The Dominance Of The Male Gaze On Screen
Film has been a tool for males to express their sexual desires on screen since the start fo the film industry. Movies are constantly objectifying women and defining their identity by the power of men for their own sexual desire. The phenomenon is called "the Male Gaze" which is first conceptualized by the film theorist Laura Mulvey.
Since the Great Depression which affected the whole economy, Movie studios believed that women are useless in the industry as they lack business-minds and are not financially-orientated. Therefore, the film industry has been dominated by men ever since. So much so, that the industry experiences a shortage in female film makers and lack of appreciation for those who work in it. This shortage of female auteurs leads to the absence of female-driven narrative on the big screen, and it originates from the fact that film is and has always been a vehicle for males to represent their wants on screen.
If you think for a second and look at how females are being projected on screen, one will notice a massive amount of scenes of women in bikinis, underwear, low slow-motion body shots or the body of a woman being scanned while exciting a car. In addition, movies are constantly containing a plot where the females’ happiness is dependant on the love received by a man.
A good example is how Marvel and DC often portray female super heroes through the male gaze. The superhero genre involves a massive amount of negative gender stereotypes and imposed gender norms. Women are repeatedly depicted as sidekicks, love interests, and narrative devices utilised primarily to aid the main character's quest, from advertising posters to trailers to scenes. The majority of Marvel movies depicted from a man’s perspective. Therefore female heroines are often portrayed with big breasts and tiny waists in their latex or fitted costume, in order to please the men watching. For example when Black Widow was first appeared in Marvel in “Iron Man 2” her first entrance was her changing her clothes in the back of a limousine , naked.
There is a big difference when a movie is directed and written by a woman’s and a man’s perspective. This is shown in the differentiation of the promotional posters in The Winter Soldier and in the Black Widow. On the surface, they may appear to be quite similar. They both feature her entire body in her costume. However, a closer look sees the male gaze on full display in the Winter Soldier poster. First, consider her real glance. Scarlett Johansson looks into oblivion with watery eyes in the Winter Solider poster. Examine her eyes on the Black Widow poster. She directs her gaze at the crowd, challenging you to mess with her. Now, let's talk about her hair. I realise this appears to be a minor point, but stay with me. Nat(the character in The Winter Soldier) is ostensibly on her way to war in Winter Soldier, but she appears to have walked out of a Pantene advertisement. Her hair is braided in the Black Widow commercial. It looks great, but it's also functional.
Her body figure is the most crystal clear indication that we're looking via the masculine gaze in Winter Solider. Her waist has been manipulated to appear unreasonably small, and her breasts have been expanded. They're also perched at an angle. Her arms are outstretched, exposing her chest and violating self-defence rule number one. Now if you take a look at the Black Widow poster her shoulders are squared, her waist and breasts are proportioned correctly, and her chin is down as she advances on the spectator in her suit, which appears to defend her in a battle.
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