laura mulvey- male gaze

• The Gaze

The concept of the gaze is how an audience denies women a human identity, only viewing them from 1 perspective.

For feminists it can be presented in 2 different ways

1. How men view women

2. How women look at themselves

3. How women look at each other

In 1975 Laura started the term 'Male Gaze" to explain how audiences usually view characters from a straight male's perspective.

One feature of the male gaze is how the camera lingers on the curves of the female body, e.g. breasts, legs and bottom and the events which happen to women in the media/music videos are largely presented in the context of a male's view of these events. 

This objectifies women and a female audience must experience the narrative by identification of a male.

An example of this is Scouting for Girls- "She's so lovely" 

pay attention to the lyrics and the visual representation of them, e.g. "I love the way she fills her clothes"

Some theorists also have found that the female body is sexualised even in non sexual situations where sexiness has nothing to do with the product being advertised. I'm sure you've watched adverts before and 'wondered what on earth does this have to do with a naked woman?'. In music videos and television, the camera often focuses on women's bodies before it reaches their face.

Visual pleasure- the female character is either an erotic object for the other characters in the video, or an erotic object for the audience.

In 1980, Majorie Ferguson categorised female facial expressions in the media.

1. Chocolate box

2. Invitational

3. Super-smiler

4. Romantic

5. Sexual

In 1975, Trevor Millum categorised male facial expressions in media.

1. carefree

2. practical

3. seductive

4. comic

5. catalogue

Jonathan Schroeder said "To gaze implies more than to look at- it signifies a psychological relationship of power, so the gazer (male) is superior to the object of the gaze (female)"