Gender

Mulvey, 1975:

 Mulvey, summarised the role of female characters in traditional cinema through saying that they simply function on two levels:

“As erotic objects of desire for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic objects of desire for the spectator within the auditorium.”  (Mulvey, 1975).

How is gender represented in this extract?

Laura Mulvey said, in 1975, that woman were shown only ‘As erotic objects of desire.’ I will look at this extract, in terms of the cinematography, mise-en-scene, sound and editing, and discuss whether it supports or disrupts Mulvey’s theory.

The extract opens with a close up of clothed and unclothed legs overlapping each other. This then moves away with a dolly moving up. This shot changes, with a quick fade to a mid-shot showing a fully clothed man in bed with a naked woman. These shots are also shaking slightly, connoting excitement. These shots support Mulvey’s theory as it shows the woman naked, tightly wrapped with the clothed man showing her to be an object of sexual desire, both for the audience as well as for the man.

This then moves, using a sound bridge, into wide shots showing the three men with three women dancing around them. This dancing supports Mulvey’s theory as they dance in a suggestive way for the men, which shows they are of sexual desire for the men. This shots also shows the men watching them in a desiring way, this mis-en-scene of their performance supports Mulvey’s theory as they see the woman as objects of sexual desire.