Gaze Theory Explained Simply

At its most fundamental level, gaze theory interrogates the ways in which viewers engage with visual narratives, and how these narratives, in turn, position the viewer. But delve a bit deeper, and it becomes clear that the gaze is not just a matter of seeing and being seen—it's a powerful dynamic that reveals intricate webs of power, gender, and identity.

The gaze, as explored in media and cultural studies, is not merely an act of seeing. It is an intricate dance of power, perception, and representation. Originating from film theory but subsequently adopted and adapted across various disciplines, the gaze encompasses a multitude of perspectives: from the male gaze that objectifies female subjects in cinema, to the colonial gaze that portrays colonized people in a specific light. It's about who holds the power to look and how those being looked at are represented and understood.

Gaze Theorists

Historically rooted in psychoanalysis, the idea of the gaze emerged as a cornerstone in film theory, though its ramifications extend across various disciplines. Its evolution is closely linked to several prominent figures:

• Jacques Lacan: A French psychoanalyst, Lacan is often credited with laying the groundwork for gaze theory. He introduced the concept of the "mirror stage," where an infant recognizes itself in a mirror, marking the commencement of the individual's relationship with their own image. For Lacan, the gaze wasn't just about looking; it was about the anxiety produced in being looked at, highlighting the asymmetrical power dynamics inherent in viewing.

• Laura Mulvey: Building on Lacanian thought, British feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey coined the term "male gaze" in the context of cinema. In her seminal "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" she argued that mainstream films are constructed with male viewers in mind, leading to the objectification of women. Her insights brought gender dynamics to the forefront of gaze theory, showcasing how the act of looking can be entrenched in patriarchal structures. 

• Edward Said: While not directly associated with gaze theory in the same way as Lacan or Mulvey, Said's work on "Orientalism" introduced the idea of a "colonial gaze". He described how the West views the East through a lens colored by preconceptions and stereotypes, which in turn, reinforces Western dominance and Eastern subjugation.

• Bell Hooks: Renowned for her contributions to gender and race discussions, hooks expanded the discourse around the gaze to consider intersections of race, class, and gender. She critiqued the "oppositional gaze" of Black viewers in Western cinema, discussing how Black audiences recognize and resist the racist structures in which they're portrayed.

• John Berger: Berger, a British art critic and novelist, brought a fresh perspective on gaze theory in his groundbreaking work "Ways of Seeing". This 1972 series, later adapted into a book, demystified the act of seeing, arguing that what we see is invariably influenced by a host of variables including tradition, culture, and the viewer's own individual bias. One of Berger's most salient points centered on the portrayal of women in art and advertising. He posited that women were historically depicted as objects of the male gaze, conditioned to see and be seen as objects to be appreciated, judged, or desired. By doing so, Berger underscored the entrenched gender dynamics in visual representation, asserting that women are often presented not as they are, but as they are expected to be in the eyes of male beholders. His elucidations on gaze theory emphasized the societal constructs that shape our perceptions, bridging the gap between historical art representations and contemporary visual culture.

The male gaze in feminist film theory

The concept of the male gaze has been a central topic in feminist film theory and media studies for decades. The term was coined by film theorist Laura Mulvey, who argued that traditional cinematic representation is based on the premise of the viewer being male and the characters on screen being female. This means that the female characters are objectified and sexualized in order to satisfy the male viewer's gaze. Mulvey's theory of the male gaze has been influential in exposing and critiquing the ways in which traditional cinematic representation reinforces gender inequality and objectifies women. 

The male gaze in feminist theory after Mulvey

Other scholars, such as bell hooks, Gaylyn Studlar, and Jackie Stacey, have also written extensively about the male gaze and its effects on media representation. 

bell hooks, a feminist writer and theorist, has written about the ways in which the male gaze objectifies and sexualizes women in media and how this reinforces traditional gender roles. She has also argued that the male gaze serves to uphold the patriarchy and maintain male dominance.

Gaylyn Studlar, a film scholar, has written about the male gaze in relation to early Hollywood cinema and how it shapes the way that women are represented on screen. She has also examined the ways in which the male gaze intersects with other forms of power and privilege, such as race and class.

Jackie Stacey, a feminist film theorist, has written about the male gaze in relation to the representation of women in popular culture, including film, television, and advertising. She has also explored the ways in which the male gaze is challenged and resisted by feminists and other marginalized groups.

