Audiences and Audience Theory - continued (2).

Feminist Film Theory and Audiences

-In 1975, Laura Mulvey changed the way people looked at cinema through her influential essay titled 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'.

Key points taken from this are below -
-Cinema reflects society.
-Therefore cinema reflects a patriarchal society (male-dominated society).
-There is a 'Glass-Ceiling' effect for women; which is a metaphor for the fact that women can see the 'top', but can not get through or reach it.

How does a patriarchal society manifest itself in cinema?
An example :
-Patriarchy and phallocentrism are linked.
-The phallus is the symbol of power.
-Note how guns are used in films, GUNS=PHALLUS=POWER
-The male mid-life crisis and phallocentrism.

The GAZE
-The 'gaze' of the camera is the male 'gaze'.
-The male gaze is active, the female is passive.
-Within the narrative, male characters direct their gaze towards female characters.
-The spectator is made to identify with the male look, because the camera films from the optical, as well as the libidinal, point of view of the male character.
-Thus three levels of the cinematic gaze - CAMERA>CHARACTER>SPECTATOR - that objectify the female character (THE TRIPLE GAZE).
-Therefore the audience is constructed as though everyone was male.
-Women are forced to look as though they were a male audience member.

Agency
-In the Classical Hollywood cinema, the male protagonist has agency - he is active and powerful.
-He is the agent around whom the dramatic action unfolds.
-The female character is passive and powerless - she is the object of desire for the protagonist and audience.