Laura Mulvey : Theory on representation ' visual pleasure and narrative cinema'
Laura Mulvey and her theory of 'The Male Gaze' was influenced by Freud, Mulvey argued that in classic hollywood films in particular women are merely represented to provide visual pleasure to men, and the audience is constructed in a manner where they are all expected to be men.
I understand she has classed 'the male gaze' as both voyeuristic and fetishistic.
This explains her theory of "to-be-looked-at-ness", where women were solely shown on screen in classic hollywood in order to provide men with visual pleasure.
Mulvey argued that the typical key protaganist within a classic hollywood film was male and the audience members where similarly typically expected to be men. She states : The typical male audience member is alligned with the films protagonist, by identification, admiration or aspiration. Therefore the audience member gains narcissistic pleasure from identifying with the films protaganist,placing themselves "in the shoes" of the films hero. So for example if a woman was not portrayed in the way she was in classic hollywood or placed in a position of lower authority a male would not feel as powerful.
So, Mulvey's main argument in "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" is that Hollywood narrative films use women in order to provide a pleasurable visual experience for men. The narrative film structures its gaze as masculine. The woman is always the object of the reifying gaze, not the bearer of it. A video to show my understanding of this best is
Robin Thicke - Blurred lines
In the original version of this video, he has the women parading around naked (even in the 'pg' video they're still dressed skimpy) as he sings the hook "I know you want it" While the women are objectified as they dance on and around him and the three other men dressed in smart fashionable suits. This video shows mulveys idea of "to be looked at ness"
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