Laura Mulvey Male Gaze Theory

Laura Mulvey was and extremely influencial british feminist, she is well known for her 'male gaze' theory. She states that on screen, women are only show as objects to be desired rather than their own person. Women are always presented in a way that they provide visual pleasure to men. for example, in a music video a female artist may walk away and the camera will focus on her bum. In other words, whatever is shown on screen is shown from a males perspective. The concept of the 'gaze' relates to three things:

1.How men view women

2.How women view themselves

3.How women look at other women

On screen typical features of this 'gaze' you can often pick out, is that the camera will always focus on a womens body rather than her face or actions.