Read also: Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema - summary 

Gaze Theory Explained

Laura Mulvey's theory of representation - short summary

Laura Mulvey's theory of representation suggests that traditional cinematic representation is based on the premise of the viewer being male and the characters on screen being female. This is what she calls "The male gaze" of cinema, the topic of her well known "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema". This means that the female characters are objectified and sexualized in order to satisfy the male viewer's gaze. Mulvey argues that this dynamic is reinforced through the use of traditional film techniques such as camera angles and shot compositions that highlight the physical attributes of female characters and present them as objects of desire and causes of visual pleasure.

Viewing is active

Mulvey's theory of representation also emphasizes the role of the spectator in the creation of meaning in film. We are not just passive consumers of narratives but rather active creators of their meaning. Mulvey argues that the spectator is actively involved in constructing meaning through their own subjectivity and desires. This means that the spectator is not a passive receiver of meaning, but rather an active participant in the process of meaning-making.

See also: Gaze Theory Explained

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The Male Gaze (Mulvey) Explained Simply

The male gaze is a concept used in the fields of visual art  and literature to describe the world and in particular the women in it. The theoretical claim is that a masculine point of view presents women as objects whose purpose is to bring about masculine pleasure and nothing more. The phrase was coined by feminist theorist and film critic Laura Mulvey in 1975, which brought about a corresponding formulation of the female gaze.

According to Mulvey and feminist theory, the masculine perspective (male gaze) is the act of describing women, and the world at large, from a masculine and heterosexual perspective. The concept was first developed by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey in a 1975 article entitled "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Mulvey argues that asymmetry in gender forces is a dominant force in cinema, and is intended for the enjoyment of the male viewer, rooted in patriarchal ideology and discourse. The concept of the male gaze has become central to feminist film theory, communication studies and cultural studies. This term can also be related to models of voyeurism and narcissism. This point of view presents and represents women as sexual objects and in general, for the enjoyment of the viewers. The works are intended for the general public on the assumption that all people experience the world, look at it and interpret it through this point of view.

In the visual and aesthetic performances of narrative cinema, the male gaze has three perspectives: of the person behind the camera (screenwriter, director, etc.); of the male characters represented in the film and of the viewer looking at the image.

After Mulvey coined the term "The Male Gaze", the idea of ​​the opposite female gaze was later coined to match and counter it.The psychology of male gaze is similar to the psychology of voyeurism - the pleasure of gaze; The way she sees women and the world. Thus, the term scopophilia identify both the aesthetic pleasures and the sexual pleasures derived from observing someone or something.

see also: Laura Mulvey on Hollywood

Laura Mulvey's theory of representation

The male gaze in feminist film theory

Ways of Seeing by John Berger

Gaze Theory Explained

Laura Mulvey and the analysis of Hollywood cinema

Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema is an essay on cinema written by Laura Mulvey in 1973 and published in 1975 in the British cinema review Screen. In this article Laura Mulvey incorporates the Freudian idea of phallocentrism in Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. She insists on the idea that the images, characters, plots, stories and dialogues in films are built on the unconscious of patriarchal society. It also incorporates the works of thinkers like Jacques Lacan and illustrates its point with the films of directors Josef von Sternberg and Alfred Hitchcock.

According to Mulvey, viewing a film unconsciously or somewhat consciously reproduces the typical societal roles of men and women. Watching is generally seen as an active male role (male gaze) while the passive role of being examined is immediately seen as a female characteristic (female gaze). Mulvey argues that women in cinema are linked to desire and that female characters have a coded appearance to have a strong visual and erotic impact. The female actress is not intended to represent a character that directly affects the outcome of a plot, it is inserted in the film to be sexually objectified.

Mulvey calls for challenging Hollywood's patriarchal system and moving beyond voyeurism or fetish fascination. She offers a new cinematographic style establishing an alternative viewer, in a feminist vision.

Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema was the subject of much debate among film theorists until the mid-1980s. In 2006, Laura Mulvey publishes Death 24x a Second: Stillness and the Moving Image. In this work, she explores how video and DVD technologies have altered the relationship between film and viewer. They no longer have to watch a movie in its entirety and in a linear fashion from start to finish. Before the emergence of VHS and DVD players, viewers could not dwell on the film's precious moments, nor own the images of the idols. In response to this problem, the film industry produced still images that complemented the film itself. These images were designed to give fans of the film the illusion of possession. With digital technology, viewers can pause movies at any time, play back their favorite scenes, and even skip scenes they don't want to watch.

