The Male Gaze

• The ‘Male Gaze’ is a theory by Laura Mulvey stating that women are shown on camera from a males point of view.

• She also suggested this has had an effect on the roles given to women in films because she realised that women were not given lead roles but instead put in just for men to stare at or to be rescued.

• Although this is evident in the majority of films, a lot has changed in the past decade since women have had more dominating roles such as in “Lara Croft” “Kill Bill” and “Wanted”.

• Mulvey stressed that it is not just how men view women, but also how women portray themselves and how other women view them.

Tucker Dale Vs EvilThese pictures are from the trailer “Tucker Dale vs Evil. From the trailer alone, Mulvey’s theory is supported. The use of Mise en Scene portrays females through a male point of view. The clothing used is quite revealing and promotes sex appeal for a male audience. In addition, close ups are usually used to emphasise the beauty and sexualise the female characters. Frome these images, her face and cleavage are the main focus which would appeal to the male audience viewing this. This proves Mulvey’s theory has an element of truth in it because it is evident in trailers that women are used for beauty.

Criticisms

• Some women like the attention when they are looked at. E.g. Models and singers.

• It may be inaccurate since some men may look but not “Gaze” at the female.

• When a female is portrayed sexually in a scene, the camera angle usually forces the audience to look at her by using close ups and keeping the focus on the female.