OUGD501 - Session 1 - Text Evaluation - Feminist Ideology

L Mulvey speaks from a feminist point of view and writes a critical analysis primary article on the subject of the female icon in narrative cinema. Her personality definitely sinks through into the text.

J Storey writes a secondary text for undergraduates which dissects and evaluates L Mulveys text. He attempts to back up her essay on a more neutral standpoint however, repeats many of her points instead of triangulating the two texts. He creates an academic un bias analysis of L Mulveys text but needs another text in order to justify many of his points made and to oppose the text of L Mulvey. He seems to just regurgitate L Mulveys text when no other texts are triangulated in his writing.

R Dyer speaks from the tone of voice of queer theory and directly criticises L Mulveys text, referencing and opposing it on many occasions. His personality still seeps through into his writing however, he uses his own experiences to oppose L Mulveys radicalist point of view. He explains that cinema back then could not promote homosexuality and that men had to be more aggressive towards each other in order to divert the erotic tension between them whereas women could be more loving. 1998

L Mulvey

• -       There is an active male and a passive female
• -       Women are only there for the pleasure of the male protagonist and the male gaze of the audience
• -       Women can’t enjoy the sexual pleasures of men
• -       The men hold a more integral role in the storey and therefore cannot hold the burden of being sexually objectified
• -       Male protagonists are a mirrored projection of what the male audience fantasises to be like
• -       The camera uses techniques to blur the line between fantasy and reality to immerse the audience which supports the voyeurism concept

R Dyer

• -       When men are in a scene they must be aggressive towards each other in order to avoid sexual tension or to avoid homosexuality
• -       Men are sexualised in the film as Holden continually takes his shirt off which displays him as passively female as the women in the scene each register their sexual recognition towards him
• -       If a man in a film has his shirt off, then the women look away in order to not sexualise men whereas women are sexualised in a very obvious way
• -       If men are sexualised in a film then the sexuality is broken as if they were sexualised, then it would be considered as pro feminist as they would become passive and not dominant

J Storey

• -       The image of women is an objective male desire (male gaze), this is a signifier that you could loose your masculinity
• -       Popular cinema has two main moments, moments of narrative and moments of spectacle. The active male is associated with the whole narrative whereas the passive female, there for the spectacle, purely for visual enjoyment purposes.
• -       Cinema needs to be less objectifying of women to become more neutral

All three articles are relevant to its time and therefore predominantly associated to 1940’s – 1950’s. These gender differences in films are more significant when they were written whereas they have little significance with the 21st century. R Dyers book holds modern ideologies and therefore holds connotations of queer theory which would not have been published when L Mulveys book was written

Mulvey & Storey talks about the same theory and Storey supports points made in Mulveys essay whereas Dyer counters many of the points made in both other essays. Both secondary essays both reference the Primary on multiple occasions throughout.

Storey highlights the key points made within Mulveys essay predominantly about:

-       -    Male Gaze

-       -    Objectifying Women

-       -    Feminist Ideology

-       -    The passive female and active male

-       -    Voyeurism from the audience

-       -    Mirror fantasy created onscreen through male protagonists

Dyers writing openly criticises Mulveys essay as he points out that men can be objectified in the same way as women. Men can portray feminine passive behaviour in cinema.