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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A paper which considers the phenomenon of the male gaze in feminist cinema, illustrated with reference to the movies Marnie and Jeanne Dielman. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
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6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JL5_JL2jeanne.rtf
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by the respective directors, we need to consider the phenomenon of spectacle in film, and in particular the way that the viewer perspective, or gaze, is used to objectify female
characters. Mulvey (1975) describes gaze as the way in which camera, characters and audience perceive each other and underpin the essential;
structure of society. She associates western culture with patriarchy and phallocentrism, and therefore male gender and male sexuality is regarded as dominant. Since men are seen as those who structure
and give order to society, then all social interaction, including the development and use of language, is predicated on the masculine: women, on the other hand, represent the fear of
castration. In order to preserve the dominance of the phallus, one must also be aware of its opposite: the castrated body. Mulvey asserts that since men have the power over
language, and therefore over the social order, then phallocentrism can be seen as depending on its opposite, the castrated female, in order to imbue the world with significance and meaning.
Womens role is confined to nurturing, or to representing castration anxiety - a "signifier for the male other" (Mulvey, 1975).
Cinema, being a system
of representation which deals with collective ways of seeing, will therefore reinforce and support the masculine - the "male gaze" - rather than acknowledging and celebrating the female gaze, or
female desires. As noted by Martinez (2004) Mulvey relies on Freudian theories for her investigation into scopophilia, or the love of looking. According to Freud, scopophilia, and its associations with
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