Gender Representation Cont. (female)

Laura Mulvey-  Feminism & The Male Gaze
Influenced by Freud & Jacques Lucan, Mulvey sees that the representation of woman in film & literature (and therefore in soceity in general) as being dominated by a male point of view. Her belief is that the world is a patriarchy and that men have the 'active' roles and women 'passive'

Traditionally:

• men play active roles which drive the narrative
• women play passive roles and are seen as erotic objects which slow the narrative
• men far outumber women
• female roles are sidelined
• lead roles for women - scarce.

Stereotypes:

• bimbo
• females physical attractions such as figure and breasts to overpower the male
• easy
• house wife
• mother
• intelligent, yet willing to settle down

Male Gaze:

• two distinct modes of the male gaze of this era: voyeuritsic and fetishistic.
• Mulvey argued that women where given two character types- sexually active female and powerless female
• films presented images of women that were produced simply for the gratification of the male viewers
• various studies in the 1970's found men to be the dominant characters and decision makers in film and tv production.

Importance:
where women had important roles they were far more likely to be shown as:

• frightened
• in need of protection and direction
• offering support to the male lead character(s)
• not independent or self driven
• generally weaker
• still objectified sexually

"women, in any fully human form, have almost been left out of film..." L Mulvey

Changes in society:
as womens roles change, so does media representation. Still objectified but also likely to be...

• career driven
• intelligent
• confident
• empowered
• able (violent)

remember changes may be made cynically and in order to make money rather than change ideologies.

Misogyny:

Describes the fear or hatred of women leading to the discrimination, oppression, and devaluing of women in systematic, institutional, and individual ways. (feminists)