Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema by Laura Mulvey - Book Report/Review Example

MULVEY’S ‘DETERMINING MALE GAZE’ RELATIONSHIP TO GENDER By Introduction In 1973, Laura Mulvey wrote an essay which was to be later published in 1975 entitled Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. The essay was based on her nature of a feminist, and went on to speak of the most popular frameworks of psychoanalysing film theories. In her essay, Mulvey sought to defend the worldview through which females were viewed from, claiming that in most Hollywood Cinemas of her time (which were mostly classical), the female was portrayed as an object meant to please the male eye. It was from this statement that “the male gaze” was created. In short, the films incorporated women as images meant to attract and excite the male viewers. The term “gaze” did not however, begin with Mulvey. It has always been used to refer to the way in which an audience views the people presented in a show. Mulvey’s essay applied the feminist view of gaze which has three perspectives; understanding how men look at women, how women view themselves, and how women view other women. The following study text discusses Mulvey’s “male gaze” and how it relates to gender as is portrayed in three visual texts. The “gaze” summary Mulvey’s essay and the accompanying depiction offered points at gazing, which simply means looking, as a socially constructed element. According to Johnston (1997, p.327), gazing no longer occurs as a neutral act, but has attachments to it such as directing relationships in the social context. It can be compared to other activities such as speaking because in it, there is interpretation, and involves powerful relationships. It is possible that Mulvey observed these trends and got the material and inspiration to construct the essay. The basis for her argument was that in the film, the audience was meant to view the shows from a heterosexual male’s perspective if they were to benefit from the viewing. In support of her statements, she said that the camera was made to focus on the female body’s curves (Bailey 2005, p.143). Additionally, the directions of the films were based on how the heterosexual male reacted upon exposure to such feminine events. The idea is not that visual pleasure is anything wrong. Rather, Mulvey was against the observation that the pleasure was discriminatory in that only men seemed to be favoured by the portrayal of women in film. On the other hand, women were not offered the same, and were forced to ape male perspectives for them to enjoy the films. Away from the allure of the female body and its objectification of men, Mulvey also pointed out the discrimination when it came to heroic roles in the film. Her claims were that in most Hollywood shows, the male dominated the heroic scenes while the women largely played the secondary (helper) roles of the male (Mulvey 1999, p. 837). Concisely, the films suggested to the viewers that the female was a weak being who could only play second fiddle to the man, and never the main character in the film. In a nutshell, Mulvey was against the objectification of the woman as an item of visual pleasure to the man, and secondly the demeaning of a woman in comparison to the man which meant the man was elevated above the woman. These are what led to the social construction of gazing as a determinant factor. From the above analysis, it can be concluded that the main source of controversy is gender parity. This does not imply that Mulvey put her thoughts forward simply because she was female. Rather, it was because she had noted a repetitive pattern in the film context which other theorists had pointed out in other aspects before. As such, it is sufficient to state that Mulvey’s “determinant male gaze” is all a matter of gender, and all the issues constituting her theory originated from gender issues. The following sections provide some American visual texts which support that her male gaze theory is indeed a gender issue by analysing the gender aspects as provided by her statement. Fig.1 Film Still from Rear Window In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film Rear Window the above still can be used to support Mulvey’s claims of female objectification for the male’s visual pleasure. The still has two depictions of Mulvey’s theory; physical and analytical. On the physical, the still shows a male figure holding what seems to be a powerful camera lens to his right eye. He is holding it outwards and from the lens’ front; we can see a reflection of a lady who seems to be gazing at the lens in a dancing pose. The two figures are smiling. Translating this to the “gaze” theory, the man represents the males while the camera lens represents the gaze itself. The lady’s reflection represents the females. On the analytical side, the still can sufficiently supports the concept that the role of a woman is to be displayed and looked at for the males to stare at. The point here is that she should act as an object which creates a strong sight meant to arouse the erotic senses of men so that they qualify her as something “to be looked at” (Zeisler 2008, p.8). The figure as appearing on the lens would only allude to a heterosexual man as compared to other women or gay men (Wintle 2006, p. 215). In short, it supports the argument that film was meant to be enjoyed from a heterosexual male’s point. In that case, the female gender was not considered. Again, the