze theory as the female lead doesn’t wear revealing clothing and is never really objectified, although at a point in the story where she is raped can be seen as objectification, but this is for story, not for viewer eye candy as the scene is brutal.

Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch does feature female objectification to a degree, the leads are all attractive women and wear skimpy outfits, however they are all powerful and fight hundreds of people, and since they are all female there is no opportunity for narcissistic identification.

The Iron Lady

The Iron Lady doesn’t feature the male gaze theory, partly as the film is based on the reign of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister, and must give a realistic portrayal of the events and the people.