Is Mulvey's theory of 'the male gaze' relevant in todays Hollywood?

Is Mulvey's theory of 'the male gaze' relevant in today's Hollywood?

(Item 5) The Resident Trailer

Speaker: That was the trailer for The Resident which was made in 2011. I will be using this film as well as 'Peeping Tom' and 'Disturbia' to discuss whether the male gaze is relevant in todays Hollywood. I will also be looking at Laura Mulvey's work from 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' . As you can see in the trailer, the male gaze isn't always an attractive thing for someone to experience and it isn't always acceptable. In the film itself, Juliet's landlord has become obsessed with her and spies on her through secret holes in passage ways on a daily basis. Mulvey talks about 2 different roles women play in films. These are sexually active females and powerless females which are two very different types of behaviour for a character. A powerless female such as Juliet would be vulnerable which men would see and then take advantage, just as Juliet's landlord had. However a sexually active female would hold more control over men so they would be less able to take advantage of. Mulvey is distinguishing between women who want male attention for sexual pleasure and women who have unwanted male attention which in most thriller films turns into a dangerous obsession.

Disturbia looks at the male gaze in two different lights. Kale, who is played by the young attractive Shia LaBeouf,sees his neighbour as a sexual active female however Mr. Turner who lives across the road sees woman as powerless which gives him the chance to take advantage of this.

(Item 3) Clip from Disturbia: Caught in the Act scene for 1:40 seconds 

Speaker: This clip shows how the camera which is controlled by men, controls the women in the films. the women are continuing with what they are doing but the men control the way they are seen. Men in the audience look at the men in the film and how they control the women and women in the audience look at the way women are in the film as they are attracting the males attention. This is what Mulvey is saying in her work.

(Item 11) Quote from "Pleasure in Looking/ Fascination with the Human Form- Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema"

(Item 15) Quote: ‘Scopohilia. This term translates literally as the love of looking’

Speaker: The definition of Scopohilia is 'sexual pleasure derived chiefly from watching others when they are naked or engaged in sexual activity.' In film criticism, the term Scopohilia is often used by feminist theorists when talking about the predominant male gaze of Hollywood cinema. The James Bond films are good examples of where Scopohilia is presented. The Bond films have been around for over 50 years and are still being made today which is useful when considering Hollywood in today’s society. We can see that the male gaze has changed through out the years in the Bond films as in Doctor No, a white woman walks out from the ocean while 007 watches her.

(item 7)  Show from 20 seconds until 30 seconds of the YouTube video

Speaker: 40 years later, Halle Berry was the famous bond girl who walks out of the ocean while Bond watches her as well. However in one of the most recent films, James Bond is the one that walks out of the water while a woman looks at him. This shows that people are aware of the male gaze due to Laura Mulvey exposing it in her essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'. Mulvey includes work from Freud and Lacan in explaining the pleasure of looking within film.

(Item 6) Show slides 6 and 8 of slideshow

Speaker: This proves Mulvey’s point of two types of women characters in films. The women who are killed in Peeping Tom are presented in this way.

(Item 2) show opening 4 minutes from Peeping Tom

Speaker: As shown in the opening scene of Peeping Tom we immediately see a frightened look in the woman’s eyes. The camera controls the women in films especially in thriller films as they are almost trapped. The way the killer is controlling the camera means she is being objectified sexually as the camera moves up and down her body. Even though she may seem to enjoy the male attention at the start and be presented as confident and in control we can see she is really just frightened and ‘in need of protection against the killer’. The view of the male gaze in thriller films hasn’t changed a considerable amount over the last few decades. This can be seen in Peeping Tom, which was made over 50 years ago and the resident which was made in 2011.