Laura Mulvey Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey Male Gaze

Learning Outcome: To explore the theory of The Male Gaze as set out by Laura Mulvey.

Key words:

Objectification

Key Figure: 
Laura Mulvey - is a feminist film theorist whose work on the sexual objectification of women through 'male gaze' can be used to analyse a range of media texts, films, ads, magazines etc.

When it comes to representation, you need to show that you have explored these areas:

• The role of selection, construction and anchorage in creating representations.
• How media texts use representations and the effect those representations have upon audiences.
• The points of view, messages, and values underlying those representations.
• You will be expected to have studied a range of examples of representations in media texts and you must be able to write about them using key media terminology.

Women:

The representation of women in the media has developed and adapted to reflect cultural and socialogical changes. As women's roles in society have undergone a transformation, this has been reflected in some areas of the media.

However, there are still some stereotypical representations of women where they are defined by how men see them and how society expects them to look and behave. 

Women still tend to be judged on their looks and appearance foremost.

Representations tend to concentrate also on their sexuality; emotions and narratives tend to be based around relationships.

The way in which the representation of women is constructed in texts like glamour magazines is unrealistic and instills unattainable aspiration in the audience.

In an examination response it is important that you explore the representation of gender at a sophisticated level and go beyond basic discussion of positive and negative, it is much more complex than that.

Men get to distracted when a woman is presented in media , they gaze at the woman for too long, they then get distracted and can't answer simple questions.

This is known as the male gaze , because it is from the view of the heterosexual male. This is also the objectification of women in media and how most media is presented for the heterosexual male.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?- 
The clips starts with the detective criticising a regular fan of Jessica Rabbit , by saying "What , is he into Rabbits?" , but when Jessica Rabbit enters into the scene the detective is completely in "Love" with Jessica Rabbit. 
Jessica Rabbit appearance is very sexual and is clearly made for the heterosexual man. Most people will just pay attention to her and not even notice the extra band members in the background. This is what Laura Mulvey means by the male gaze , she means that men will only pay attention to what is highly sexualised.
Most people would have not notice that Jessica Rabbit's dress has a heart shape. The dress is pink , normally associated with women and love. Her movements are very invitational and she is very flirty with the audience. 

Laura Mulvey is right , as the media seems to make characters very sexual for no reason but to keep the male demographic interested in the media. This is why producers take criticism of feminist groups , because they feel the need too over sexualise characters to get a male demographic but these characters do not need to be sexualised. 

Game of thrones is the perfect example , they don't need too over sexualise characters  to make them powerful , they use the story and plot, more directors and producers need to use this way to convey characters. This would take the feminist out of the media and help it stop being criticised.