Rebekah Kearney

Unit 11 Wider Film Theories

Feminist Film Theory

The eroticisation of women on the screen comes about through the way in which
film assumes the spectator to be a white male and encourages his voyeurism,
through specific camera and narrative techniques.
Maggie Humm, Feminism and Film, p.39.

Maggie Humm, author of many works surrounding feminism, most notably Feminism and
Film 1) best describes the issues surrounding feminism and film. Her book covers cinemas
historical background in relation to feminism describes the dynamics at work in mainstream
cinema. She is described as one of many film academics, where genre and wider film
readings are used a theoretical tool to make a better understanding of how meaning is
curated in the film industry. Other theories in wider film readings alongside feminism such as
Marxism, auterism and psychoanalysis have all played a huge part in constructing a meaning
behind these ideologies. Film Theory provides an in depth analysis in moving picture, making
everything clearer to understand but also, easier to manipulate and control. Yale University
states that Film Studies is an interdisciplinary program that focuses on the history,
theory, and criticism of cinema and other moving image media.2) In this essay, I will
focus largely on the feminist film theory as its a subject I have heavily researched and
comfortable explaining about and I will also tap on other wider film readings such as Marxism
and auteurism as many of the ideologies have a tendency to overlap or compare to each
other.
What is Feminism?
Feminism, by definition means the advocacy of womens rights on the grounds of the
equality of the sexes. It is a range of both ideologies and movements that share the same
goal, which is to define and establish equal political, economic, cultural, personal and social
rights for women. It began as a social movement in the late 19th century and since then the
movements have come in a series of waves. The Feminist Film Theory itself stemmed from
the second wave of feminism in 1960s and 70s due to upheaval of Hollywood cinema since
the 1920s.
What is Feminist Film Theory?
Feminist Film Theory explores the notion that there are clear black and white differences
between males and females on screen and the variety of perspectives and methodologies
that go under the label of feminist film theory and the effects and methods that ultimately
influence the development of films and culture as a whole. Both representation and
spectatorship are the central points to feminist theory as British feminist film theorist Laura
Mulvey explains brilliantly in her essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema which
was written back in 1975 for the British Film Theory Journal Screen. This essay and Mulveys
teachings have heavily influenced the views of feminist film theory since its publication. In
this essay, she outlined the three cinematic habits Hollywood had established in portraying
women which were;

That men controlled the action and were responsible for moving the narrative along.

Women are represented as passive and powerless, but yet still attractive as conveyers for
the male gaze

The pleasure of viewing comes from voyeurism, narcissism and scocophila

Male Gaze, Voyeurism and Underrepresentation:

Mulvey created the terminology of the words male gaze in her essay Visual Pleasure
and Narrative Cinema, which I have previously mentioned. The male gaze is when a visual
medium is structured to the male viewer and the tendency to depict the world via a
masculine point of view. This can still be clearly seen in more recent years of film, despite the
huge demand for more strong female roles on screen. Even when it is perceived to have a
strong female character(s), they will always be portrayed by an attractive actress. The
camera encourages the audience to view the women in a voyeuristic way. The camera will
always linger on a woman that bit longer to place a spotlight on them for the male gaze.
Unnecessary material in films like sex, the attractiveness of a woman that doesnt move the
plot along but is solely there for voyeuristic reasons is an embedded cinematic habit even
today. Why must the females be in significantly less clothing compared to men even in the
same environments? Why must clothing emphasize parts of the body when its completely
unnecessary? Even in media hailed as for having strong female roles, like Game of Thrones,

Mad Max: Fury Road and the Hunger Games series, they still have the issue of the male gaze
despite them all being recent productions.
The issue with the male gaze that it has done untold damage to society and the problems
that have stemmed from male gaze and its impact on gender portrayals in the media such
as;
-

Media and Film are dominated by a male point of view, leaving over half of the worlds
population both unrepresented and misrepresented.

The over sexualisation and objectification of women.

