Male Gaze theory summarised

Laura Mulvey and her theory of the Male gaze influenced by the works of Freud, is key to the Feminist Film theory movement and has been of great influence since the mid 1970's. Mulvey argues that in classic hollywood films in particular women are merely represented to provide visual pleasure to men , and the audience is constructed in a manner where they are all expected to be men. This male gaze is both voyeuristic and fetishist. Her concept of "to-be-looked-at-ness", exemplifies that women were merely shown on screen in classic Hollywood in order to provide men with visual pleasure and have an erotic impact. Mulvey argued that the typical key protagonist within a classic Hollywood film was male and the audience members where similarly typically expected to be men. The typical male audience member is aligned with the films protagonist, by identification, admiration or aspiration. Therefore the audience member gains narcissistic pleasure (gratification) from identifying with the films protagonist, placing themselves "in the shoes" of the films hero. Further the influence of Freud an influential psychoanalytic theorist to Laura Mulvey's theory is the idea of castration anxiety which is what a person unconsciously thinks. For example if a woman was not objectified in the way she was in classic hollywood or placed in a position of lower authority, a male would not feel as powerful. This unconscious idea is that a male’s power and dominance over a female is his penis, and his dominance is threatened by a woman if she does not arouse this.