Audience Theory

-Suture
-Feminist film theory and audiences

Suture
-Classical Hollywood narrative and editing 'sutures' or positions the audience in certain ways making only one preferred reading possible, however unconscious the audience is of that position.

Feminist Film Theory and Audiences

-Laura Mulvey- Visual pleasure and narrative cinema (1975)

Her argument is cinema reflects society therefore cinema reflects a patriarchal society (society is ruled by an interest of men)

How does a patriarchal society manifest itself in cinema?

An example, patriarchy and phallocentrism are linked

The phallus is the symbol of power. (Note how guns are used in films- guns = phallus = power)

The Gaze

The gaze of the camera is the male "gaze".

The male gaze is active, the female is passive.

Within a narrative, male characters direct their gaze towards female characters

The spectator (audience) is made to identify with the male look because the camera films from the optical as well as libidinal point of view of the main character.

Thus 3 levels of the cinematic gaze is character, camera and spectator that objectify the female character.

Therefore the audience is constructed as though everyone is male. Women are forced to look as though they were a male audience member.

Agency

In the classical hollywood cinema the male protagonist has agency. This means he is active and powerful. He is the agent with whom the dramatic action unfolds.

The female character is passive and powerless. She is the object of desire of for protagonist and audience.

Erotic Desire

Mulvey argued that women have two roles in a film.

1) An object of erotic desire for the characters.

2) An object of erotic desire for the audience.