The feminist film theory deals with the way in which feminists criticise films for their approach on the representation of women. The development in the feminist film theory was heavily influence by the second wave in feminism and the development of women’s studies which occurred around the late 1960’s. More recently the feminist theory has been applied to things like television and digital media.
The two key themes within the feminist film theory are the male gaze and the female spectator and realism and counter cinema. Many female film critics are quick to point out the use of the male gaze in films which they believe stems from classic Hollywood films. Budd Boetticher summarises this view perfectly by saying “What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance”. Another theorist, Laura Mulvey, has identified three perspectives that occur within films to purposely objectify women onscreen. These are:
- The perspective of the male character onscreen and how he perceives the female character
- The perspective of the spectator/audience and how they view the female character
- The perspective of the male audience member of the male character onscreen
From the third perspective the male audience can look at the female as their own personal object as they are identifying with and relating to the male character onscreen. Obviously this is not how theorists from this theory, along with many others, want females to be viewed in film and in the media as this representation of women is demeaning and sexist.
The second of the two key themes, realism and counter cinema, supports the positive movement of more females in the film and media industry. Due to a growing number of females in the media, they can work together to break this male gaze view of women and help put across a more true-to-life image of women and draw attention to feminist issues while still using traditional film apparatuses such as moving camera, lighting and editing. The idea of counter cinema comes from Claire Johnston, who believes that films made by women have the potential to posit an alternative to traditional Hollywood films.
Shannon Cotton 