woman is smiling. She is however not smiling for any reason other than the fact that a camera lens (gaze) is locked on her sexually attractive body. Again, this disadvantage the woman in that she is happy for having made the male actor happy. In short, she is passive while the male counterpart is active (Dimare 2011, p.942). That too, points at her as a subjective object to the man. Finally, in support of the notion that women too have to view films from the male’s perspective to enjoy it; if a woman tried to look at the dancing lady in the camera lens, she would not see any sense in that. However, by seeing the man holding his camera lens out and smiling, she can understand that he is smiling for having seen an attractive lady dancing in his lens. Fig. 2 Susannah and the Elders by Tintoretto Mulvey’s determinant male gaze concept thrived not only in film but in western art as well. Figure 2 above is Tintoretto’s painting Susannah and the Elders dated about 1555. The age of the painting suggests that the social construction of the gaze began from ages ago, and has continued in the same manner over time. Western artists often painted women in their nudes, and this has been branded as identifying the woman as a subordinate, overly meant for the pleasure of men (Cunningham, Reich & Fichner-Rathus 2013, p.607). The reason is because in art, the artist finds an “object” to paint or draw. This therefore means that when a woman posed nude for the artist to draw or paint them, then they were submitting to being subordinates and objects as well. In comparing the intensity of nudeness or number of females appearing nude in paintings as compared to men, the women outdo men. It may be argued that most artists were male but there were also female artists. Why then did the female artists not paint men in the nude? The reasons point at the marginalisation of women as was discussed in the Rear Window. One, the man dominates over the woman and “demands” of her to become his object for painting. The painting in most cases benefitted the man, maybe by selling them, or enhancing their artistic abilities. The women might have cherished being painted, but the only reason they were happy is because the male artists were happy about the women looked, and thus decided to include them in their art. The issue of nudity arises again. As was the case with the objectified woman being an item for the heterosexual man’s pleasure, so is the same case here. In the above painting, the artist captured a pose of the woman, which guaranteed him that many men would remain glued to it for some time. The concept of sexual allure and erotic pleasure to men stands out again (Padva & Buchweitz 2014, p.51). Another observation made in the western art is that when the nudes were painted, mirrors would also feature in the pieces. The above painting has a mirror. The possible explanation as offered today is the mirrors were meant to help the women to groom themselves so that they looked their best before presenting themselves to men (Refaie 2012, p.74). The same concept applies to the cosmetics lying around her. To fully support the claim, the artist included some images of men staring or peeping at the nude woman as she adorned herself. The fact that the men are staring at a woman who seems undisturbed by the events supports that it was an acceptable social construction that the female gender should be submissive to the desires of their male counterparts. Fig. 3 Louis Vuitton advertisement The male gaze exists to this day. This is evident going by the nature of advertisements applied in audiovisual media. The key characteristic of the male gaze is the woman being available for viewing with the intent of pleasing the male’s desire for sexual arousal and pleasure (Clavert, et al 2005, p.133). As figure 3 above shows, the lady on top of the man shows her inner and upper thighs, which are bound to attract the male glance and excite them sexually. The dominance of the male gender appears again based on the idea that the man is supporting the lady from underneath, meaning that she would not stand on her own in the absence of the male. Again, her hands rest on his shoulder, “gripping” him for support. Directly related to the gaze are their eyes. As revealed earlier, the woman is usually aware of the men staring at her, and has to respond by cooperating. This is seen in the advertisement; the lady stares right at the observer’s eye. The male figure on the other hand, seems unaware of any camera activities taking place around him and stares in the distance. That supports the popular statement associated with the male gaze that goes, “Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women, but also the relation of women to themselves… thus she turns herself into an object – and most particularly an object of vision: a sight.” (Jones 2003, p.38). Apart from the erotic poses, women are made to do things which would seem silly or unacceptable if done by men. For instance, it is common to have two ladies juxtaposed in the same picture in an advertisement hugging close while laughing. If the same was translated to men, it would not appear normal. That is one way of exploiting the female. In figure 3 above, it would feel awkward if the lady on top of the man was placed under him, or if she was replaced with another man. The posture that the lady possesses would not also fit a man. In the light of this, it begs the question why some rules