Laura Mulvey Essay

Laura Mulvey Essay

Task 2) Apply Mulvey's theory of 'the male gaze) (refer to a single film sequence (of your choice) and refer to the male gaze)
- Use film terms (technical & visual) to state how the theory is composed in your chosen sequence.

- JUST GO WITH IT

In this film by A plastic surgeon convinces his assistant to join him along with his young girlfriend on a trip to Hawaii and pose as his ex-wife to cover up a lie, but he ends up complicating the situation further. The film compares the two equally beautiful women in a way unconsciously trying to play off each other in order to get the attention of plastic surgeon Danny. The scene I have chosen depicts one of the women Palmer, a beautiful blonde and physically fit women jumping into a lake while exploring islands of Hawaii, despite this competition JENIFER ANISTON arises and is also shown to be in a sexual way.

The theory summarised

-HOLLYWOOD/MAINSTREAM/NARRATIVE CINEMA MANIPULATES VISUAL PLEASURE.

- IT CODES THE EROTIC INTO THE LANGUAGE OF THE DOMINANT PATRIARCHAL ORDER.

Trailer of the film

The scene 

Notes from the scene
'I don't know about you guys but I am gonna cool off'
takes her top off, all people in scene are fixated on her body however is a mid/long shot
'Look at that thats terrific'
'Does the hotel know you took those pillows honey? '
'She really wears that bikini well'
Jumps into the pool but is a long shot, no close up of her body 
Perfect gorgeous\that was a ten
long shots of Palmer not exactly intensifying her body but still showing it, not in a sexual way 
Long shot of her taking her clothes off
Makes jokes about her taking her clothes off '90's gown' 'bathing cap'
Close up, slow pan up of her revealing her body
the song Begging you starts which dictates her to be sexualised in this instance 
The camera is slowly fixed on her body
Slow motion of her walking towards the edge wearing her bikini
The boys reaction, camera zooms in from mid shot closer of the boys fixed on her unrecognisable hot body
'Yeah'
'I have to be alone'
Long shot from the back of her as if it was from the boys neutral point of view angle so we are really seeing her physically 'IN the male gaze'
'God I have to start taking the stairs more'

Essay

The first line of the scene from Palmer is 'I don't know about you but I am going to cool off, so initially we know she's going to undress to get in the pool. A mid shot of Palmer and the group is used so the audience can grasp their reactions to her body. However no close ups which is odd, on the contrary Palmer has been sexualised throughout the whole film as she is shown to be physically fit, blonde and attractive. Despite this, in this instance possibly because of the way she's been shown throughout the whole film, director Dennis Dugan has decided to change slightly how she is viewed in this scene in comparison to Katherine who is shown to be in everyone's minds, the bombshell. 


The boys however still make comments about Palmer's body such as 'Look at that, that's terrific', as if she has done something great or achieved something. In actual fact she has just took her clothes off. By using the key word 'that' describe her body as being detached from her, as she is just a figure and not an actual person, sexualising her completely. 


There are many long shots of Palmer used after this but not in a extremely sexualised way as she has already been used in a lot of the film in this sexualised light so I think in a way they have sort of de-sexualised her to show Katherine in a much 'brighter' light. 

Due to this being a big Hollywood film with very minimal narrative which is guessable to the audience straight away, due to this narrative cinema they are commonly known for they manipulate the visual pleasure of the male gaze for the audience to easily encode that women are the focus point and that their bodies are the most important part of them.

Palmer now requests for the rest of them to join her due to the water being 'magical'. At this point Katherine replies saying she will go in, this could be from the many sexual comments being made to Palmer in a way she feels threatened, so subsequently joins her. The boys however make jokes about her going in in behalf of her in a way 'competition' being a clear beauty. 

Danny jokes about her taking her clothes off saying 'You got a bathing cap too' 'A 1920's swimming gown honey' retorts about her age gap between Palmer. Katherine is pictured in a long shot taking her clothes off yet however Danny is still watching her get undressed while making these comments which links to the theory of scopophilia and that's what we the audience should all have our attention on despite the jokey comments he is making.


We are then immediately zoomed in as the calm ambient sounds are now changed to a more sexual song to fit the scene 'Begging by Macdon' which starts right from when the camera is zoomed into Katherine's body revealing her in just a bikini. The slow pan upwards showing her top half sexualising her much more than Palmer was to focus their attention on in this case 'the underdog'. 
After Danny's last remark he is left speechless and silenced after seeing her body, which connotes major values of the male gaze as we the audience align our opinions with him as he is the main character. 

The camera zooms out to reveal Katherine slowly walking to the edge of the river the camera still slowly fixated on her body they've used slow motion in this way to make the audience also fixated on her body sexualising her in the highest form. The boys replies and reaction one being 'I have to be alone', and the other 'Yeah'. Sometimes simple comments are most effective which works in this instance. The final long shot of her from the back of her body as if it were exactly from the boys neutral point of view angle so we really are physically seeing her 'IN the male gaze', Danny's final comment being "God I have to start taking the stairs more" in relation to fro what he'd just seen and a reference from the film already when him and Katherine have had jokes about using the stairs. I believe this scene perfectly executes the male gaze and by using a beautiful well known for her charm and good looks Jenifer Anniston uses it very well.