Laura mulvey

Laura Mulvey theory -

Mulvey saw the representation of women in film and literature 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 have the passive role. This is seen as active

Traditionally men play the active roles in dramas; therefore women play the passive role and are seen as erotic objects which slow the narrative down.

Men outnumber women, female roles are side-lined and lead roles of women are scarce

Stereotypes=

·         Bimbo

·         Females physical attraction such as figure and breasts to overpower the male

·         Easy

·         House wife

·         Mother

·         Intelligent yet willing to settle down and have a family

Male Gaze

·         two theories of the male gaze – voyeuristic = watch things without people know you’re watching things, fetishistics – fetish

·         Mulvey argued that women were given two character types- sexually active females and powerless females

·         Sc   operphilia – looking for pleasure

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 male lead characters

·         Not independent or self-driven

·         Generally weaker

·         Still objectified sexually

·          Women in any fully human form have almost completely been left out of film- Laura Mulvey

Change in society

As women roles change following WW2 so does the media representation. Still objectified but also likely to be…

·         Career driven

·         Intelligent

·         Confident

·         Empowered

·         Able (violent)

Remember change may be cynical and in order to make money rather than change ideologies

Misogyny = against women really sexist