"Laura Mulvey did not undertake empirical studies of actual filmgoers, but declared her intention to make ‘political use’ of Freudian psychoanalytic theory (in a version influenced by Jacques Lacan) in a study of cinematic spectatorship" This referenced work is included in my previous blog post about Lacan.
Although Mulvey's intention was to analyse cinema, her thoughts and comments directly relate to photographer and to my essay where the images I used were shot in a cinematic 'film stills' style.
The quotes I have used in this blog post are from an article I found online, written by Daniel Chandler, which I found extremely interesting and helpful when I was researching my essay.
"Mulvey argues that various features of cinema viewing conditions facilitate for the viewer both the voyeuristic process of objectification of female characters and also the narcissistic process of identification with an ‘ideal ego’ seen on the screen. She declares that in patriarchal society ‘pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female’ (Mulvey 1992, 27). This is reflected in the dominant forms of cinema. Conventional narrative films in the ‘classical’ Hollywood tradition not only typically focus on a male protagonist in the narrative but also assume a male spectator. ‘As the spectator identifies with the main male protagonist, he projects his look onto that of his like, his screen surrogate, so that the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the erotic look, both giving a satisfying sense of omnipotence’ (ibid., 28). Traditional films present men as active, controlling subjects and treat women as passive objects of desire for men in both the story and in the audience, and do not allow women to be desiring sexual subjects in their own right. Such films objectify women in relation to ‘the controlling male gaze’ (ibid., 33), presenting ‘woman as image’ (or ‘spectacle’) and man as ‘bearer of the look’ (ibid., 27). Men do the looking; women are there to be looked at. The cinematic codes of popular films ‘are obsessively subordinated to the neurotic needs of the male ego’ (ibid., 33). It was Mulvey who coined the term 'the male gaze'."
I find this paragraph one of the most interesting out of the analysis. Chandler mentions ideas of Berger (women as sights) which interweaves with Mulvey's opinions.
This whole piece of text directly relates to my essay. In particular it relates to the main photograph I have tried to analyse within my essay.
This photograph, shot by Annie Leibovitz is a perfect example of the comments made by Mulvey. It shows the objectification of the model as she walks along the train carriage and also the 'narcissistic process of identification' as not coincidentally the woman is strikingly beautiful and as spectators we can see that she is being stared at appreciatively by the man. We are in awe of her but we are also jealous of the attention she is getting and imagine ourselves in her shoes in an attempt to vicariously receive some of this confidence and attention. The woman practically glows in the male gaze.
Men can also relate to the protagonist as wanting to have the same control over women, having them parade in front of them and the wanting the gratifying power of the male gaze. Which is shown by the man sitting comfortably and confidently while the woman walks past him and is looked at. The feature was in a predominantly female magazine (Vogue) though so I believe it is unlikely that men will identify with the image in the magazine although I believe they would if it was in another context, an advert/billboard for example.
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