Laura Mulvey's Theory

Laura Mulvey is a feminist who developed the male gaze theory. Her theory shows how the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. She believes that women should enjoy the attention and put themselves in a position to be looked at through the gaze. 

Mulvey states that women are typically the object rather than the possessors of the gaze because the control of the camera (and therefore the gaze) comes from factors such as the assumption of heterosexual men as the default target audience for most films. 

Furthermore, in terms of the female gaze, Laura states that it is the same as the male because women look at themselves from the point of view of men - (Female gaze was a response to the male gaze by E Ann Kaplan).

Main points of Male Gaze:

• The representation of women in a sexual fantasy and from a heterosexuals male point of view
• Scopopphilia: pleasure involved in looking at other peoples bodies
• Objectification of female characters
• Patriarchal society
• Needs of the male ego

I will post video analysis's of videos that contain the male gaze, the female gaze and a music video which contains both.