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Male Gaze

Where did the idea of the "male gaze" come from?

The male gaze invokes the sexual politics of the gaze and suggests a sexualised way of looking that empowers men and objectifies women. In the male gaze, women is visually positioned as an "object" of heterosexual male desire. ... 

Mulvey's Theory

Adopting the language of psychoanalysis, Mulvey argued that traditional Hollywood films respond to a deep seated drive known as "scopophilia": the sexual pleasure involving in looking. Mulvey argued that most popular movies are filmed in ways that satisfy masculine scopophilia. 

Although ...


The Postman Always Rings Twice [1946] offers a famous example of the "male gaze". In the scene below, the audience is introduced to Cora Smith, the film's lead female character. Using close-ups, the camera forces the viewer to stare at Cora's body. It creates a mode of looking that is sexual, voyeristic, and associated with the male protagonist's point of view. 

It also establishes some of the important plot points: that the hero desires Cora, and that Cora recognises his lust. But the strongest ...

Different Ways of Looking 

Although written 40 years ago, Mulvey's essay still provokes strong reactions. One common response is that both women and men are objectified in cinema. 

After all, isn't Johnny Farrell [Glen Ford] as sexy as Gilda Munson [Rita Hayworth] in Gilda [1946]?

Isn't Fitzwilliam Darcy as beautiful as Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC tele series of Pride and Prejudice [1995]? Surely this indicates the presence of a [heterosexual] female gaze. 

Freud and Lacan

We construct our identities by looking at ourselves and at each other. As children we derive pleasure from looking at other people's bodies - scopophilia. 

The first time we fully see ourselves [in a mirror] is the first time we understand ourselves as people. 

Cinema allows us to look at other people without being seen ourselves. We enjoy this voyeurism. 

Take this illustration as an example, which poses the male heroes of The Avengers in the same hyper-sexualised position as the film's sole female protagonist, Black Widow. 

...

So is there a female gaze?

Certainly, beautiful men abound in cinema. But I'd argue that there is no direct female equivalent of the male gaze. The male gaze creates a power imbalance. It supports a patriarchal status quo, perpetuating women's real-life sexual objectification. For this reason, in my opinion the female gaze cannot be "like" the male gaze. 











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