Imbalance in terms of both power and gender.

That men and women are differentially positioned by cinema. Men as subjects identifying
with agents who drive the film's narrative forward, women as objects for masculine desire
and fetishist gazing.

The male gaze theory claims that men control the creation of media and thus, warped
attitudes towards the two genders. The CEOs of the six companies that own 90% of media

GE, News Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner and CBS - are all white males. 4) The male gaze
theory argues that with men exclusively controlling the media, film and entertainment
industries this leaves women in the position of being the object and not in possession of the
gaze. Although this theory originally applied to narrative cinema, I also argue that the male
gaze is present in all mediums of contemporary media, such as the music and news
industries where women are excessively objectified and sexualized. Every year, the Centre
for the Study Of Women and Television In Film at San Diego University releases the
finding of its survey entitled Celluloid Ceiling, and for 2015s survey which was published
on January 12th, 2016 found that once again, women as a whole are underrepresented in
Hollywood. For 2015, women only make up only 19% of the filmmakers working on the 250
top grossing movies that year. It is also the same percentage as in 2001. So in the 14 years,
that number hasnt change at all. Female producers made up 26%, followed by editors at
22%, executive producers at 20%, writers at 11%, directors at 9%, and cinematographers at
only 6%. Martha M. Lauzen, the executive director of the centre, stated in the Hollywood
Reporter But the numbers have yet to change. The film industry is a large industry,
and it takes a long time for change to occur.
It is worth noting from this survey that in the occasion where there is a female director on
set, it elevated the number of women working behind the scenes across the board. Of the
500 highest grossing films directed by females, on average 53% of writers, 32% of editors
and 12% of cinematographers were women. In 2015, the ACLU the American Civil Liberties
Union called for an investigation into the bias against women directors and stated that their
treatment was a civil rights violation. So this in itself concludes that the industry needs
to focus its attention to shift the gender balance to obtain total equality. 5)

Feminism and other Theories:

Many feminist ideologies connect the oppression of women to Marxist ideas about
exploitation, oppression and labor. The oppression of women as a part of a larger pattern that
affects everyone involved in the capitalist system. Karl Marx felt that when class oppression
was overcome, gender oppression would vanish as well; this is known as Marxist Feminism.
In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, both Clara Zetkin and Eleanor
Marx (Marxs own daughter) were against the demonization of men and rallied for
a proletarian revolution that would overcome as many malefemale inequalities as they
could. French director Jean Luc Goddard embodied the Marxist Film Theory as way to
educate the class consciousness.
Auteur theory suggests that the director is in fact the author of the film and has more of a
personal influence on a film rather the studio itself. Auteurism is the best way for the feminist
film theory to take its place in mainstream cinema due to the personal influence, rather than
the studio influence. Directors such as Sofia Coppola and Lynne Ramsey could be
considered for this.

Alternatives to psychoanalytic feminist film theory raise different questions about the
representation of women in films and media because the accounts of the self, race, identity
and the cultural surroundings of the subject. Laura Mulvey argues that Sigmund Freuds
psychoanalytic theory is the key to understanding how film creates such a space for female
sexual objectification and the exploitation of women. Mulvey assumed cinema as a symbolic
medium which forms spectators as bourgeois subjects. She used Lacanian psychoanalysis
to cement her account of gendered subjectivity, desire, and visual pleasure. 6)

We Need to Talk About Kevin:

