Film Studies - Essay

 “By orchestrating the ‘three looks’ of spectator, camera, and character, the cinematic apparatus naturalized a masculine gaze in the service of patriarchal ideology” (Maltby & Craven, Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction, 1995)

– To what extent is this true within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Laura Mulvey is a feminist film theorist, best known for her essay on Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Her theories are influenced by Freud and Lacan whilst also including psychoanalysis and feminism in her works. She is known for her theory of the sexual objectification of females within film and media, also known as the ‘Male Gaze’. Mulvey states that “the gender power asymmetry is a controlling force in cinema and constructed for the pleasure of the male viewer, which is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideologies and discourses.” (Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema , 1975) This implies that the male viewer is the target audience, therefore their needs are met first and that this problem stems from an old fashioned, male-driven society. this male driven society is still apparent in the media today. Mulvey’s theory on how women are portrayed in film and the media is just as prevalent today as it was in 1975 when her text was first published even though some people have disproved it.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is massive within its collection of films, spanning from Iron Man (Favreau, Iron Man, 2008) to the most recent, Spider Man: Far From Home (Watts, 2019), women have been shown as objects and desire through the three looks, Spectator, Camera and Character throughout, however some people argue that films like Captain Marvel (Boden & Fleck, Captain Marvel, 2019)that focused on women as the sole character of the film, showed women as subjects rather than objects. Yet as Janice Loreck, a TA in the school of media, film and Journalism stated in a post,

“Filmmakers often attempt to avoid presenting female characters as “mere” sexual objects by giving them complex back stories, strong motivations and an active role in the plot of their story. Yet the masculine gaze is still commonplace. Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises (Nolan, 2012) has significant personal motivations, yet she is still clearly there to be looked at.” (Loreck, 2016)

Some may argue that this is the case for Brie Larson who played Captain Marvel in Captain Marvel (Boden & Fleck, 2019), in the film she has been given the complex back story , the strong motivations, and the active role in the plot of their story as she is the main character, giving Captain Marvel what seems to be a subject role in the film, to avoid presenting her as a sexual object as Loreck suggests, but within the film the Camera doesn’t treat her as a sexual object it avoids the typical “Male Gaze” shots of the mid-shots, or the pan up of the body, this may be because one of the directors of the film was female and she controlled the camera in such a way as to not sexualise Captain Marvel by choice, making strides for Feminist Filmmaking as Captain Marvel (Boden & Fleck, 2019) was the first Marvel Cinematic Universe Film to Star a woman Superhero as the main Character. Yet even within the film there are no moments of the male gaze, in fact where there are moments of Male dominance it is quickly shut down by the films lead, which bring us back to the question at hand, “By orchestrating the ‘three looks’ of spectator, camera, and character, the cinematic apparatus naturalized a masculine gaze in the service of patriarchal ideology” (Maltby & Craven, 1995) – To what extent is this true within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It can be said that Captain Marvel (Boden & Fleck, 2019) is one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films that doesn’t orchestrate all three looks but the only look that is, comes from the spectator not the camera or character, disproving what Maltby and Craven said, and also going against Mulvey’s theory of the Male gaze. The only proof towards how true both Mulvey’s theory is and Maltby and Craven’s is the only act of sexual objectification of Captain marvel as a character which comes from the Male audience looking at the Female lead in the film and desiring her, as she is a young attractive female, not even dressed in scantily clad clothing but in a full body Suit, and the reason we know the desire of a male audience is received mainly as it is a super hero film, and after looking at the demographic of people who bought tickets for films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in General the majority of the ticket sales were male according to data found (Marvel Studios movie viewership in the U.S. 2018, by gender, 2018).As this film is a more recent entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe we don’t see the male gaze as much as we did with Iron Man 2 (Favreau, 2010) where we first meet Black widow (Scarlet Johansson) or with Guardians of the Galaxy (Gunn, 2014) with Gamora.

With Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy( Gunn, 2014) there was a change with her costume as the films came out and developed sequels, but the main focus is on how the ‘three looks’ were orchestrated and this is an example of a film that doesn’t prove it as much as Iron man 2 yet still proves it. The first time we see Gamora in a setting where she is looked at by the “three Looks” would be the first time the gang meet, just before they get arrested. in this scene, it opens with Starlord being shoved out of a shop, we see a mid-shot of Starlord then a shot reverse shot of him and Gamora talking, Gamora is leaned up against the wall wearing a low cut crop top and a leather jacket, her midriff and cleavage are exposed and she is stood in a way that her head is facing Starlord yet her body is facing the camera, you can see how Starlord is looking at her when he is talking, the scene goes into a fight, throughout we get closeups of Gamora’s legs, a Mid shot of her running away from the camera, even when lying down on the ground and the camera pans around them, Gamora is pined to the centre of the shot, so that the eyes of the audience are drawn to her, she then climbs on top of Starlord and we see a medium close up, with the sun behind her, and again Gamora centre screen drawing the audience and most likely Starlord’s attention to her, as again she is still dressed in minimal clothing. Then another moment in the same scene she is bent over Starlord and we get a closeup of her chest and face, all in 2 and a half minutes of the film, clearly shown in that time are multiple instances of the Male Gaze. Mulvey states in her paper that ‘’ The woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium’’ (Mulvey, 1975) now in the case of this film, Gamora is there as an important character, yet the way the camera shoots her and the way that she is dressed makes you see that she is there also for the pleasure of the audience and the male lead, as Melissa strong said in an article, 

‘’Today it is worth noting that the camera’s male gaze also is cisgender, heterosexual, and representative of conventional expectations of masculinity. Movies are a product of a patriarchal culture, so naturally they tend to reflect patriarchy.’’ (Strong, 2018)

So, the film’s objectification of the woman is reflective of the patriarchal society, yet we have noticed over time that sex sells, its only in recent years that, that has begun to change.

So, with Iron Man 2, a film which has arguably the most iconic scene of the objectification of women in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we see the patriarchal society in play, with the camera, and character both using the male gaze to objectify, Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) to the point where Tony (Robert Downey JR) even says to his girlfriend Pepper, ‘’I want One’’ which shows the theory that Lecan came up with regarding Lack and this need for want, which is seen with use of the male gaze, the scene in particular is the scene where Tony first meets Natasha Romanoff – Him and Happy are fighting in the ring, when she comes in and asks for his signature, whilst doing a google search of her he asks her to train with happy, this is the moment where the camera looks at her with the eyes of a male, she is wearing an open white shirt and trousers that are tight around the bum, as she bends down to enter the ring she looks directly into the camera as we get a mid-shot up of her chest and face as she enters the ring, when tony googles her, all the images the camera sees and tony looks at are underwear modelling shots, all sexualising the character of black widow, later on in the film and seen more in the avengers films, she gains a leather suit that like Catwoman’s in Batman The Dark Knight Rises hugs the body and draws the male viewers eye in on certain areas of appeal.

The one thing in common with the Marvel Cinematic Films that show the Male gaze and the three looks of Spectator Camera and Character is the fact that they are all directed by Male directors, or are run by Kevin Feige ads a producer, with the exception of Captain Marvel which was co-directed by a woman. So it is safe to say that the original statement posed by Maltby and Craven suggesting that ‘’By orchestrating the ‘three looks’ of spectator, camera, and character, the cinematic apparatus naturalized a masculine gaze in the service of patriarchal ideology’’ when applied to the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a complex one, as there are moments in the older films that are clear show of the male gaze, yet with the new films and the change in the view of women in films, with women led films becoming more popular diverting away from the objectification of women and towards the subjectification of them, provides us with an argument that makes us question whether the male gaze is still prevalent in today’s media.

Bibliography

Boden, A., & Fleck, R. (Directors). (2019). Captain Marvel [Motion Picture].

Boden, A., & Fleck, R. (Directors). (2019). Captain Marvel [Motion Picture].

Favreau, J. (Director). (2008). Iron Man [Motion Picture].

Favreau, J. (Director). (2010). Iron Man 2 [Motion Picture].

Gunn, J. (Director). (2014). Gaurdians of the Galaxy [Motion Picture].

Loreck, J. (2016, January 5). Explainer: what does the ‘male gaze’ mean, and what about a female gaze?Retrieved from The Conversation : https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-the-male-gaze-mean-and-what-about-a-female-gaze-52486

Maltby, r. (n.d.).

Maltby, R., & Craven, I. (1995). Hollywood Cinema: an Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell.

Maltby, R., & Craven, I. (1995). Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell.

Maltby, R., & Craven, I. (1995). Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction. Wiley-Blackwell.

Marvel Studios movie viewership in the U.S. 2018, by gender. (2018). Retrieved from Statista: https://www.statista.com/statistics/807365/marvel-movie-viewership-gender/

Mulvey, L. (1975). VISUAL PLEASURE AND NARRATIVE CINEMA.

Mulvey, L. (1975). Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema .

Nolan, C. (Director). (2012). The Dark Knight Rises [Motion Picture].

Strong, M. (2018, April 11). The Male Gaze in 2018. Retrieved from MovieJawn: https://www.moviejawn.com/?category=melissa+strong

Watts, J. (Director). (2019). Spiderman: Far From Home [Motion Picture].

