Mulvey: American Beauty Cheerleader Scene

Mulvey and American Beauty

 

Mulveys three ways of spectating cinema:

• The look of the camera that records the film - The camera demonstrates a selection of shots designed to divert and control the audience gaze. The slow zoom of the amera towards the mans face is designed to draw our attentiuons to his expressions, and his objectification of the girl is clear to see. The wide angle shot of the empty stand shows his isolation from the real world, and further presents his fantasy and lust for the female. Her body is fragmented through the camera shots this is design to further immerse the viewer into seeing through the mans obhectification of her.The most common shot of the girl is also shown through the eyes of the male, and we see his gratification from her in the close ups as mentioned before. The scene represents Hegemonic Values. The girl is athletic and attractive, portraying a ideology that all girls must be as such to attract the male gaze.
• The look of the audience that views the film - the look of the audience is dictated by the camera work and how the scene is set up. We are primarily let to see the girl through the eyes of the male character. The obvious gratification on his face suggest he is experiencing scopophilia, pleasure in looking. Also the 'point of view' focus is on the woman, and this, for both men and women, puts us in the mans boots and makes us see the girl exactly how the male sees her.
• The look of the characters in the film - The looks of the characters in the film are very contrasting. the visual objectification of the girl, lustful looks, and close up shots of sexually provocative action such as her unzipping her jacket portray hegemonic values that girls are meant to be attractive to males. This contrasted with the mans voyeuristic gaze upon the girl and the blank expressions, show his gratification and sexual lust for her. We are presented with 2 major stereotypes, the male being in control and voyeuristic, and the woman being there to look pretty and gratify him.