visual pleasure and narrative cinema 1975
mulvey uses psychoanalysis to discover where and how the fascination of the film is reinforced by pre-existing patterns of fascination already at work within the subject. she uses the psychoanalytic theory as a 'political weapon'
she argues that hollywood/mainstream/narrative cinema manipulates visual pleasure. it 'codes the erotic into the language of the dominant patriarchal order'
scopophilia = pleasure/obsession in looking
the most pleasurable looking is the human form
"woman as image, man as bearer of the look"
the image of the woman also carries a threat. there are two avenues of escape from fear of the femininity for the male spectator:
- investigate the woman, demystify her mystery
- deny castration by turning the woman into a reassuring fetish
scopophilia is the force driving the movements and positioning of the camera
the gaze is male and the spectator is led to identify with his male gaze
the cinematic apparatus is not gender neutral
Jennifer's Body (2009) is a horror comedy film where a popular teenage girl, Jennifer, becomes possessed and feeds on her male classmates with her best friend, Needy, striving to stop her. this film was marketed as catering exactly this kind of visual pleasure, referred to as the male gaze. the film was mainly advertised to young, teenage boys when it was first released, with Megan Fox (who plays Jennifer) on the cover of its movie posters. Jennifer's Body was seen as the "Twilight for boys", an adolescent sex fantasy designed explicitly for heterosexual males. when it was first released, it was a failure. the film mainly focuses on best friends Jennifer and Needy. despite their different social statuses, they are inseparable. when Jennifer becomes possessed, she doesnt just go after the boys who tried to sacrifice her; she goes after boys, period. however, throughout the film there are occasional kisses and hand-holding between Jennifer and Needy. the way that gaze is deployed throughout the film is all about women looking at women, and men mainly existing to be a great source of protein. from the start it is implied that women have taken over as the viewers of other women as objects of desire. Jennifer, seducing boys, has always been destroying them for her own gain. though the boys think they're the ones "taking" Jennifer, it's actually she who has all the power. it is clear that Jennifer and Needy have the most meaningful romantic relationship in the film.
the male gaze gets all its power from the image of the woman, manipulating the picture of femininity for the pleasure of the male spectator. however in Jennifer's Body, they are confronted by a deceptive main female character who cuts up and consumes the men in her life.
