Laura Mulvey/Rihanna

 Reception theory - Stuart Hall

The texts were considered encoded with meaning, by producers and then understood by audiences. 

Meaning/Message                                                                       Audience Decodes


Producer 
encodes                          ---->                                              Dominant or preferred 
meaning in                     ---->                                              Negotiated 
the text                           ---->                                              Oppositional 





Laura Mulvey, a British feminist film theorist, is a professor of film and media at the university  of Birkbeck. She published an influential journal screen entitled Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.  Laura Mulvey argues that we live in a patrier theory of the male gaze states that the camera focuses on male characters who sexualise females.  This is called the triple gaze when the camera is optical as well as libidinal.  The three levels are stated as camera, character and spectator. 

An example of the triple gaze is in the the film Dr No. This shows the audience viewing the camera, that is watching Sean Connery watch Ursula Andress. Urusula Andress is half naked in her bikini being sexualised by Sean which agree's with Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze. 




Another example of the male gaze is in the Transformers film which shows the thriple gaze. Where Megan Fox was also sexualised as she wore little clothing and bend all over the car trying to fix it, as Shia LeBoeuf was watching her as an sexual object. 



We as an audience are compelled to watch these films from the male gaze as we have no choice. This can be a problem to the female audience, as they may feel disgust envy or annoyance in the way woman are shown. And in some cases just want to be like them. This all happens in the process of suture. 





Suture 


Classical Hollywood narrative uses editing, sound, narrative and mise-en-secene. This helps position the audience unconsciously reading the film in a certain way. This is reception theory as the audience do not have any control.  The audience 'stitches' its self into a film relating to its characters. 


Women with agency in Mainstream cinema:

• Alien/aliens - Ripley

• Hunger games - Katriss Everdeen 

• Kill Bill - The bride 

• Tom 6 Raider - Cara croft 

• Lucy - Scarlet Johannson  

Laura Mulvey argues that women are either being seen as an object of erotic desire for the characters, or an object of erotic desire for the audience. 







Although it doesn't always have to be this way, as Casino Royale, both genders are being presented equally in sexuality. In which the female audience reacted in a positive light with this. 



Rihanna's Shut up and Drive video is supports Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze. 



The video starts of with a flashy expensive Ferrari with Rihanna starting to step out of the car, which then shows the bottom of her high heels in medium shot. Which shows from the very beginning she is being sexualised. 


She then begins to 'fix' the car by bending and wiping the car with the towel, which also ends up around her neck. This holds the male gaze and is showing her as a sexual object, especially when she shakes her bum. 





She does more bending of her body, in which the camera shows in medium long shot to show how she is fixing the car in a sexy way for the male gaze. Which in real life, this is not how cars are being fixed. 
Her leather jacket and short shorts reperesent that more of her sexuality, but not in an almost innocent way like before. This shoes her more bad side to her as she lets the men race the cars she just fixed.