Theres More To Media Than Meets The Eye - Feminisit Film Theory & Audiences

After the lesson on Feminist Film Theory and Audience the only thought that came to my head was that there is more to media texts tat meets the eye. The post below will explain why.

• Laura Muluey
• Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975)

Steps

• Cinema reflects society
• Therefore cinema reflects a patriarchal society
• How is the patriarchal society manifested (portrayed) in the films/cinema we consume

Example

• Patriarchy and phallocentrism and linked.
• Phallocentrism - the world of the male penis
• The phallus is the symbol of power
• Guns = phallus = power

The Gaze

• The 'gaze' of the camera is the male 'gaze'
• Male gaze - active; Female gaze - passive
• Within the narrative males characters direct their gaze towards female characters.
• The spectator (audience) is made to identify with the male look, because the camera films from the optical, as well as libidinal, point of view of the male character

• Thus the 3 levels of the cinematic gaze - CAMERA, CHARACTER and SPECTATOR - that objectify the female character (the triple gaze)
• Therefore the audience is constructed as though everyone was male
• Women are forced to look as though the were a male audience member
  

Agency

• In classical Hollywood cinema the male protagonist has agency - he is active and powerful
• He is the agent around whom the dramatic action unfolds.
• Female character is passive/powerless - she is the object of desire for the protagonist and audience

Erotic Desire

Muluey argues that women have roles in film:

1. As an object of erotic desire for the characters.
2. As an object of erotic desire for the audience

An example of this can be seen in both James Bond Dr. No and Die Another Day