Laura Mulvey states in male controlled society “the pleasure in looking is split between the active-male and passive-female.” this is echoed in the dominant forms in film. Classic Hollywood narratives traditionally focus on a male protagonist with an assumed male viewer. Men are presented as controlling characters and treat women as docile objects of desire; this applies to both on screen and to viewers. Women are objectified in relation to the male gaze, showcasing women as an image and men as owner of what is to be viewed. Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window gives us that male protagonist who observes voyeuristically at his neighbors, including the highly sexualized Miss Torso for most of the duration of the film, perfectly amplifying the patriarchal
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She is also often shown in flattering defused light. Something interesting about Rear Window and Mulvey’s argument is that because Jefferies is confined to a wheelchair with direct access into other people’s lives, giving him a voyeuristic power. One of the most powerful tools used by Hitchcock is subjective camerawork. In order for us to understand that Jefferies is the one viewing, Hitchcock first gives us a shot of a view threw Jefferies’s peeping binoculars.2 Moments like this, the viewer is placed into the males subjective perception, allowing us to move forward in that gaze seeing Lisa like Jeffries does- soft, perfect, ideal. 3
Depending on how and where a viewer interacts with a film has different affects on the ability to completely submerge into “the gaze” projected onto them. I believe separate from the voyeuristic theme in Hitchcock’s Rear Window, a theatre in itself allows for voyeuristic tendency. It is a space where darkness allows for an individual to believe their view in private while they peer into a different world of individuals they aren’t personally familiar with solely for pleasure and …show more content…
Though the industry is still male-dominated there are more recognized female filmmakers female characters are often given more agency given feminism is more prominent. For every film that seems to push or challenge traditional gender norms, there’s a handful that reinforce them. The Wolf of Wall Street directed by Martin Scorsese is dominated by the male gaze. This is best put into perspective in the scene where Naomi (Margot Robbie) first meets Jordan(Leonardo Dicaprio), she wears a vivid body conforming blue dress with a revealing chest cutout. Expectation builds as a colleague signals the men at the party to look at her. The camera catches her figure, and time acts in what Mulvey would call a moment of “erotic contemplation”. The spectator gazes at Naomi as Jordan does, drinking in her figure right before she flashes a smile.4 With only Naomi in view Jordan’s friends act as hype men towards his gaze in the background. “I'd fuck her if she was my sister,” followed by another, who says, “I’d let her give me AIDS.” Soon after you’ll find an intoxicated and high Donnie (Jonah Hill), who begins masturbating openly at the party in reaction to her.5 Naomi reacts not with disgust but with surprised laughter. In turn because of the extreme examples of objectification depicted in this movie it might also bring into question the male gaze rather than just exemplify it. Does The Wolf of Wall Street praise
She is also often shown in flattering defused light. Something interesting about Rear Window and Mulvey’s argument is that because Jefferies is confined to a wheelchair with direct access into other people’s lives, giving him a voyeuristic power. One of the most powerful tools used by Hitchcock is subjective camerawork. In order for us to understand that Jefferies is the one viewing, Hitchcock first gives us a shot of a view threw Jefferies’s peeping binoculars.2 Moments like this, the viewer is placed into the males subjective perception, allowing us to move forward in that gaze seeing Lisa like Jeffries does- soft, perfect, ideal. 3
Depending on how and where a viewer interacts with a film has different affects on the ability to completely submerge into “the gaze” projected onto them. I believe separate from the voyeuristic theme in Hitchcock’s Rear Window, a theatre in itself allows for voyeuristic tendency. It is a space where darkness allows for an individual to believe their view in private while they peer into a different world of individuals they aren’t personally familiar with solely for pleasure and …show more content…
Though the industry is still male-dominated there are more recognized female filmmakers female characters are often given more agency given feminism is more prominent. For every film that seems to push or challenge traditional gender norms, there’s a handful that reinforce them. The Wolf of Wall Street directed by Martin Scorsese is dominated by the male gaze. This is best put into perspective in the scene where Naomi (Margot Robbie) first meets Jordan(Leonardo Dicaprio), she wears a vivid body conforming blue dress with a revealing chest cutout. Expectation builds as a colleague signals the men at the party to look at her. The camera catches her figure, and time acts in what Mulvey would call a moment of “erotic contemplation”. The spectator gazes at Naomi as Jordan does, drinking in her figure right before she flashes a smile.4 With only Naomi in view Jordan’s friends act as hype men towards his gaze in the background. “I'd fuck her if she was my sister,” followed by another, who says, “I’d let her give me AIDS.” Soon after you’ll find an intoxicated and high Donnie (Jonah Hill), who begins masturbating openly at the party in reaction to her.5 Naomi reacts not with disgust but with surprised laughter. In turn because of the extreme examples of objectification depicted in this movie it might also bring into question the male gaze rather than just exemplify it. Does The Wolf of Wall Street praise