Study Task 2: Male Gaze Theory

Visual pleasure and narrative cinema - structure

1. Her use of psychoanalysis as a feminist critical tool

2. The opportunity in contemporary cinema for more radical forms that break away from patriarchal influence

Emerging from classic Hollywood cinema

3. Explanation of scopophilia ... how it relates to cinema

4. Explanation of narcissistic pleasure ... how it relates to cinema

5. Summary of the two forms of visual pleasure ... and a discussion of the castration threat

6. The roles that men and women play in cinema and spectatorship - active/male, passive/female

7. The constant threat of castration and how the male unconscious relinquishes it.

8. 2 x case studies - Sternberg and Hitchcock

9. Summary

Summarising male gaze theory using references to the 3 texts

The three texts by Mulvey, Storey and Dyer all explore the representations of women on screen, yet through various approaches. Each touch on the female role in film and cinema from various psychoanalytical perspectives. 

The first text by Laura Mulvey, written in 1975, coins the term 'male gaze theory' which has since been explored by many academics. In this feminist theory, the maze gaze 'is the act of depicting the world and women in the visual arts and literature from a masculine and heterosexual point of view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure' (Wikipedia). Accordingly, the first text analyses how film and cinema have impacted on the generalisation and societal perception of the female body as a sexualised enterprise through the use of scopophilia (pleasure in looking) and phallocentric casting of roles.

The second text, a critical analysis by John Storey of Mulvey's essay, outlines the goals and investigation of her argument for educational purposes. Resultantly this text follows less of an argument or point of view, and instead provides context for taking the original argument into a contemporary setting. The male gaze theory here is presented as more of a philosophy, being less analytical of specific case studies. 

The final text further references Mulvey's work but changes the theory's context. Instead, Dyer applies the male gaze to the portrayal of a male character; 'Holden as Hal Carter continually removes his shirt to reveal an athletic physique'. Flipping the gender investigated in the previous texts, forming a new argument that builds on the former. Whilst an accurate realisation, he misses the point that this is one type of male representation out a many, whereas Mulvey's argument is based off the reoccurring representations of women in film, with every one representing a sub-par character in comparison to the male. 

In 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' Mulvey states, "the meaning of woman is sexual difference, the visually ascertainable absence of the penis, the material evidence on which is based the castration complex essential for the organisation of entrance to the symbolic order and law of the father." Referring to castration as a means of equality is a projection of an extreme viewpoint, thus meriting the contradiction and counterargument of latter texts. Text two shows how Mulvey's considered exploration is noted and recognised within the academic institution however her biased  views makes it a theory rather than an agreed reaction.