Film Studies - Evaluation

over this unit I have shown an understanding of psychoanalytic theories by Freud Lecan and Mulvey, and shown how they apply to modern day cinema, at first I was going to do a 5 - 10 minute film, yet due to complications with actors and a lack of back up options I changed to the essay, which like my video was lacking a bit however I would say that if I did this unit again I would have thought of a backup for the film or have contingency plan in place, for my next unit I am going to make sure that this contingency plan is in place but start my planning and research early so that I am ready to shoot when I am back from half term.
over all I would say this isn't my best unit, due to lack of planning in both the film and the essay,
the essay lacked content and references, done differently I perhaps would have chosen a different theorist and chose a set of films that show them a lot more that what I originally did.

Film Studies - research for essay

UNMASING THE GAZE: SOME THOUGHTS ON ONEW FEMINIST FILM THEORY AND HISTORY – LAURA MULVEY

If the image of female stars are constructed as "to be looked at", the women in the audience are necessarily drawn into a complicity with the film's own inscribed "gaze".

During the 1920s, a new femininity, mass production and mass entertainment emerged side by side, deeply imbricated with each other, with images of modernity and, in the words of pioneer advertiser, Eal'l1est Etmo Calkins, "beauty as a business tool".

This time Dorothy and Lorelei are tailored, quite blatantly, for a gaze that is presumed male and an audience in which women are presumed incidental.

tars such as Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell were not promoting domesticity, or, indeed, consumer durables. They represent the power and the glamour of America

VISUAL PLEASURE AND NARRATIVE CINEMA



The cinema offers a number of possible pleasures. One is scopophilia. There are circumstances in which looking itself is a source of pleasure, just as, in the reverse formation, there is pleasure in being looked at.



The cinema satisfies a primordial wish for pleasurable looking, but it also goes further, developing scopophilia in its narcissistic aspect. The conventions of mainstream film focus attention on the human form.



Jacques Lacan has described how the moment when a child recognises its own image in the mirror is crucial for the constitution of the ego. Several aspects of this analysis are relevant here.



one implies a separation of the erotic identity of the subject from the object on the screen (active scopophilia), the other demands identification of the ego with the object on the screen



pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female.



As Budd Boetticher has put it:

'What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance.'

raditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium,



in psychoanalytic terms, the female figure poses a deeper problem. She also connotes something that the look continually circles around but disavows: her lack of a penis, implying a threat of castration and hence unpleasure



he male unconscious has two avenues of escape from this castration anxiety preoccupation with the re-enactment of the original trauma (investigating the woman, demystifying her mystery) counterbalanced by the devaluation, punishment or saving of the guilty object (an avenue typified by the concerns of the film noir); or else complete disavowal of castration by the substitution of a fetish object or turning the represented figure itself into a fetish so that it becomes reassuring rather than dangerous (hence over-valuation, the cult of the female star)



THE MALE GAZE IN 2018 – MELISSA STRONG



“Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” first acknowledges that movies make the camera invisible, almost unnoticeable, to create the illusion of verisimilitude.

today it is worth noting that the camera’s male gaze also is cisgender, heterosexual, and representative of conventional expectations of masculinity. Whatever for, you may ask? Well, as Mulvey points out, movies are a product of a patriarchal culture, so naturally they tend to reflect patriarchy.



WHAT IS THE MALE GAZE AND DOES FEMALE GAZE EXIIST - ANDY SIMMONS



Filmmakers often attempt to avoid presenting female characters as “mere” sexual objects by giving them complex back stories, strong motivations and an active role in the plot of their story. Yet the masculine gaze is still commonplace. Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) has significant personal motivations, yet she is still clearly there to be looked at.



Although written 40 years ago, Mulvey’s essay still provokes strong reactions. One common response is that both women and men are objectified in cinema.



Another argument is that cinema doesn’t invite women to desire men’s bodies. Rather, female viewers are positioned to identify with a heroine who is herself desired by a man. According to this logic, it is not Fitzwilliam Darcy’s wet undershirt that inflames the female viewer in Pride and Prejudice. Rather, it is Darcy’s longing for Elizabeth that truly appeals



So is there a female gaze? Certainly, beautiful men abound in cinema. But I’d argue that there is no direct female equivalent of the male gaze. The male gaze creates a power imbalance. It supports a patriarchal status quo, perpetuating women’s real-life sexual objectification.



Films like The Piano, In The Cut or Marie Antoinette show that cinema can use music, erotic scenes and visual aesthetics to express a feminine point of view. In doing so, such films counter the gaze, depicting women as subjects rather than objects “to be looked at”. Whilst not replicating the male gaze exactly, they challenge the enduring dominance of masculine worldviews in film and media.





