The Male Gaze Theory

The male gaze is a media theory applied by American feminist Laura Mulvey. In the male gaze Mulvey believes women are objectified and voyeuristically treated by the media and especially in film with the purpose to appeal to a male audience. A large percent of media texts, particularly moving image are male orientated from direction to editing and post production therefore the texts created are through the male eye with the aim of pleasing audiences such as themselves, this leads to the male gaze theory filtering through many areas of production revealing the psychological obsessions of the society possibly without even being conscious of it. This patriarchal society has moulded the film form into the constant stereotyping of the female in film.
Mulvey believes that the representation of women is usually shown through the stereotypical ‘mother’, ‘virgin’ or ‘whore’ therefore being presented to the voyeur as either the passive female or the fallen women with the need of being either rescued or put in her place. These stereotypes are created to masculinise the audience especially the male spectators as they get to fulfil erotic male fantasies through the cinema experience, putting them in the position of the male in control of the objectified woman. Often men in film are also portrayed as extremely masculinised angry, powerful, rugged characters, this also adds to the idea of the male spectator being able to relate himself to particular characters so as to fulfil sexual fantasy.

The male gaze refers to the act of looking upon women as objects, of adopting the role of spectator, but metaphorically it refers to a way of thinking about and acting within society. The female protagonists often have modern aspects but alongside there is almost always a stereotype attached alongside this. Examples of stereotypically portrayed females and the male gaze are:-
The female blinded by material things such as beauty or fashion
The powerful heroine who constantly struts around half naked oozing sexual confidence
The female who’s aim in life is to settle down and have a family
The successful professional yet neurotic female

The following slideshow is a case study applying the male gaze to the film adaption of the Comic Sin City, released in 2005, dir. Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller

The Male Gaze in Sin City