Laura Mulvey's Visual Pleasures and Narrative Cinema
Recognition and focus of femininity in film and media really took off in the 1970s with the breakthrough of feminist film theory, attributed to Laura Maulvey’s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema ulvey’s concept of feminist film theory and psychoanalysis of visual pleasure and cinema comments that, classically, “The presence of woman is an indispensable element of spectacle in normal narrative film, yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a story line.” The theory identifies that film is structured around a main controlling figure with whom the spectator can identify,” and because of this, “the male figure cannot bear the burden of sexual objectification,” because the classic viewer will view components and characters of the film through a heterosexual lens. Here, we will apply this to 3 different pieces of media: Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (1975), The Virgin Suicides (1999), and Maid (2021).
A lingering film by Chantal Akerman, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles, is a 200 minute film following mother Jeanne Dielman that depicts her daily activities of cleaning, cooking, and single motherhood.
Following the Lisbon sisters and the boys who peer into their lives from across the street.
Maid, a mini series, follows mother alex trying to break away from her abusive relationship and make ends meet to support herself and her daughter