LaurA MulveY..

Laura Mulvey is possibly the main theorist which i will be comenting on in my Independent Study. She constructed the idea of ‘the controlling male gaze’ which presents ‘woman as image’ and man as ‘bearer of the look’. She suggests that mny classical Hollywood movies focus on a male protagonist in the narrative but also assume a male spectator; therefore, the action on screen is aimed at other males as this allows them to identify with the male protagonist. In this case, males are often portrayed as powerful and ones who regulate the events. Women are objectified as sex symbols or feeble in order exert more dominance on the male protagonist.

Mulvey distinguishes between two modes of looking for the film spectator:

Voyeuristic looking involves a controlling gaze and Mulvey argues that this has associations with sadism: ‘pleasure lies in ascertaining guilt - asserting control and subjecting the guilty person through punishment or forgiveness’

Fetishistic looking, in contrast, involves ‘the substitution of a fetish object or turning the represented figure itself into a fetish so that it becomes reassuring rather than dangerous. This builds up the physical beauty of the object, transforming it into something satisfying in itself. The erotic instinct is focused on the look alone’.


Many classical Hollywood movies focus on a male protagonist in the narrative but also assume a male spectator; therefore, the action on screen is aimed at other males as this allows them to identify with the male protagonist.

In this case, males are often portrayed as powerful and ones who regulate the events. Women are objectified as sex symbols or feeble in order exert more dominance on the male protagonist.