Laura Mulvey's Visual Pleasure And Narrative Cinema

Introduction In the 1960s and 70s the second wave of feminism and the development of women’s studies influenced the development of feminist film theory. Feminist film theory is an amalgam of different theoretical frameworks. Laura Mulvey was one of the first to propose a feminist perspective on film analysis and criticism. In 1975 Mulvey’s essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, which was influenced by Lacan and Freud, revolutionized the ideology behind feminist film theory, and for that matter feminist film criticism, and helped shift the winds of film theory toward a more psychoanalytical approach; it transformed the field of possibilities for feminists interested in film theory and criticism. Semiotics, Marxism, sociological theory,

The diversity of the theoretical framework, on which feminist film theory lies, propels many different ideas and questions, which feminist film theorists and critics seek to explore and answer. Among those ideas are the notion of the “male gaze” that dominates the classical Hollywood and cinema spectatorship, on which Laura Mulvey’s pivotal essay expands; B. Ruby Rich’s idea that the relationship between women and film is dialectical, meaning that women consciously filter the messages and images on screen to create their own meaning; and from the works of Haskell and Rosen – the realistic depiction of women both in documentary and narrative cinema and Claire Johnston’s women’s cinema as “counter cinema”, which offers an alternative to the classical Hollywood cinema and its sexist ideologies. At the same time as feminist film theory developed there was a rise of feminist film criticism, as a natural outgrowth of the women’s movement in the 1960s and 70s (cite – issues with). In addition, the rumbling political activism at that time and the innovation that was occurring in women’s studies inside academia had, without a doubt, an impact on feminist film criticism, which signified the changing image of

248). Furthermore, by using the various methodologies and perspectives contained under the umbrella of feminist film theory, feminist film critics illustrate the distinct relationship between feminist film theory and criticism. As in film theory the concept of “counter cinema” (cite) was taken up by feminist film critics, however that was not their only approach. The developments in feminist film criticism, recent and not so, point to the investigation of the effects race, ethnicity, class, and sexual preference and the differences between women have on the progress of film. And it is exactly this distinct relationship between feminist film theory and criticism that creates a sense of urgency for a positive future of feminist film criticism; one that will focus, more rigorously, on exploring the global perspectives in “film and media in various locations and across class, racial, and ethnic groups throughout the world" (McHugh & Shobchak, p. ). But how does the distinct relationship and certain issues of feminist film criticism (e.g. representation, the problem with naming in feminist film criticism, and the issues with authority and authenticity) play a role in its future development? The goal of this essay is to investigate the ways in which this relationship between feminist film theory and criticism points to urgency for the latter’s survival in the future, not only in practice, but also in academia, by