“by orchestrating the ‘three looks’ of spectator, camera, and character, the cinematic appartatus naturalized a masculine gaze in the service of patriarchal ideology” (Maltby and Craven, The Hollywood Cinema, p. 398

Film Studies - Application of Lacan to A film.

One film that shows Lacan's theory of lack quite well is the film Whiplash (Chazelle 2014) in particular the scene above titled : Bleeding Hand and Smashes Drum, which in itself shows the drive that Miles Teller's character has towards drumming through the film. 

the scene opens with a shot of the waiter pouring a jug of ice and then, Miles teller pouring a jug of ice, the ice is representative of the pain he will put himself through to be the best,  as he keeps drumming his hands bleed and he puts his hands into the jug of ice water we get a shot where we see the blood and the water mix, this shows his obsession taking over his life, as he has lost his girlfriend and is slowly losing his life to become the drummer he wants to be like his idol buddy rich.

Film Studies - Mulvey and the male gaze - research

Laura Mulvey is a feminist film theorist, best known for her essay on Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Her theories are influenced by the likes of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan (by using their ideologies as “political weapons”) whilst also including psychoanalysis and feminism in her works. Mulvey is predominantly known for her theory regarding sexual objectification on women in the media, more commonly known as The Male Gaze” theory.

Mulvey states that “the gender power asymmetry is a controlling force in cinema and constructed for the pleasure of the male viewer, which is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideologies and discourses.” This means that the male viewer is the target audience, therefore their needs are met first and that this problem stems from an old fashioned, male-driven society. Her theory on how women are portrayed in film and the media is just as prevalent today as it was in 1975 when her text was first published.

Mulvey believes that women are in fact “the bearer of meaning and not the maker of meaning,” which suggests that women are not placed in a role where they can take control of a scene, instead they are simply put there to be observed from an objectified point of view. In addition, she believes that this way of watching film is never alternated so that the men are in fact the ones who are being viewed in this manner. This inequality enforces the ancient and outdated idea of “men do the looking, and women are to be looked at.”

However this has changed with both a change in time and a change in cinema dice the 70's with films such as Magic Mike (2012), we see the reverse happen where it is not the male looking at the female but the female looking at the male, or in some cases with the LGBTQ+ community, male looking upon male and female looking upon female.

The Male Gaze theory, in a nutshell, is where women in the media are viewed from the eyes of a heterosexual man, and that these women are represented as passive objects of male desire. Audiences are forced to view women from the point of view of a heterosexual male, even if they are heterosexual women or homosexual men. From the feminist perspective, this theory can be viewed in three ways:

How men look at women,
how women look at themselves
how women look at other women.

Typical examples of the male gaze include medium close-up shots of women from over a man’s shoulder, shots that pan and fixate on a woman’s body, and scenes that frequently occur which show a man actively observing a passive woman.

Although as of recently, movies like Frozen (2013) and Suffragette (2015) do Mulvey justice in highlighting women’s independence and empowerment, breaking away from the Male Gaze, decades later we still see the same broken record playing, with films like The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) revealing women in extremely sexual and somewhat unnecessary manners.

One reason for this is simply that the movie companies producing these films are male-dominated, as cinema is predominantly a male-run industry, and just like when Mulvey originally wrote this critical analysis of film, producers are still churning out the same work that has proved to be successful in the past with audiences as they invest to make profit. They believe that they are giving the public what they want, when that isn’t necessarily true. They are giving audiences what a proportion of males want, and what the rest of society has been brainwashed to accept.


Overall, it is clear that Mulvey‘s theory can be applied to a vast amount of films, for example Spring Breakers (2012), the Lara Croft movies (2001-2003), The Avengers(2012) and some less obvious movies, such as Aladdin and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Not only do we see this outdated portrayal of women in movies, but also in advertisements, music videos and in daily life.

Mulvey has shone a light on the old-fashioned and repetitive style of cinema we see every day, and her ideologies have helped create a more modern and truthful version of cinema as we now have more realistic portrayals of women than ever before. For example, the films Spy (2015) and The Hunger Games franchise (2012-present) allow audiences to have a refreshing look at women in strong and powerful positions without a man by their side, thus enforcing the important message that women do not have to be put in a box and objectified, they can play a variety of different, versatile roles and they can be considered through the eyes of society in a way that doesn’t patronize and sexualise them via the Male Gaze.


FILM THEORY 101: Laura Mulvey, Available at: https://www.filminquiry.com/film-theory-basics-laura-mulvey-male-gaze-theory/ (accessed 06/01/2020)