ANALYSIS OF ‘BEAUTIFUL GIRLS’ USING MULVEY’S NOTIONS OF SCOPOPHILIA AND THE MALE GAZE (Essay Sample)

ANALYSIS OF ‘BEAUTIFUL GIRLS’ USING MULVEY’S NOTIONS OF SCOPOPHILIA AND THE MALE GAZE
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There have been many applications of the psychoanalytic theory, as the theory has found its way into film and media studies. The reasons for such is the indulgence of literary movements into issues that are pertinent to contemporary society as well as socio-political interactions. One of such literary movements is feminism, which tries to look at a woman and try to have her liberation from a society which has been patriarchal from time immemorial. It is in that regard that Laura Mulvey sets in, having a feministic approach into media and film production. In her indulgences into the issue, she attributes movies and films as aspects of performance which are directly attributed to the psychoanalysis of both men and women, trying to show that both the latter and the former are unconsciously involved in the scope of the film productions, and this is as a result of how the society is inclined towards a view of male vis-а-vis female. Therefore, she has some deep analysis into the field of film, all in a bid to unravel psychoanalytic mysteries that are hidden within, as a way of bringing issues to light through her theoretical approach that focuses on the male gaze and scopophilia.
Laura Mulvey states that in the film theory, the presence of women has an effect on men, as it creates castration anxiety, and this anxiety can only be resolved by voyeurism and fetishism. There has been an embodiment of the woman, with views of her race to be objects meant to be looked at.