Mulvey, L (2009 [1975]) Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema in 'Visual and other pleasures', Basingstoke, Palgrave.
Who is the author?
Feminist film theorist , best known for this article which was part of a theory journal called ‘Screen’. The article was influenced by theories of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan and one of the first essays that shifted orientation of film theory towards a psychoanalytical framework
Key Points
1. Pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female
Key Points
1. Pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female
2. Women’s presence is essential in cinema yet visual presence takes away from storyline
3. Men in films are what the audience fantasises about
4. An active/passive heterosexual division of labour has too controlled narrative structure, man is reluctant to gaze at exhibitionist self
5. Women are erotic objects for the characters within the story 'to be looked at-ness' but also the spectators.
6. The use of a camera blends the audience's perceptions of fantasy and reality, supporting voyeurism complex
Quotes
1. 'In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female.'
2. 'The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly.'
3. 'Male pin-ups appear in the image to be looking in ways which suggest they are not an erotic object'
4. 'Male characters on film are made obviously threatening and aggressive in order to avert their erotic potential.'
How the world of film theory has developed since Laura Mulvey.
TEXT 2
Stars - Richard Dyer
What type of document?
Critical response to original essay
Who is the author?
British academic, currently teaching at KCL, specialising in cinema (particularly Italian cinema), queer theory, and the relationship between entertainment and representations of race, sexuality, and gender, he was previously a faculty member of the Film Studies Department at the University of Warwick for many years and has held a number of visiting professorships in the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany.
Points
1. Men too can be sexualised, as demonstrated in the film 'Picnic' with the objectification of William Holden's body
2. men being sexualised in films is considered pro-feminist as the male becomes passive and loses masculinity and dominance
3. Aggression in a scene is needed with men to avoid the impression of any homosexuality
TEXT 3
John Storey - Cultural Theory and Popular Culture
What type of document?
Analytical response to the original essay
Who is the author?
A leading figure in the field of Cultural Studies
Points
1. Narrative and moments of spectacle are the two main components of popular cinema
2. More effort needs to be made to stop the objectification and sexualisation of women in cinema.
3. Women are there for the enjoyment of men in most films
Triangulating the 3 Texts. Consider:
What is the relationship between the writers?
Laura Mulvey’s original text is heavily criticised by Richard Dyer in the text ‘Stars and Audiences’. John Storey in ‘Cultural theory and Popular Culture’ has a more objective view of the article and simply summarises the essay by Mulvey. Both secondary essays both reference the primary essay but have different opinions on the credibility of it.
Does one text help to highlight information in the primary? Which points?
Storey's essay analyses the essay in a non bias way and therefore highlights the key point points clearly.
Are there any criticisms? What are they? How are they justified?
Dyer's essay criticises aspects of Mulvey's in that he believes men are objectified too. Researching his essay further, some people consider it bias.
Triangulation Exercise
Film scholar, psychoanalysts and feminist Laura Mulvey's essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' discusses 1940s and 1950s cinema in relation to the objectification and sexualisation of women and explored the way in which women are viewed as passive objects by males in the film industry during the 1970s and 80s. Having produced avante guard films herself at this period in time, when feminism and equal rights movements were on the rise, Mulvey gives her insight on patriarchy in the Hollywood film industry and the way in which it reflects society and its inequalities.The essay proved quite controversial and has since, gave her a name as a feminist film theorist. The original essay highlighted and explained how she believes classic cinema objectifies women, using theories by Lucien Freud and Jacques Lacan. She highlights that women are erotic objects for characters within the story but also the spectators too and their presence in this way in a film, completely takes away from the storyline. Her opinions are unusual in that she is a feminist but does not completely disregard Freud’s views as completely incorrect, instead uses them in her argument.
Richard Dyer disagreed with these arguments and challenge the points raised in Mulvey’s essay. Dyer gives examples of how men are objectified too in modern cinema. ‘Narrative film continually includes looks directed at the male body and also looked between male characters’. He uses other theorists to give examples of points, which challenge Mulvey’s essay. For example, he uses Gaylyn Studlar’s essays to challenge Mulvey’s idea of Freudian/Lacanian thinking in her theory. This very defensive way of writing differs a lot to the passage ‘Cine-psychanalysis’ by John Storey. In this text he has a more objective way of analysing the text, highlighting points of interest within it and analysing them in further detail. Storey will draw on a point made by Mulvey, such as ‘Popular cinema promotes and satisfies a second pleasure: ‘developing scopophilia in its narcissistic aspect.’ Here Mulvey draws on lacan’s account of the ‘mirror image.’
3. Men in films are what the audience fantasises about
4. An active/passive heterosexual division of labour has too controlled narrative structure, man is reluctant to gaze at exhibitionist self
5. Women are erotic objects for the characters within the story 'to be looked at-ness' but also the spectators.
6. The use of a camera blends the audience's perceptions of fantasy and reality, supporting voyeurism complex
Quotes
1. 'In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female.'
2. 'The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly.'
3. 'Male pin-ups appear in the image to be looking in ways which suggest they are not an erotic object'
4. 'Male characters on film are made obviously threatening and aggressive in order to avert their erotic potential.'
How the world of film theory has developed since Laura Mulvey.
TEXT 2
Stars - Richard Dyer
What type of document?
Critical response to original essay
Who is the author?
British academic, currently teaching at KCL, specialising in cinema (particularly Italian cinema), queer theory, and the relationship between entertainment and representations of race, sexuality, and gender, he was previously a faculty member of the Film Studies Department at the University of Warwick for many years and has held a number of visiting professorships in the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany.
Points
1. Men too can be sexualised, as demonstrated in the film 'Picnic' with the objectification of William Holden's body
2. men being sexualised in films is considered pro-feminist as the male becomes passive and loses masculinity and dominance
3. Aggression in a scene is needed with men to avoid the impression of any homosexuality
TEXT 3
John Storey - Cultural Theory and Popular Culture
What type of document?
Analytical response to the original essay
Who is the author?
A leading figure in the field of Cultural Studies
Points
1. Narrative and moments of spectacle are the two main components of popular cinema
2. More effort needs to be made to stop the objectification and sexualisation of women in cinema.
3. Women are there for the enjoyment of men in most films
Triangulating the 3 Texts. Consider:
What is the relationship between the writers?
Laura Mulvey’s original text is heavily criticised by Richard Dyer in the text ‘Stars and Audiences’. John Storey in ‘Cultural theory and Popular Culture’ has a more objective view of the article and simply summarises the essay by Mulvey. Both secondary essays both reference the primary essay but have different opinions on the credibility of it.
Does one text help to highlight information in the primary? Which points?
Storey's essay analyses the essay in a non bias way and therefore highlights the key point points clearly.
Are there any criticisms? What are they? How are they justified?
Dyer's essay criticises aspects of Mulvey's in that he believes men are objectified too. Researching his essay further, some people consider it bias.
Triangulation Exercise
Film scholar, psychoanalysts and feminist Laura Mulvey's essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' discusses 1940s and 1950s cinema in relation to the objectification and sexualisation of women and explored the way in which women are viewed as passive objects by males in the film industry during the 1970s and 80s. Having produced avante guard films herself at this period in time, when feminism and equal rights movements were on the rise, Mulvey gives her insight on patriarchy in the Hollywood film industry and the way in which it reflects society and its inequalities.The essay proved quite controversial and has since, gave her a name as a feminist film theorist. The original essay highlighted and explained how she believes classic cinema objectifies women, using theories by Lucien Freud and Jacques Lacan. She highlights that women are erotic objects for characters within the story but also the spectators too and their presence in this way in a film, completely takes away from the storyline. Her opinions are unusual in that she is a feminist but does not completely disregard Freud’s views as completely incorrect, instead uses them in her argument.
Richard Dyer disagreed with these arguments and challenge the points raised in Mulvey’s essay. Dyer gives examples of how men are objectified too in modern cinema. ‘Narrative film continually includes looks directed at the male body and also looked between male characters’. He uses other theorists to give examples of points, which challenge Mulvey’s essay. For example, he uses Gaylyn Studlar’s essays to challenge Mulvey’s idea of Freudian/Lacanian thinking in her theory. This very defensive way of writing differs a lot to the passage ‘Cine-psychanalysis’ by John Storey. In this text he has a more objective way of analysing the text, highlighting points of interest within it and analysing them in further detail. Storey will draw on a point made by Mulvey, such as ‘Popular cinema promotes and satisfies a second pleasure: ‘developing scopophilia in its narcissistic aspect.’ Here Mulvey draws on lacan’s account of the ‘mirror image.’
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