Gender Roles in Film: Sexual Objectification of Women

Introduction

Laura Mulvey published an article that explores visual pleasure in film using a psychoanalytic framework. The pleasure and unpleasure provided by conventional narrative film depicts a woman as passive raw material for the active stare of man (Mulvey, p. 67). As a result, the woman is an image of castration that induces fetishistic or voyeuristic mechanisms to evade her threat. Narrative film portrays the woman in voyeuristic form by highlighting her to-be-looked-at-ness. Narrative film employs cinematic codes that create a world, a stare, and an object which generates an illusion of the measure of desire. Carol J. Clover explores the role of gender in the slasher film, in which the killer's "victim is a beautiful, sexually attractive woman" (Clover, p. 192). The slasher film is an example of the sexualization of both movie and action, as the roles of men and women are portrayed differently. Clover's case study does not suit the topic of sexual objectification of women in film as well as Mulvey's, which is the more suitable of the two.

Analysis of the Two Case Studies

Laura Mulvey's case study delves into the politics of identity by exploring how different genders are depicted in narrative film. The text employs a psychoanalytic framework to examine this issue and demonstrates how fascination is reinforced by pre-existing patterns working within the individual subject and the social formations that affect individuals. Narrative film reveals, reflects, and portrays the interpretation of sexual difference based on these pre-existing social formations. These formations shape how men and women are depicted in films, which primarily act as a reflection of society. Since the unconscious of patriarchal society has shaped the structure and form of film, eroticism plays a major role in how women are depicted. The patriarchal society has contributed to the use of images, erotic ways of looking, and spectacle in film. Mulvey further contends that the patriarchal unconscious has had a two-fold impact on the function of the woman. First, the woman "symbolizes the castration threat by her real absence of a penis" (Mulvey, p. 57). Secondly, she raises a child into the symbolic, as she is viewed as a carrier of the bleeding wound. Therefore, narrative film reinforces the idea that a woman can only exist in light of castration and cannot surpass it.

Carol Clover's case study explores the role of gender in the slasher film, drawing on Hitchcock's Psycho as the genre's immediate ancestor. The elements of the film are familiar: the killer is a psychotic product of a dysfunctional family who can still be recognized as human, while the victim is a beautiful, sexually attractive woman. Though none of the features employed in the film are original, the genre depicts the sexualization of movie and action through numerous imitations and variations. The idea of a psychotic killer appears in other films such as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Halloween. This implies that the trope of a killer targeting beautiful women is a reflection of the patriarchal unconscious that dominates society. Men are thus portrayed as superior in the slasher film, which reinforces the patriarchal unconscious. Conversely, women are portrayed as sexual objects targeted by men for self-gratification.

Mulvey suggests that narrative film provides a series of possible pleasures classified into scopophilia—pleasure obtained from looking—and its reverse formation, which is the pleasure in being looked at. Scopophilia represents pleasure in looking, while its reverse formation represents fascination. While narrative film develops scopophilia in its narcissistic aspect, it simultaneously satisfies an ancient wish for pleasurable looking. Mulvey thus introduces the concept of the male gaze, which projects its fantasy onto the female figure. This concept promotes a sexualized way of looking that empowers men while objectifying women (Loreck, par. 3). Based on this concept, a woman is visually depicted as an object of heterosexual male desire, framed by male desire such that her own thoughts, feelings, and sexual desires are considered less important. Mulvey suggests that conventional Hollywood films primarily respond to an intrinsic desire known as scopophilia—that is, the sexual pleasure derived from looking. Narrative film displays a woman as a sexual object, using erotic spectacle to satisfy heterosexual male desire. While the presence of a woman is a crucial element of narrative film, her visual presence tends to interfere with the development of a storyline because erotic contemplation is emphasized instead. This essentially means that narrative film employs visual media that seemingly sexualizes women for a male viewer. Consequently, most popular movies incorporate elements that seek to satisfy masculine scopophilia. In these films, the male gaze adopts many forms through situations where female characters are depicted based on what they represent to the male characters. Therefore, the most important thing is what the female characters represent or provoke in the hero, who is most often a male character (Loreck, par. 10).

Clover demonstrates how slasher films are characterized by explicit violence usually directed toward women. Most of these violent scenes take place during or immediately after mild erotic scenes (Cowan & O'Brien, p. 187). Clover notes that "actual rape is practically nonexistent in the slasher film" (p. 195); however, the films portray violence and sex as alternatives rather than concomitants—each serving as a substitute for and a prelude to the other. The slasher film portrays women in a stereotypical manner: there are few female killers, and their reasons for murder differ significantly from those of men. Male killers in these films are motivated by sexual or erotic desires, which expands the idea of women's objectification. Male characters are depicted as aggressive and brave while women are sexually objectified. Clover further contends that sexual transgressors of both genders in the slasher film are destined for early destruction. One imperative that transcends gender lines is the killing of those involved in unauthorized sex. While the numbers are not equal and the scenes are unequally charged, men who engage in illicit sex in the slasher film also die.

Conclusion

Mulvey and Clover explore different films in relation to the representation and classification of men and women. The two provide a relatively distinct assessment of the politics of identity in terms of how men and women are represented in film. Mulvey explores gender representation in narrative film, whereas Clover examines the issue through the slasher film. These case studies aptly show how films generally reflect issues in society, particularly regarding gender roles. Mulvey emphasizes that the subjugation of women by men is based on visual pleasure, through which women are sexually objectified, leading men to view women as sexual objects and to assert dominance over them. Clover, on the other hand, highlights the use of violence and sex as the premise for women's oppression, suggesting that men are portrayed as aggressive and brave in the slasher film. This analysis demonstrates that Mulvey's text more aptly captures the sexual objectification of women in comparison to Clover's.

Works Cited

Clover, Carol J. "Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film." University Press, 10 Feb. 2017, www.users.clas.ufl.edu/burt/paranoid70scinema/HerBodyHimself.pdf.

Cowan, Gloria, and Margaret O'Brien. "Gender and Survival vs. Death in Slasher Films: A Content Analysis." Sex Roles, vol. 23, no. 3–4, 1990, pp. 187–196. doi:10.1007/bf00289865.

Loreck, Janice. "Explainer: What Does the 'Male Gaze' Mean, and What about a Female Gaze?" The Conversation, 22 Apr. 2020, www.theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-the-male-gaze-mean-and-what-about-a-female-gaze-52486.

Marian. "A Very Short Summary of Psychoanalytic Feminist Theory and Practice." 15 Feb. 2012, www.oakton.edu/user/2/hgraff/WGSSummaryPsychoanalyticFemminismS12.html.

Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Oct. 1975, www.asu.edu/courses/fms504/total-readings/mulvey-visualpleasure.pdf.