According to Laura Mulvey, this power led to the emergence of the “possessive spectator”. Movies can now be detached from the linear narrative into as many favorite moments or scenes. It is within this relationship that redefined Mulvey says that viewers can now engage in sexual form of possession of the bodies they see on the screen.

See also: Laura Mulvey's theory of representation

The male gaze in feminist film theory

"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" - Laura Mulvey - summary and review (part 2)

"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" - Laura Mulvey - summary and review 

part 1 - 2

Both mechanism discussed in the previous section, Mulvey says, are gendered. Scopophilia in films is a structure which functions on an axis of passive/active with the man always on the active gazing side and the woman on the passive "to-be-looked-at-ness" side (see the male gaze). This is done in two completing manners, with both the male figure within the duegsis and the camera looking at the woman and directing the viewer's objectifying gaze. In plain words, the woman in films in meant to be looked at.

The distinction between the passive woman active man is also manifested in the structure of the cinematic narrative. The films Mulvey surveys revolve around a dominant male figure with which the viewer can identify. This identification is similar to Lacan's mirror stage in which the narcissistic fragmented subjected experiences himself a whole and potent in a reflected self image. Methods that produce cinematic realism aid in this mirror-like identification which reinforces the ego.

According to Mulvey, the female cinematic figure is a paradoxical one. She combines attraction with the playing on deep fears of castration. The male subconscious has two ways of escaping his fear of castration. One is the demystification of the female figure is the dismantling of her mysteries (in films: the female figure is punished or saved by the male figure). The other way to escape fear of being castrated by the woman is through the fetishization of her (for instance as the glamorous unobtainable star). Films, according to Mulvey, attempt to resolve the tension between being attracted to the woman and fearing her, and therefore they provide for the needs of the masculine form of desire.

Mulvey's "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" was criticized on the one hand for reinforcing heterosexuality and on the other hand for assuming a passive, un-negotiating viewer. 

      

"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" - Laura Mulvey - summary and review 

part 1 - 2

See also: Laura Mulvey's theory of representation

The male gaze in feminist film theory

Gaze Theory Explained

Take it to the next level:

  

"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" - Laura Mulvey - summary and review (part 1)

"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" - Laura Mulvey - summary and review 

part 1 - 2

In her "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" Laura Mulvey utilizes psychoanalysis theory as a "political weapon" to demonstrate how the patriarchic subconscious of society shapes our film watching experience and cinema itself. According to Mulvey the cinematic text is organized along lines that are corresponding to the cultural subconscious with is essentially patriarchic. Mulvey argues that the popularity of Hollywood films is determined and reinforced by preexisting social patterns which have shaped the fascinated subject.

Overview of "Visual Pleasure"

Mulvey's analysis in "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" combines semiotic methodology of cinematic means of expression with psychoanalytic analysis of desire structures and the formation of subjectivity. The semiotic end of Mulvey's analysis enables the deciphering of how films produce the meanings they produce, while the psychoanalytic side of the article provides the link between the cinematic text and the viewer and explains his fascination through the way cinematic representations interact with his (culturally determined) subconscious.

Mulvey's main argument in "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" is that Hollywood narrative films use women in order to provide a pleasurable visual experience for men. The narrative film structures its gaze as masculine (the male gaze). The woman is always the object of the reifying gaze, not the bearer of it (this has something reminiscent of John Berger's "Ways of Seeing") 

The male gaze 

The cinematic gaze is always produced a masculine both by means of the identification produced with the male hero and through the use of the camera. Mulvey identifies two manners in which Hollywood cinema produces pleasure, manners which arise from different mental mechanisms. The first involves the objectification of the image, and the second one the identification with it. Both mechanisms represent the mental desires of the male subject. The first form of pleasure relates to what Freud termed as scopophilia or the pleasure derived from subjecting someone to one's gaze. The second form of pleasure other which operates alongside the scopophilia is the identification with the represented character which is brought about by needs stemming from the Freudian Ego. 

"Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" - Laura Mulvey - summary and review 

part 1 - 2

See also: Laura Mulvey's theory of representation

The male gaze in feminist film theory

Gaze Theory Explained

Take it to the next level: