The Male Gaze in Cinema
For week 5 we read “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” by Laura Mulvey, who discussed the effect watching films in theaters has on the viewers, and some of the contradictory psychology behind it. She first explained the concept of scopophilia, or sexual pleasure from looking - similar to voyeurism, if not a milder and more persistent version. When watching films in a theater, despite it being a public experience intended for mass audiences, the viewer is made to feel as though they are witnessing private moments in a private space. The perspectives from which movies are shot, the intimacy of the scenes, and the darkness in the theater are all giving them a sense of privacy even when watching with 100 other people. This facet would of course be magnified as cinema has become more and more accessible to consume in the comfort of our homes in total privacy, as well. Mulvey explained that because of this scopophilia, we are drawn to films that satisfy a base sexual desire to look.
The second concept that Mulvey talks about is the ideal ego. Similarly to how babies seeing themselves in the mirror for the first time view their reflection as a better version of themselves, the spectator of a film is going to view a relatable protagonist as an idealized version of themselves. We are able to forget about our real identities and real, mundane lives for a couple hours while engrossed in a completely new, more exciting, sexy, and successful one.
These two concepts - the sexual objectification and the projection of identity - are seemingly opposing, but it doesn’t take that much analysis of the most popular media to see how filmmakers have evolved to balance them for their male audience. First, they choose a male protagonist to represent the ideal ego - an attractive (but not sexualized) man who drives the storyline. Depending on the genre of film, he may have more or less shortcomings to begin with, but they will always be overcome by his actions to lead to success by the end of the film. Second, they will sprinkle in a sexually attractive women to pause the protagonist’s narrative for moments of erotic interest. They will typically be either unthreatening (needing to be saved by the protagonist) or fetishized (needing to be dominated by the protagonist), but by the end will be under the control of the protagonist.
Mulvey wrote this in the 70s, using Hitchcock for multiple examples, but this formula still has a chokehold on cinema today. The most obvious examples are the continuation of James Bond movies (who follow this template so blatantly, no one would dare argue it) and nearly any action movie still produced. Most people who openly love action movies are men that probably realize on some level they are temporarily fulfilling their desires to be the hero and get the girl. In my opinion, the more interesting examples of this phenomena in modern film come in the form of the manic pixie dream girl indie flick.
In these movies, the storyline revolves around a cute, quirky, carefree woman teaching a struggling protagonist the importance of letting go and embracing love. In this type of movie, there is still a male protagonist, but he may seem less idealized than a Bond type character. Usually he starts the movie stressed, down, or preoccupied with something we are meant to view as unimportant. There is also a female object of sexual desire, but she may also be more covert - while still sexually attractive and unthreatening, she appears to have more impact and importance in the narrative. However, these films still hit all the same marks as the Hitchcock films Mulvey writes about.
In classic manic-pixie trope movies, like 500 Days of Summer and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the female character’s sole purpose remains to be visually appealing, and allow the protagonist a chance to be successful. Even in 500 Days of Summer, when the protagonist is unable to win the affection of the MPDG he pursues the whole film, he takes what he learned from her uses it to “win” a new sexually attractive woman in the final seconds of the movie. To me, this goes to show how pervasive and internalized the male gaze is in our society, as even seemingly romantic movies widely loved by female audiences are still centered around making men feel good (and making women feel good by making men feel good.)
The second concept that Mulvey talks about is the ideal ego. Similarly to how babies seeing themselves in the mirror for the first time view their reflection as a better version of themselves, the spectator of a film is going to view a relatable protagonist as an idealized version of themselves. We are able to forget about our real identities and real, mundane lives for a couple hours while engrossed in a completely new, more exciting, sexy, and successful one.
These two concepts - the sexual objectification and the projection of identity - are seemingly opposing, but it doesn’t take that much analysis of the most popular media to see how filmmakers have evolved to balance them for their male audience. First, they choose a male protagonist to represent the ideal ego - an attractive (but not sexualized) man who drives the storyline. Depending on the genre of film, he may have more or less shortcomings to begin with, but they will always be overcome by his actions to lead to success by the end of the film. Second, they will sprinkle in a sexually attractive women to pause the protagonist’s narrative for moments of erotic interest. They will typically be either unthreatening (needing to be saved by the protagonist) or fetishized (needing to be dominated by the protagonist), but by the end will be under the control of the protagonist.
Mulvey wrote this in the 70s, using Hitchcock for multiple examples, but this formula still has a chokehold on cinema today. The most obvious examples are the continuation of James Bond movies (who follow this template so blatantly, no one would dare argue it) and nearly any action movie still produced. Most people who openly love action movies are men that probably realize on some level they are temporarily fulfilling their desires to be the hero and get the girl. In my opinion, the more interesting examples of this phenomena in modern film come in the form of the manic pixie dream girl indie flick.
In these movies, the storyline revolves around a cute, quirky, carefree woman teaching a struggling protagonist the importance of letting go and embracing love. In this type of movie, there is still a male protagonist, but he may seem less idealized than a Bond type character. Usually he starts the movie stressed, down, or preoccupied with something we are meant to view as unimportant. There is also a female object of sexual desire, but she may also be more covert - while still sexually attractive and unthreatening, she appears to have more impact and importance in the narrative. However, these films still hit all the same marks as the Hitchcock films Mulvey writes about.
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| Poster for the movie "500 Days of Summer", 2009, https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/500_days_of_summer |
In classic manic-pixie trope movies, like 500 Days of Summer and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the female character’s sole purpose remains to be visually appealing, and allow the protagonist a chance to be successful. Even in 500 Days of Summer, when the protagonist is unable to win the affection of the MPDG he pursues the whole film, he takes what he learned from her uses it to “win” a new sexually attractive woman in the final seconds of the movie. To me, this goes to show how pervasive and internalized the male gaze is in our society, as even seemingly romantic movies widely loved by female audiences are still centered around making men feel good (and making women feel good by making men feel good.)
Works Cited
20th Century Fox, Poster for the film "500 Days of Summer." 2009.
20th Century Fox, Poster for the film "500 Days of Summer." 2009.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/500_days_of_summer
Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” 381-89.
Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” 381-89.
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