Laura Mulvey (Theorist) on Representation

Laura Mulvey (Theorist) on Representation

Laura Mulvey

 

Laura Mulvey was a theorist who introduced the idea of male gaze in her essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'.

She was born on August 15th, 1941, she was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She is currently professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck, University of London.

 

The male gaze in a film is where the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual male, this could be done by a shot lingering on a women's figure. Its argued that these instances are presented in the context of a male and therefore is a "male gaze".

The view regards women as objects or something to be desired, hence women must view the narrative secondarily by identifying with a male perspective.

 

The male gaze also represents women as not having power with common use of high angle shots enforcing that males stereotypically see themselves as the more powerful gender.

 

'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' expands on the theory that the male gaze does not only exist in the content of a text but in how the text is presented. Theorists note the degree to which people gaze at women in advertisements that "sexualizes" a woman's body even when the woman's body is unrelated to the advertised product
"In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness," and as a result contends that in film a woman is the "bearer of meaning, not maker of meaning."