Feminist film theory and audiences

Laura Mulvey born August 15 1941 was educated at St Hilda's college, Oxford. She is currently professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck, University of London. She worked at the Bristish Film Institute for many years before taking up her current position. In which during her time she wrote "Visual Pleasure and Narrative cinema" (1973).


She worte about how the cinema reflects society. Therefore the cinema reflects a patriarchal society. The question is how does a patriarchal society manifest itself in cinema?

An example:

. Patriarchy and phalloocentrism are linked

. the phallus is the symbol of power( meaning the mans penis)

. note how guns are used within films


Guns= phallus= power.

For example when men reach about 40 they have a life cris. So they do crazy things like buy a spot car which is a phallus because they feel that they are loseing that power so they buy something that makes them look like they still have it.