Gender Representation Cont.

Feminism and the Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey

Women are there to look at. She sees the representation of women in lit and film and society 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 the passive roles and are seen as erotic objects which slow the narrative down

·         Men far outnumber women

·         Female roles are side-lined

·         Lead roles for women scarce

Stereotypes

·         Bimbo

·         Females physical attractions such as figure and breasts to overpower the males

·         Easy

·         House wife

·         Mother

·         Intelligent yet willing to settle down

Male Gaze

·         Two distinct modes of the male gaze of this era: voyeuristic (looking at someone sexually/ actractively) and fetishistic

·         Mulvey argued that women were given two character types – sexually active and powerless female

·         Films presented images of women that were produced simply for the gratification of male viewers

·         Various studies in the 1970’s found men to be the dominant characters and decision makers in film and TV production

Importance?

When given important roles they are more likely to be represented as

·         Frightened

·         In need of protection and direction

·         Offering support of the male lead characters

·         Not independent or self-driven

·         Generally weaker

·         Still objective sexually

Changes in society

·         As women’s roles still change so does 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

·         How many female action stars aren’t attractive?

Misogyny

·         The contempt or hatred/ extreme sexist view of woman and girls. Derogatory

·         Example – Gene Hunt Life On Mars