We all know that TikTok is a trendsetter and a mirror in pop culture's eyes. Every month, a new theme or trend seems to overtake the app. As of late, a sound bit that is popular is “I can go into heavy detail… and I will…” Users are taking this sound and transforming it. The most popular use of this sound bit is to relay it over an opinion and imply that one could (and would) go into heavy detail.
However, a subsect of this trend started to have users show their favorite characters and why they are the best, or non-threatening, or could hold your drink. Over the course of a few weeks, a few specific characters kept coming up: classic Fitzwilliam Darcy to Jack Black’s character in The Holiday and Andrew Scott’s “Hot Priest” from Fleabag.
But what are these characters signifying through this trend? A calm non-threatening presence that many female viewers can be comfortable around. It could be said that these characters are a part of the female gaze.
An interesting look into the female gaze can be seen with the well-known Gomez Addams. Written to be the opposite of what was typical for heterosexual marriages of the time, Gomez’s character openly and passionately loves his wife Morticia. Both of these characters queer the archetype that was the norm in media. Gomez idealizes and adores his wife while Morticia is released from heteronormative domestic labors and is allowed to pursue her interests—not as a continuation of her husband and family but as her own independent, creepy, and kooky person.
So what is this magical mysticism that takes in characters and excludes others? Is the female gaze just a form of feminism? In theory…
What is the female gaze film theory?
Feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey conceptualized the female gaze in the 1970s. The idea behind it is that classical Hollywood films create a lens for all audiences to identify a protagonist—usually male—driving all viewers, regardless of background, to experience and identify with the (typically) male protagonist.
But there are female characters in films!
Yes, but an article written by Dr. Martha M. Lauzen, a nationally and internationally recognized expert on the employment and representation of women in media, published an article in 2022 titled: It’s a Man’s (Celluloid) World, Even in a Pandemic Year: Portrayals of Female Characters in the Top U.S. Films of 2021. In her research, Dr. Lauzen found:
In the second box office year impacted by the pandemic, female characters accounted for 35% of major characters in the top 100 grossing films… Females comprised 34% of all speaking characters… 85% of films featured more male than female characters. Only 7% of films had more female than male characters, and 8% of films featured equal numbers of female and male characters"
In analyzing this research, one can see that if 100 movies were watched in a year about 35 female major characters would be accounted for. This does not necessarily mean speaking characters or characters that pass the Bachel Test.
What is the theoretical meaning of 'gaze'?
Before we go into examples of the female gaze, let's dissect examples of them understanding what a gaze is. A gaze much like a lens is the media or literary theory of view or self-awareness. The concept of self-awareness of the environment and yet, to Jonathan Schroeder, Visiting Assistant Professor at Brandies, the gaze “implies more than to look at—it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze."
By this logic, one is not just looking at the characters on-screen—one is consuming them.
But consuming what?
What is the male gaze film theory?
If media is propaganda or messaging through narrative and storytelling, then what are we buying into with a majority male gaze?
Think of James Bond. A predominant figure in modern media. The archetype has been redone repeatedly by different directors and different actors—but what stays? The sex appeal, the class, the explosions, and the fast-life attitude. He is Bond, James Bond. Every theater that audiences enter to watch 007 has made a silent agreement to accept and consume the image.
Though Bond, we accept that women are good-looking, they say very little and are used to enhance Bond’s consumer image that he is desirable. But can you name three Bond girls names? Are the ones you thinking of double entendre?
It is knowing that gaze itself is the consumption of products and that 85% of characters in Hollywood are male. Are we not subject to consuming the male-masculine gaze if we like it or not? And does the male gaze use other sexualities and identities to their full intersectional potential or is it using non-male characters to enhance a mediocre plot in the name of masculine power?
An interesting comparison is to see Margo Robbie's transformation as Harley Quinn and the subtle shifts in costume design when the franchise became directed by Cathy Yan. Over the course of a few films, Harley Quinn became less about creating a fantasy of a mentally unstable ditsy infantilized villain in extra short shorts and developed into a character leaving an abusive relationship, finding sisterhood, and rescuing a woman in trouble.
The female gaze is a response to this unequal macho man consumption in our media, pointing out the neglect of female characters and the lack of female desires in media. It is a subtle but strong way of using lenses to enhance more than just raw masculine consumption.
An allowance of the female experience in film and television and an ability to create a representation of how women view each other and the world around them. Visual and media constructs are dedicated to female viewers and their authentic experiences. And most importantly the characters are written with complexity, desires, and emotional vulnerability—especially the men.
The overarching theme of the female gaze in film and television is taking a character who has been subjugated by Hollywood to conform one-dimensional archetype for consumption and to enhance the dominant male counterpart and have them authentically overcome challenges with flaws and depth. And with the money that Hollywood has in the 21st century, I know they can do better than 35%.
A few female gaze films and shows to add to your film studies library collection are:
Lady Bird
written and directed by Greta Gerwig
The movie follows a young girl. The awkwardness and sincerity as she tries to find herself and her purpose is a story many young women can relate to.
Read our review of Lady Bird
Get your copy of the Lady Bird Blu-ray DVD by clicking here.
Fleabag
written by Phoebe Waller-Bridge and directed by Harry Bradbeer
This TV show has the ability to make you laugh while breaking your heart. The main character- Fleabag engages with aspects of her life including love and family relationships. The beauty of this show is the fact that Fleabag breaks the fourth wall allowing the audience to be invited to her innermost thoughts.
Read our review of Fleabag
Get your copy of Fleabag: The Complete Series on Blu-ray DVD by clicking here.
Midsommar
directed by Ari Aster and starring Florence Pugh
(NOT FOR CHILDREN OR THE FAINT OF HEART!) This wild and psychological horror film is in an odd way a feminist movie. A film about family trauma, losing control, communal grief, and getting revenge on crappy boyfriends. In the end, Florence Pugh’s character finds herself in a nature-based community healing after trauma and coming into her female power. (Trigger warnings all around on this film!)
Read our review of Midsommar
Get your copy of the Midsommar 4K Blu-ray by clicking here.