Psychoanalysis and the Gaze

 

    Essentially the ideal viewer of traditional cinema is white heterosexual men while the view is centered on women. I feel as though cinema has changed very little in the last few decades because we are still seeing women being objectified and sexualize in film. The female characters are usually young, white, skinny, nude, and  most of which are involved in heterosexual relationships. Although diversity is beginning to be accepted, we are still seeing a lack of representation. 

    In film, female characters are seen as objects and their purpose is for the entertainment or enjoyment of men. They are meant to be desirable. Male characters contain a sense of control and power allowing the spectator to identify with that character. When the viewer begins to identify with the male character, they gain power over the woman in the film. Women represent the threat of castration due to the lack of a penis and her purpose for her existence is to symbolize the lack thereof. Laura Mulvey writes "The male unconscious has two avenues of escape from this castration anxiety: preoccupation with the re-enactment of the original trauma (investigating the woman, demystifying her mystery), counterbalanced by the devaluation, punishment or saving of the guilty object (an avenue typified by the concerns of the film noir); or else complete disavowal of castration by the substitution of a fetish object or turning the represented figure itself into a fetish so that it becomes reassuring rather than dangerous (hence overvaluation, the cult of the female star). Meaning that in film they take one of these two "avenues of escape" in order to avoid the castration anxiety posed upon men. 

    The camera will highlight the male character while the lens acts as his vision. It's there to show the needs of the male ego.The camera will move around according to where the male lead is looking. The male lead will stay in frame to show dominance while the female character(s) move in and out of the scene. This shows that the man is dominant in the relationship, giving the spectator the same dominance. In film, women are on display for the male lead as well as the viewer.  Women are meant to be desirable so the female characters tend to follow the modern day beauty standards such as being skinny, white, innocent and heterosexual. 

    Many films today reinforce the active male viewer by reassuring his male gaze. According to Mulvey, women are the image, while men are the bearers of the look. The over sexualization and objectification of women in film reinforces men in a negative way. Especially when movies only represent thin, white women. It's setting an unattainable standard that women now have the pressure to fall into. The patriarchy continues when men are taught that the women in movies, social media, or magazines are what women should look like. Women play a role in the patriarchy by believing that these standards must be met in order to please our men.