This film is a British American psychological thriller drama, directed and written by Lynne
Ramsey and produced by Jennifer Fox. This film takes the cinematic habits of the male
gaze, voyeurism, sexualisation, etc and throws them out the window. This film applies the
ideals of Maggie Humm and Laura Mulvey beautifully. The film itself is raw and intense
and amazingly well thought out. And although this film never set out to be seen as a feminist
film, it has done so unintentionally. Behind the scenes, it was women that were driving force
for this film and the characters are strong, realistic and free of conventions and narratives of
the male gaze. The result was a Cannes Film Festival sensation being nominated for the
Palme dOr - and won universal critical acclaim. Films made by women have the power to
forward an alternative to the used and tried method Hollywood films often use.
We Need to Talk About Kevin depicts the story from an unusual point of view, the mother of
a son whos committed unforgiveable crimes. We are shown her own struggles of bonding
with her psychopathic son whos been difficult since an infant. For this film, the woman is in
possession of the gaze, as everything is seen threw a womans point of view. This film can be
placed on a post-feminist framework, demonstrating the ways in which the representation of
abjection plays into our notions of maternal and female achievement. It is clear there is both
physical and emotional detachment from both mother and son. The films deconstruction and
blurring of the abject roles examines and challenges the post-feminist ideas and ideals of
motherhood. Celebration of intensive mothering as the liberated womans
enlightened choice when, in fact, it both replaces subservience to a husband with
subservience to the child, and naturalizes motherhood as an essential part of womanhood. By
refusing to embody her traditional position as the abject mother, Eva and, indeed the film,
challenge the idea that every woman must become a mother, that every woman will find
fulfilment in being a mother, and that every mother must take up her position as the abject
figure in this patriarchal society.

Rear Window and Peeping Tom:

Laura Mulvey states in her work that Michael Powells ultra controversial film Peeping
Tom, that its the cinema audiences own voyeurism is bluntly obvious and the shocking fact
that the spectator identifies with the perverted protagonist. In the 1970s, all films were from
a males perspective. The classic cinema narrative was dominated by men. Women were
excessively objectified by long shots at female body parts. Men are afraid of the female
anatomy, thus the need to degrade her as an object to a degree in which is not threatening
to the male. Claire Johnston was a feminist film theoretician who published many works on
the construction of ideology in film. She stated that cinema can work to create a counter
cinema through consciousness that involved both production and opposition of sexist
ideologies.
Rear Window, a film by Alfred Hitchcock, starred James Stewart, Grace Kelly and
Wendall Corey. The film deceipts a wheelchair bound photographer who sits at his apartment
window and spies on his neighbours and later convinces himself that one of the neighbours is
a murderer. Written by John Michael Hayes and based on the story It Had to Be
Murder, by Cornell Woolrich. Shot exclusively at Paramount studios and filmed in
Technicolor. Rear Window received huge acclaim. Rear Window is a voyeuristic film. The
character Stella tells another character Jeff that "We've become a race of Peeping Toms."
This can be applied to cinema as well as reality. The majority of the film is seen threw Jeffs
point of view. Rear Window implied that we live in a voyeuristic society as we have enjoyment
in watching others.

Conclusion:
It is impossible to be more specific about feminism in film without discussing the infamous
Laura Mulvey and her contribution. Often regarded as the godmother of film theory
discussing feminism issues, Mulvey laid the foundation for what we now know and consider
feminist film theory. The stereotyped representation of women in Hollywood and its negative
effect on both women and male spectators means there should be a push for more positive
representation of women in Hollywood as it will benefit culture and society as a whole. The
bench works for this is already in the works in the fourth wave of feminism. Hollywood has
been tailor made based on males desires. Representation and spectatorship are central to
feminist theory. The various methodologies and perspectives contained under the umbrella of
feminist film theory along with other wider film theories such as auteurism and Marxism and
the multiplicity of methods and intended effects that influence the development of films. 7)

Bibliography:

1) https://books.google.ie/books/about/Feminism_and_Film.html?id=aoSgDTZo3usC
2) http://filmstudies.yale.edu/
3) http://imlportfolio.usc.edu/ctcs505/mulveyVisualPleasureNarrativeCinema.pdf
4) http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-inamerica-2012-6?IR=T
5) http://www.mtv.com/news/2727083/female-filmmakers-study-2015/
6) https://prezi.com/5nlmdrawksgz/film-studies-102-feminism-and-marxism/

7) http://www.uh.edu/~cfreelan/courses/femfilm.html
8) http://www.imdb.com/