Article summary for Literature Review(7)

Mulvey, L. 1975. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Screen (London). 16(3), pp.6–18.

Laura Mulvey's seminal essay employs psychoanalytic theory to critically analyse how traditional cinema perpetuates patriarchal ideologies, focusing on the passive representation of women and active gaze of men. Her thesis is that cinema functions within a phallocentric framework, where visual pleasure is derived from voyeuristic and narcissistic perspectives that inherently objectify the female form and reinforce male dominance.

Key Point:

Psychoanalytic Foundations:

Mulvey integrates Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis to explore the unconscious ways patriarchal societies structure ways of seeing that glorify the male perspective. She argues that the pleasure of cinema is intertwined with the pre-existing societal structures that associate lack (castration) with the female form, and power and control with the male form. This psychoanalytic approach highlights how film serves as a cultural reinforcement of gendered identities and sexual differences.

Concept of the Male Gaze:

Central to Mulvey's analysis is the concept of the "male gaze," wherein the film's camera and the audience are compelled to adopt a masculine perspective, viewing female characters as objects. This gaze is not neutral; it carries the power dynamics of gender and sexual politics, suggesting that the act of looking itself is a source of pleasure and control. The male gaze manifests in three looks: that of the camera at the filming, that of the audience in the cinema, and that of the characters within the film's diegesis.

Women as Image, Men as Bearer of the Look:

Mulvey discusses narrative cinema strategically positions women to be visually pleasing and erotic, thereby aligning them with "to-be-looked-at-ness." This aligns women with their appearances and bodies rather than as agents of their narratives. In contrast, men are typically the bearers of the gaze, controlling and propelling the narrative forward, which empowers them beyond their roles in the diegesis.

Voyeurism and Scopophilia:

The essay details how traditional cinema taps into the scopophilic nature of human pleasure that Freud identified—taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze. Mulvey points out how this pleasure can be voyeuristic when films encourage viewers to take on a role of surveillance without the consent of the object (typically the female character), aligning this pleasure with practices of power and control typical of patriarchal order.

Implications for Feminist Film Theory:

By exposing how traditional film narratives manipulate visual pleasure to enforce gender norms, Mulvey calls for a destruction of this pleasure as a radical act. She suggests that the dismantling of these pleasure structures could lead to alternative forms of cinema that do not comply with patriarchal expectations or the eroticization of inequality.

Alternatives to Traditional Aesthetics:

Mulvey advocates for a radical approach to filmmaking that challenges the foundational aspects of traditional narrative and visual pleasure. She highlights the potential for avant-garde and feminist filmmakers to create a new language of cinema that engages audiences without relying on gendered visual pleasures, proposing a cinema that foregrounds female agency and disrupts the male gaze.

Conclusion:

Mulvey critically address the entrenched patriarchal norms that shape visual pleasure in traditional cinema. Her analysis unveils the male gaze as a dominant force in filmmaking, where the camera and the audience are implicated in a voyeuristic and objectifying treatment of female characters. By linking pleasure in cinema to the manipulation of the female form and by dissecting the voyeuristic and narcissistic components of cinematic viewing, Mulvey illuminates how traditional narrative techniques not only reflect but also reinforce gender inequalities.

Mulvey's announcement for a radical rethinking of the aesthetics and pleasures of cinema aims to pave the way for a film form that is conscious of its role in gender politics and that actively seeks to dismantle the voyeuristic structures of traditional narrative.