Laura Mulvey the Male Gaze Brand case study

Laura Mulvey - the Male Gaze Brand case study - Axe / Lynx

Laura Mulvey – The Male Gaze (1975 article) ¡ Uses Freud’s idea of scopophilia - the pleasure involved in looking at other people’s bodies as (particularly, erotic) objects. ¡ Cinema is voyeuristic (i. e. you look without being seen) and fetishistic (i. e. encouraging erotic pleasure in objects rather than people) ¡ Conventional narrative films in the ‘classical’ Hollywood tradition not only typically focus on a male protagonist in the narrative but also assume a male spectator ¡ The same can be said for traditional adverts which are directed at a male target audience

Laura Mulvey - male gaze ¡Traditional films present men as active, controlling subjects and treat women as passive objects of desire for men in both the story and in the audience ¡Women’s role in the narrative becomes passive – they are the prize or reward for the male character and their actions are interpreted through the male character’s point of view ¡If this is true for films, how much more is it true of advertising, which is always targeted at a specific gender?

Laura Mulvey - Male Gaze ¡Therefore women become objectified – the camera will often linger over their bodies, frequently in close-up shots that do not show the face or the whole of the body, positioning the audience (including female audience members) as male spectators, sharing the POV of the male characters. ¡By emphasising women as objects, films (and advertising) therefore encourage what Mulvey calls fetishistic scopophilia

Laura Mulvey - Male Gaze • • You are about to see a series of print adverts for products from the same brand (Lynx, also known as Axe in many countries around the world) For each one, make notes on how the framing, mise-en-scene, layout, and taglines help to create the male gaze perspective (women as passive, as objects to be desired, as prizes for the active male protagonist/consumer)

1) Australia, 2005

2) London, 2011

3) London, 2004

4) South Africa, 2003

5) London, 2011

Laura Mulvey - male gaze • Overall, what ideology is created through these adverts? Think about what these adverts suggest about women, about men, and about what the ideal relationship between the sexes should be. • How do these adverts use these representations to sell their products?

Dove Real Beauty Campaign • Began 2004 • Inspired by finding that 2% of women around the world would describe themselves as beautiful • Deliberately aims to challenge stereotypes about beauty

Dove Real Beauty Campaign Evolution Choose Beautiful Task: watch these 2 films, and make notes on how they are attempting to challenge stereotypes about beauty, women’s selfimage etc. Do they succeed?

PERSPECTIVES ON ADVERTISING

Feminist Perspectives • Laura Mulvey – advertising uses and embodies the male gaze, fetishising women’s bodies in order to make profit • Jean Kilbourne – advertising creates a cultural climate that validates false body images for women and legitimises sexual violence

Libertarian perspective • Advertising is simply a way of informing consumers about products • Consumers are free to ignore adverts • Adverts don’t affect the way we think or behave unless we choose to let them • John Wright’s response to Jean Kilbourne

Tasks for Friday 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. th 18 and Monday 21 st Watch Jean Kilbourne video for a feminist perspective on advertising Make notes on her main arguments about how advertising harms women. How do you think she would respond to the two campaigns we have been looking at? Read the libertarian response by John Wright and make notes on his view of advertising and the effects it has on its audience. How would he respond to the two campaigns? Read the notes on Audience theories and think about which theories seem to fit best with each of these two perspectives. Read the interview with Jean Kilbourne and the article about “femvertising” (both in Pickup). Write a paragraph explaining your own views on how advertising uses gender stereotypes and represents women’s bodies. You should refer to both the Lynx and the Dove campaigns, discuss feminist perspectives and libertarian perspectives, and refer to Audience theories to explain how you have come to your own opinions.