Laura Mulvey - Feminist film Theory and 'The Male Gaze'

Pleasurable Spectatorship
Laura Mulvey analysed the way mainstream films 'construct' an ideal viewer; she looked at how men and women were represented in films and how it would appeal to spectators.

Scopophilia = Freud's phrase for when we get sexual pleasure from looking at other people. Also Freud said people feel guilty when getting pleasure in this way.

Mulvey suggests that going to the cinema was the best place to get 'scopophillia' pleasure. This is because:

• The people in the film aren't aware the spectator is watching (so can't be made to feel guilty).
• No-one else can see the spectator getting pleasure because the theatre is in darkness, plus everyone else is watching the screen too.

Mulvey said the cinema provides voyeuristic pleasure, which means 'pleasure achieved through watching others who don't know they're being observed'.

• Video, DVD and on-line films can provide a similar pleasure as you can watch these by yourself and get the same feeling/pleasure.

A bit of Lacan

Jacques Lacan was a psychoanalyst who expanded and developed Freudians' ideas. Lacan introduced the 'Mirror Stage' which was a useful way of understanding why audiences like films and other media. 

Mirror Stage

This is a stage in a child's development where they see themselves in other people with similar features as them. A child develops sense of 'self' and 'other' that influence his/her thinking for the rest of their life. Mulvey used Lacan's idea about the importance of seeing yourself 'visually reflected to explain why people like films'.