T​‌‍‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌​opic Proposal: In “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”

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T​‌‍‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌​opic Proposal:
In “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, Laura Mulvey discusses the use of male gaze and its existence in the mainstream Hollywood film industry, often produced by men and informed by their masculine views, diminishing women as objects to be “looked at” in sexual representations. Mulvey argues that Sigmund Freud’s theory of scopophilia and its presence within modern day film is the main reason behind hyper-sexualized portrayal of women in cinema.
Mulvey also claims that to some extent, the male viewer in a darkened cinema may lose their own egos by adopting the identity of the film’s male protagonist.
Before conducting research on examples of the male gaze in today’s film industry, the first film that came to mind was the 2013 movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”. Though this movie aired around 9 years ago, I still remember vividly to this day the hyper-sexualized main female character, Naomi. I have selected the photo below for my final project topic and will discuss how Mulvey’s theories apply to the image, as well as the film’s other overarching themes.
Image link: https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.top10films.co.uk%2Fimg%2FThe-Wolf-of-Wall-Street-leo-dicaprio-margot-robbie.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.top10films.co.uk%2F20237-classic-scenes-10-wolf-wall-street-2013%2F&tbnid=ZiRAwiyTgK6L2M&vet=12ahUKEwi0897FzsX4AhXlz4sBHT43BO8QMygGegUIARCrAQ..i&docid=dC69iVnMNeekjM&w=580&h=281&q=wolf%20of%20wall%20street%20naomi%20scene&ved=2ahUKEwi0897FzsX4AhXlz4sBHT43BO8QMygGegUIARCrAQ#imgrc=ZiRAwiyTgK6L2M&imgdii=PJGt_m1koNtd0M
Feedback from prof on proposal: The assignment instructions also say:
you might want to use the image to demonstrate some of the theoretical weaknesses of the concept, such as rigidity or narrowness. Perhaps you find that certain kinds of viewers and viewing are marginalized or unaccounted for in a certain philosophical position. (We have seen charges such as these levelled against Foucault and Mulvey, to cite just two examples.)
In the case of this image, the female conforms to our idealized notion of what a woman should look like according to the male gaze; however, I also think you could make a strong argument against the image representing strictly the theory of a male gaze. This is something I’d like you to think about, and I’d be happy to discuss it with you if you like.
Presenting more than one perspective make​‌‍‍‍‌‍‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‍‌‌‌‌‌‌​s for a much more interesting paper.
References I found:
https://ia802801.us.archive.org/4/items/visual-pleasure-and-narrative-cinema/Laura-mulvey-visual-pleasure-and-narrative-cinema.pdf
Explaining Psychoanalytic Theory in Laura Mulvey’s “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”
https://filmlifestyle.com/what-is-the-male-gaze/

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