Final answer:
Laura Mulvey's film theory on the male gaze outlines three types of gazes in cinema: the camera's gaze, the audience's gaze, and the characters' gaze within the film. These concepts highlight how women are often objectified and viewed as objects of desire, influencing both women's self-perception and broader cultural dynamics.
Step-by-step explanation:
In her seminal work on film theory, British film theorist Laura Mulvey discussed the concept of the gaze, specifically the male gaze, as a way of understanding how viewers engage with visual media. Mulvey's theory posits that in cinema, there are three distinct looks or gazes. The first is the gaze of the camera as it records the film, the second is the gaze of the audience as they watch the produced film, and the third is the gaze of the characters within the film as they look at each other. What is critical about Mulvey's concept is the way the male gaze positions women as objects to be looked at and desired, thus influencing the viewer's perspective and reinforcing societal gender dynamics.
Beauty culture in western Europe and the United States, according to Mulvey, contributes to this dynamic by objectifying women and promoting the idea that they are to be gazed upon. This societal norm extends beyond the screen, impacting the way women perceive themselves, generally through the lens of how they believe they are seen by men. This has implications for how women's self-images are formed and how they navigate the world.
Through the lens of gaze theory, we understand that appearances and the act of viewing are not neutral but are loaded with cultural and social significance. Visual arts frequently explore these themes, as seen in paintings like Cassatt's In the Loge, which shows a woman being watched by a man at the opera, and abstract works that play with the viewer's perception, such as Riley's exploration of motion through color in Cataract 3.