should be allocated to the females when the same would not be suitable for men. This too, shows a form of gender difference in which the woman is looked down on as a subordinate to the man (Berger 1972, p.46). Further into advertising, the male gaze takes a different twist. The twist appears in that most of male products have pictures of beautiful women created in the most attractive ways imprinted on them. These are male products, why then would women’s images be used to market them? The potential answer to this query is that it is simply a marketing tactic which employs the objectification of women to seduce men into buying their products. Their main concerns may be that once they capture the attention of men, convincing them to buy their products would be much easier. Additionally, it could be possible that the images spell to the buyers that “after buying this, a lady like this one will like you”. This type of advertisement is sufficient proof that to most men, a woman is just an object to enjoy looking at (Ross & Byerly 2004, p.95). The feminine version of the male gaze investigates the effect that it has on women only. In short, what the male gaze makes other women to see in other women. First, the women used in the media are usually blondes who have makeup, body tone, figure, and wardrobe manned by top practitioners in the specific fields. As such, they are usually programmed to execute specific roles when they are visually presented to the audience. This “audience” includes other women (Davis 2007, p.57). The females who see other females in the media, they may develop the urge to be like them since they perceive of their lives as being perfect. As such, girls are influenced such that they do not see the gender inequalities presented by such, and therefore live with limitations without their knowledge. During application, most films show girls being saved by men, or men mistreating women who seem helpless. In real life, a girl may be influenced to always look upon a man for survival, or if mistreated by a man, they live with the torment since they believe that it is allowed. That too, is the social construction of the male gaze. Advertisements influence the lives of the female in a big way. The advertisements in the media showcase what is supposed to be fashion, or current trends. Fashion is in no way negative, but will be a negative influence in the event that it furthers the determining male gaze knowingly or subconsciously. For example, celebrities’ music videos or movies may show women wearing indecent clothes and since some women are bent on worshipping what their role models do, they end up aping them (Green 1998, p.41). The unknown truth to them is that such media is choreographed for specific roles in the videos or advertisements, and may unknowingly foster contemporary marginalization of the female gender. Conclusion Laura Mulvey’s essay, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema can be described as an influential text owing to the debates it aroused in various contexts of society. In her creation of the gaze, she simply represented the perspective at which men want, or are made to view the women from. She implied that men have been made to believe that women are meant to be pleasing to their eyes, and that may be their chief role. On the other hand, Mulvey argued that women seemed to have taken up the gaze concept and were willingly offering themselves to the men for “display”. The concept of the determining gaze has encroached on almost every aspect of human society, ranging from art, to music, fashion, advertisements, and film amongst others. Apart from being objects of sexual allure, Mulvey states that the women have agreed to be subordinate to the men as is shown in the film where men play the dominant roles of protecting or molesting women. All in all, the discussion supported that the determining male gaze is more of a gender issue than it is a “look”. Bibliography Bailey, DW 2005, Prehistoric Figurines: Representation and Corporeality in the Neolithic, Psychology Press. Berger, J 1972, Ways of Seeing, Penguin Books.  Clavert, B, Casey, N, Casey, B, French, L, & Lewis, J 2005, Television Studies: The Key Concepts, Routledge. Cunningham, L, Reich J, & Fichner-Rathus, L 2013, Culture and Values: A Survey of the Humanities, Volume 2, Cengage Learning. Davis, KC 2007, Postmodern texts and emotional audiences, West Lafayette, Ind, Purdue University Press. Dimare, PC 2011, Movies in American history: an encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif, ABC-CLIO. Green, P 1998, Cracks in the pedestal: ideology and gender in Hollywood, Amherst, Univ. of Massachusetts Press. Johnston, P 1997, Real fantasies: Edward Steichens advertising photography, Berkeley, Calif, University of California Press. Jones, A 2003, The Feminism and Visual Culture Reader, Psychology Press. Mulvey, L 1999, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. NY: Oxford UP.  Padva, G, & Buchweitz, N, 2014, Sensational pleasures in cinema, literature and visual culture: the phallic eye. Refaie, EE 2012, Autobiographical Comics: Life Writing in Pictures, Univ. Press of Mississippi. Ross, K., & Byerly, C 2004, Women and media international perspectives, Malden, MA, Blackwell. Wintle, M 2006, Image into identity: constructing and assigning identity in a culture of modernity, Amsterdam [u.a.], Rodopi. Zeisler, A 2008, Feminism and Pop Culture: Seal Studies, Seal Press. Read More