Laura Mulvey's theory on the male gaze states that film is constructed for the pleasure of the male audience with elements of film such as the sexualisation of characters only conforming to the heterosexual male, "In such representations, ‘Woman’ is defined solely in terms of sexuality, as an object of desire, in relation to, or as a foil for, ‘Man’." (Shohini Chaudhuri, 2006). This theory states that the camera portrays a males point of view and forces audiences to view it in that way regardless of gender or sexuality.
Some of the technical elements that support this theory are mid/close up shots of women typically shot over the shoulder of the male character, panning and fixated shots on the female body and shots with men observing women passively. These techniques use the camera to promote the female body in an objectifying way, especially through shots only including the female body. This links back to the idea that the camera is the males point of view and that the women are no more than an object for entertainment in these shots with the shots being devoted to only their bodies and not their performance as actresses.
In the Film "Transformers" Mulvey's male gaze theory can be seen through multiple parts of the film, The most prominent example of this can be in the scene where Megan Fox is looking at the cars engine. This scene opens up with Megan fox opening the bonnet of the car, after opening the bonnet up, Megan Fox keeps holding the bonnet in the air, in doing this exposing her body to the camera. While Megan Fox is in this position the camera follows Shia Leboeuf's character until he gets to the front of the car, from here the camera pans around focusing on Megan Fox's body while Shia's character is clearly shown looking. This is an example of Mulvey's Male Gaze theory through the camera following the camera following the perspective of the male protagonist as he observes Megan Fox's character, In following the perspective of the male protagonist it forces the audience to view the scene from the point of view of him, in doing this it portrays Megan Fox's character and body as an element of desire for the audience and the protagonist.
Reference List
Shohini Chaudhuri ., (2006) Feminist Film Theorists
Michael Bay., (2007) Transformers
Available from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6L3Ef1JCC8
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