Scopophilia/Male Gaze Theory in Cinema Acording to Mulvey
Mulvey and Male Gaze Theory
Laura Mulvey (a student of Freud) believed that cinema due to its creation by male filmmakers leads to the cinematic gaze of these creators which created content for men by men caused the narratives and character archetypes of women to be seen through the viewpoint of straight men and furthered/solidified ideas and morales/perspectives on the characters and narratives of these men in charge of the creation process.
This Mulvey argued was the effect of mainstream cinema which used scopophilia (pleasure through looking) of male fantasy to fetishize the female form through voyeurism, like for example when the female form is highlighted through cinematic language like closeups on a woman physic the most infamous example being Megan Foxe's character Mikaela Banes during the car fixing scene in Transformers (2007). Or the male gaze can be shown to take power away out from fear of "Castration" by its female characters making them in need of men/looked down upon as week in need as saving rather than respected like the many examples of the classic Disney Princesses like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) whos defining trait is needing a man to kiss her to save her from eternal slumber.
This can be linked with the argument that cinema is a mirror that we see ourselves in and by having such high standards of the female form from the actresses that are showcased in these films as having the ideal image can damage peoples self-worth and due to most audience taking a passive viewership rather than active this can lead to some damaging expectations for relationships by men and women an example of this being showcased in film is Don Jon (2013) as we see the damage of pornography on male characters love life and his loves interests toxic takeaways from the fiction inaccurate romcoms in cinema.
Due to them being seen as erotic objects of fantasy women are passive entities within these films as the audience is allowed to gaze without consequence, Mulvey offers two ways for female representation to escape this treatment by demystification or by turning them into a reassuring fetish that doesn't challenge the status quo allowing them to still be under the guise of male gaze voyeurism but still be functional characters.
However, the thing to remember about the male gaze is not just about the way female characters are seen within these pieces of media but also the way the stories/narratives are crafted for male straight audiences from classic action movie notorious like the Rambo film series (1982 to 2019) were we see hyper-masculinity on full display to stories focusing on straight male (mostly white) characters which is a problem because according to data collected by womenandhollywood.com of the top 200 films in 2018 to 2019: Women only represented "15.1% of directors, 17.4% of writers, and 18% of studio heads" because women are still lacking in the leaders of the film industry meaning all cinema still suffers from this male gaze problem as they lack a female perspective.
Sources for my Explanation of the Male Gaze: Fetishism and Curiosity (1996) Afterimages: On Cinema, Women and Changing Times Laura Mulvey (2019)
The Transformers Franchise (2007 to 2017) is one of the more gratuitous examples of the male gaze problem in Hollywood as showcased in this video series by writer and film critic Lindsay Ellis who breaks down the examples of the male gaze and its problems throughout the 10 years of this franchise due to its male creator Michael Bay disrespect of both female and male audiences as he creates an outdated showcase of toxic masculinity through his characters in these films.
The Problem of Lady Robots: Feminist Theory Part 1 | The Whole Plate: Episode 5 by Lindsay Ellis
The Male Gaze vs. The Men: Feminist Theory Part 2 | The Whole Plate: Episode 6 by Lindsay Ellis
Framing Megan Fox: Feminist Theory Part 3 | The Whole Plate: Episode 7 by Lindsay Ellis
Technical Analysis of The Male Gaze Example:
We're the Millers (2013)
Mise en Scene:
The Performance by Jennifer Aniston as Rose perpertuates the male fantasy of the male gaze as without question or any pertinent comment undresses and dances for the pleasure of both the men in the film and us as audience members futher emphacised by Jason Sudeikis performance as David Clark as he looks directly in the camera and shrugs, futher showcasing the male vison and lack of care for in depth female characters.
The Costume of Rose as she undresses being white lingerie also showcases the male gaze, this is because of the obvious lack of fabric exposing her physique and also due to the fact that rather than her wearing comfortable undergarments that a normal everyday woman would wear she is wearing lingerie to make her seem more astecically pleasing to male audiences. This in combination with there white colour paints her as an angelic statndard of beauty that women can not live up to and is damaging to there self image/worth.
The Sound and more specifically the Soundtrack uses the song Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith futhers the male gaze as it is music often assossiated to the sexualtion of women from there music videos that often uses common male gaze troupes as well as other films there included in like Armageddon (1998).
