By: Grace Westling
“Male Gaze” was coined by Laura Mulvey in her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” in 1975. It describes the concept of how women are depicted in films as objects and put there for male pleasure, whether for the pleasure of their male counterparts (the protagonist) or the male audience. When Mulvey’s essay was published in 1975, it was a time when men had full control of Hollywood. The directors, scriptwriters, studio executives, and cinematographers were all men. This gave men the power and ability to portray women in films and portray women how they saw them as objects.
While there are (sadly) many examples of “Male Gaze” media in our society, I want to focus on “The Wolf of Wall Street, ” directed by Martin Scorsese, an older White American man, in 2013. The film follows the rise and fall of Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, in his job as a stockbroker. The leading female actress in the film is Margot Robbie; she plays Naomi Lapaglia, Belfort’s second wife.
Throughout the movie, we see the power Belfort has and how he believes he can get out of anything and get anything he wants. For example, Belfort gets arrested on a commercial flight en route to Switzerland after groping the flight attendant. Even after Belfort yelled racial slurs and sexually assaulted a woman, he walked after a guard looked at his credentials and who he was. This encounter touches on Karen Ross’ idea of the intersection of gender and power in her book, Gendered Media. Where “Male Gaze” narratives support patriarchal values. But in the case of Belfort, the view of this film confirms the idea that men have the power to control their own lives. Even when they have done something apparently wrong.
Margot Robbie’s character, Naomi Lapaglia, is often sexualized in the movie. Naomi is often seen wearing tight, short dresses and high heels. In the film, Lapaglia and all other women are portrayed as pretty. Where their looks are more focused on than their actual words. Naomi’s narrative is limited in supporting Belfort’s role. This is an example of Mulvey’s idea of narcissistic identification. She creates this concept of how audiences commonly identify with the male protagonist. This is usually because the (male) protagonist has all their needs and wants. In this case, Jordan Belfort has a nice job, lots of women, and an abundance of drugs and alcohol.
In the film, Belfort has a multitude of affairs. While Naomi is always portrayed as glamorous, she is delusional. Her life looks good since she looks good, even though her husband is constantly cheating on her while always high. The “Male Gaze” allows the audience to believe that the gender roles the characters play are OK. The “Male Gaze” gives no voice to women and doesn’t educate both men and women that it does not have to be this way.
References:
IMDb (2013). The Wolf of Wall Street. [online] IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0993846/.
Mulvey, L. (2006). ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. in Durham, M.G. & D. Kellner (2006), Media and Cultural Studies: Key works
Ross, K. (2009) Gendered Media, [Introduction and Chapter 1], pp. 1- 40. Available as e-reading
You’ve chosen a really great example as a way to explore Mulvey’s male gaze theoretical framework! I think The Wolf of Wall Street is a perfect way to describe the way in which women are typically represented within films as Robbie’s character Naomi is depicted as being your typical ‘dumb blonde’ who is mainly there in order to please her husband and the male viewers. It is really interesting how this film also highlights the way in which men hold so much power within our society that they, too, are often unaware of. As a result of these films, I think that it is really important there is more female representation within films, specifically with more female protagonists rather than women constantly being labelled as someone’s wife or assistant, as we as a society need to break away from these deep-rooted patriarchal views. Really great post!