The Male Gaze
The concept of gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people presented.
For feminists it can be thought of in 3 ways:
- How men look at women
- How women look at themselves
- How women look at other women
Jonathan Schroeder (1998) "to gaze implies more than to look at - it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze." - this is why feminists disagree with the theory as woman are being seen as objects and men with higher authority over them.
Feature of the Male Gaze
Feature of the Male Gaze
The camera lingers on the curves of the female body, and then the events following are largely influenced by a man's reaction to these events. Woman are shown as objects.
Also some people have noticed the sexualisation of woman when it isn't even necessary for the product/situation being presented.
Criticisms of the theory
The male gaze could be applied to a situation of the same sex admiring the look/body image/clothing of the other in jealous, not in a sexual outlook that the theory states. Also some woman just liked to be looked at.
When looking at a music video such as 'Shes so lovely- scouting for girls' simple questions such as the colouring of a t-shirt or what shoes were worn by one of the main people they cannot be answered by the viewer due to the 'Male Gaze' . this term was constructed by Laura Mulvey in 1975; she believes the audience have to view the characters form a heterosexual male's point of view - this would be to only focus on the woman being presenting and not noticing much else.
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