Camera:
Fragmentation of the female form is used within the clip with Closeups of Roses body as it highlights her figure and displays her as an object of fantasy for straight male audieces. This use of close up objectifys her and makes her seem more like an object rather than an actual person she is a mere object for pleasure a common use in the male gaze.
Editing:
The use of the Shot-Reverse-Shot cuts between Rose and the male characters watching her also sowcases the male gaze as it shows how the men are seeing her is how the audiece is reacting and then mens reactions are to Gaze look it her in a voyeristic manner so the audiece belives that they should do the same futher infusing damaging ideas for how men look and percieve women.
Example of a Film Countering the Male Gaze
Broey Deschanel a social influencer breaks down the relationship we have with the gaze in her analysis of French film Portrait of a Lady (2019) on Fire as it tears down the barrier of audience and model of a model through a melancholy lesbian love affair as its director Céline Sciamma as a woman attempts to destroy the male gaze perspective of the narrative.
What Portrait of a Lady on Fire Tells Us About "the Gaze" by Broey Deschanel
Suicide Squad (2016) A Male Gaze Sequence
In this scene from the Suicide Squad, we see the self-named group of anti-heroes get prepared to fight an unknown threat that they have been taken out of prison to deal with while in an army camp. Directed by David Ayer who directs hyper-masculine films like Fury (2014) gives us a textbook example of the male gaze with its use of cinematic techniques like Mise en Scene and Cineamatography in this scene from Suicide Squad that are commonly used in male gaze film works, the scene introduces each of the characters and their environment the men are all examples of masculinity with there Performances ranging from the primal aggressiveness of Killer Croc to the military straight man of Rick Flag. These characters act in control and are seen in power by the Camera as we keep Eye Level to show us these are who we are relating to in the scene/film as awhole and the use powerful Low Angles and see them shown in conjunction with heavy drum Non-Diegetic Music/Soundtrack (Seven Nation Army by White Flag). Rick Flag controls the scene through dialogue and commands Harly Quinn, the only other female character part from this scene is one female guard who is hit by one of the male leads Slipnought during his introduction.
Men and men only are in control of the scene and as the Editing progresses through each of these characters cutting to each one individually we see them get characterised by the weapons and how they are preparing for the battle ahead instead of seeing that for Harley Quinn's the character instead has her level of establishment categorised by her lover Joker from her Props like her gun which says "love" to her belt that has her pet name glorified in gold "Puddin" like a dog collar which she then adapts into her Costume it shows how she is under control of a man. Then to finalise her lack of power the scene fetishes her as the camera moves into voyeuristic Closeup Pans as we see her body Fragmented as an object and on display for the male audience. Not only does the scene include the audience in this fantasy of Harley Quinn but it involves the other characters as we see the majority male cast of extras and leads gawk at her during therer Performances, and in doing so it sends the message to the audience that this is okay to do as both a passive and active viewership of a straight male perspective is on full display. Causing damaging prospects to female audiences as they now see that Quinns figure is the ideal by both the film language and the characters actions on screen, this is accentuated through the Costume design of Harley Quinn in this movie, in her latest film Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (2020) her costume is more elegant and fashionable in this film she is adorned with a jumper saying "Daddy's Little Monster" makes her seem young and promiscuous with the "Daddy" now being overly sexualised term and it being tight-fitting like her short cuts or booty shorts un-necessarily highlight her figure.
Overall this clip is a clear example of the male gaze as it demonstrates the perspective of the female form from the perspective of a straight male but also creates a masculine environment that is controlled by men, while I could understand the use of majority male's in this scene I cannot overlook the intimate Camerawork of the Cinematographer on the character Quinn and control men have established over her proven by the filmamkers use of Closeups to isolate her form by focusing on her apperanace through this Fragmentation.
This is further confirmed from many film essayists like Mollie Bowman's analysis on the view of Harleys Quinn in her two on-screen appearances from her video "Unpacking the Male Gaze: Birds of Prey vs. Suicide Squad" as she breakdown how the hiring of a female director Cathy Yan who directed Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (2020) showcases how a film can show the same female character with and without the male gaze and the clear difference in stereotyping and sexualisation this makes.
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