The Male Gaze Theory

What is it?

The male gaze theory is proposed by feminists in 1975 (Laura Mulvey). It is when the audience is seeing things through the eyes of a hetrosexual male. Mulvey stated that in many Hollywood films, the male gaze is to boost a male subconscious mind. In the world of film, directors are mostly male and the male gender is stereotypically shown as the more dominant character. The object of the male's gaze in the world of film is a female. Women are shown to be a pleasureable object rather than a pursuit.

 

 Mulvery disliked the idea of a woman being shown in a film, mostly after a male gives a seductive look to her. Instead of being shown a close up of a female's face, they are looked up and down from head to toe by the camera, showing female's to be an object of sex, rather than an equal. This doesn't only occur through cinema:

 Perfume Ad's Also Use It?

 The female body has been seen as a sex symbol since the ancient times. During Greek Mythology, the female body is seen as the symbol of love and beauty. This sexual look occuring within cinema, not only explains the male interest, but shows us that he has a power over the woman, as if he "owns" her. The person gazing is shown to have power over the person being gazed over. This power is reflected through cinema.