Audience Theory - Feminist Film Theory and Audiences

The Feminist Film Theory and Audiences was created by Laura Mulvey in her 1975 essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema', which looked at how women were photographed in cinema.
Mulvey stated that Cinema reflects society, and therefore cinema reflects the patriarchal nature of society.
Mulvey's work can be categorised into three sections:

• The 'Gaze'
• Agency
• Erotic Desire

The 'Gaze'
This is where the 'gaze' of the camera is that of the male  'gaze'. Furthermore, the male 'gaze' is active, whilst the  female 'gaze' is passive. Throughout the narrative, Mulvey also believes that the male 'gaze' is directed towards the female characters.
The audience is made to identify with the male 'gaze', because the camera films from the optical, as well as the libidinal, point of view of the male character.
Thus, three levels of the cinematic 'gaze' - the camera, character and spectator - that objectify the female character. This is known as the Triple Gaze.
The Triple Gaze
Audience --> Camera --> Male --> Female
As a consequence of the triple gaze, the audience are forced into viewing the female as a sexual object. An example of this is found in James Bond: Doctor No, where Ursula Andress is viewed with the male 'gaze'.

In this clip, Andress is viewed through the male 'gaze', and therefore as an object of desire. The majority of James Bond films follow this, which is why they were generally popular with men. However, James Bond: Quantum of Solace was favoured by women, and was viewed through a female 'gaze'.

Furthermore, the audience is constructed as though everyone was male. Women are forced to look at the text as though they were a male member of the audience.

This occurs through the process of Suture.

Agency

In the classical Hollywood cinema, the male protagonist has agency - he is active and powerful. He is the agent around whom the dramatic action unfolds. The female character is passive and powerless - she is the object of desire for the protagonist and audience.

Erotic Desire

Mulvey argues that women have two roles in film:

• As an object of erotic desire for the characters.
• As an object of erotic desire for the audience.

This is supported by a large number of media texts including Glee, which is primarily a comedy. In this instance, a student is dressed in a nurse's outfit, and viewed with a male 'gaze'. It is obvious that this character is the object of erotic desire.

However, men are also objectified in certain texts and viewed as the object of sexual desire. An example of this would be 'Top Gun', particularly in the volleyball and locker room scenes.