Budd Boetticher summarizes the view: "What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself, the woman has not the slightest importance."
With the ongoing feminist movement, many changes have been made to this gaze. Now exists a "female gaze" along with other gazes from the perspectives of homosexuals as well. There are definitely more films that empower women and even objectify men. However, the majority of films today still have the male gaze. Why? My guess is that because men were and always will be the dominant sex due to historical impressions that will be hard to get rid of. I'm not saying that women are inferior to men, but men seem to carry stereotypes that make them seem superior.
"American Psycho" is a movie that emphasizes how males are usually portrayed. Christian Bale plays Patrick Bateman, a young, successful, and good looking man who represents the alpha male. His skin is perfect, his body perfect, and looks flawless as well. (Never mind that he is a psycho killer. ) He is so into himself that while he is having sex with women, he looks in the mirror and flexes his biceps.
I'm not saying that every man out there is like that, but Christian Bale shows an exaggerated version of what seems to be prevalent. The man is the dominant figure while the women are the accessories. In Bale's case, his accessories that he kills for pleasure.
The male gaze has been around and is probably going to stick around for a long time. The efforts of women to change that will never fully remove the male gaze from the media and even from everyday life.
It is a shame, but it is life.
No comments:
Post a Comment