Week 8

The male gaze is a feminist theory that involves the way females are portrayed from a straight man's perspective. In Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay on the male gaze, she takes a step further and describes it as the sole thing that influences young girls into what the ideal physical appearance is, while also teaching boys that viewing females as objects is acceptable. To be quite frank I wouldn't necessarily consider myself a feminist, and I'm not anti-feminist either-- just not an activist. However, that doesn't exclude the fact that I agree with some ideas. I believe that the male gaze is something vital to be talked about, especially in an age where women are much more vocal and transparent about their views. I also believe topics such as sexual assault and domestic abuse all seem to be too common, and the male gaze is something that can validate, perhaps even plant, this behavior. 

In my freshman writing course, I read the essay of someone who bashed Marvel for sexualizing the female characters in regard to their costumes and behavior. Before reading this classmate's essay, those ideas hadn't even occurred to me. The problem was that I was basically unfazed due to the amount of female sexualization that occurs within our society. In an article by Grace Johnson of the Case Western Reserve University student newspaper, Johnson talks about the problem specifically with female superheroes. Not only limited to the clothes they wear but other aspects of the characters themselves. 

In the series, The Boys, newly recruited superhero Starlight has a change in uniform shortly after she joins the Seven. When her team shows her the new uniform, she automatically doesn't like it and refuses to wear it (unfortunately, forced to wear it in the end). Her original uniform was modest, and her new one, of course, showed a lot more skin. At a meet and greet, she meets a fan who claims she wants to be Starlight for Halloween. Before the girl leaves, Starlight tells her to buy the original costume because it is much better. I liked this scene because it shows the genuineness of Starlight and how aware she is of her influence on society, especially young girls. 

Watch the divorce scene... it's pretty heated

A lot of my favorite movies consist the male gaze. The Wolf of Wall Street is centered around Belfort who literally says he screws hookers "maybe five times a week" all while being married and running one of the biggest white-collar crimes. His wife Naomi is first seen at a party and throughout most of the movie she is mostly portrayed as Jordan's main source of pleasure. Honestly I don't really see an issue with this as it most likely correctly portrays Belfort and his lack of morals and respect for, well, everything. Though I'd say a good chunk of the film consists of drugs, sex, and fraud, I want to take a moment and recognize the parts of the movie where Naomi was portrayed as a mother. Towards the end of the movie, Naomi tells Jordan she doesn't love him anymore and that she wants a divorce. She also says that she'll give him visitation rights if he agrees to a divorce, which throws him off the edge. He tears open their couch, snorts a stimulant of some kind, and attempts to take their daughter. Naomi eventually gets their daughter back and goes back in the house, not caring at all for Jordan. Naomi had reached the point where she didn't care at all what Jordan had to say and what he did, and hated the influence he was for them. In the end, although they were a very intimate couple, Naomi didn't value that any longer but rather cared more about taking care of her kids. Small and not something that stands out in the film, but something to look at. 

The Wolf of Wall Street still remains to be one of my favorite movies. We are in an age now where things that have been normalized for so long are taking a turn into a different direction. Learning about a subject like this adds perspective for me personally, and though it may not necessarily be a positive thing to talk about, it still brought out positive characteristics of some characters I like.