Male Gaze Theory

Laura Mulvey was born on 15th August 1941 in the country of England. Mulvey attended St Hilda's College in Oxford and went on to become a professor of film and media studies. Also throughout her life she created many theories including her most famous one which is the male gaze theory which has been recognised by other theorists.

The Male Gaze Theory is based of the concept of gaze which is the following:

• How men look at women
• How women look at themselves
• How women look at other women

In the Male Gaze Theory there are two distinct modes of the gaze. One type in this specific era is voyeuristic and the other is fetishistic. Laura Mulvey believed that characters had two different types, one way in which the female was shown is as a sexually active female and the other was that they were shown as a powerless female.

Stereotypes of Women
- Bimbo
- Mother
- Unambitious
- Wife
- Inferior to the Man

In most films, the female gender has taken a less important role and the male character dominants the leading roles however films with a main female character are rare, however overtime we see more films with leading female roles and this change in society has changed the stereotypes of females to become intelligent, empowered and confident individuals.

A good example is the terminator films, this shows how the stereotypes of females have changed. In Terminator 1 we see the female character, Sarah Conner screaming and playing the typical female character we expect to see, but in Terminator 2 we see a change in her attitude as she is now strong, empowered and able to fight for herself whereas previously she was seen as defenceless and the typical damsel in distress. In Terminator 3 we then see that the terminator itself is a female and we see throughout the film her using her femininity to her advantage.

The Male Gaze Theory is applied into films by when the camera lingers on the curves of the female body and events which occur on women. The theory helps sexualize the female body and portray her as an object rather than a person. Also the theory shows that the female characters exist in relation to the male.

Sadistic Voyeurism
Her theory of sadistic voyeurism can also explain why some people are attracted to the horror genre.
This is when a weaker female character is performing a daily, personal or intimate task, for example getting dressed, where a strong, dominant male character abuses her privacy in a sadistic way. An example of this is in the film Psycho in the shower scene.

From this research I will use this theory and apply it within the film trailer. I believe we would want to show the character as sexualised rather than powerful and independent because we also want to apply final girl theory. We could do this by using character shots, preferably close-up shots of the female curves and legs which shows this is a form of the gaze.