brief explanation of the male gaze

1. MULVEY’S MALE
GAZE

2. “VISUAL PLEASURE AND
NARRATIVE CINEMA”
British Feminist Film Theorist, Lura Mulvey, wrote an
essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” in 1973
She (Mulvey) pioneered the term “Male Gaze,” a theory that
quickly gained recognition and became well discussed

3. THE MALE GAZE
The “Male Gaze”occurs when the audience are put into the
perspective of a heterosexual man.
A scene may focus on the curves of a woman putting the
audience in the eye of a heterosexual man.
The theory denies the human identity of women and
objectifies them
Women can only view themselves from a secondary
perspective and identify themselves as mens’ object

4. VISUAL PLEASURE
Mulvey stated that the female
charecters had two functions in a film:
1. Act as an erotic object for the
charecters within the narrative to
view
2. Act as an erotic object for the
audience in the Cinema
the seven year itch: 1955 spring breakers: 2013