FE ■ IDl5 ■

Feminism
1. Advocacy of the rights of women (based on the theory of equality of the
sexes).

Setting the scene

As far back as 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft (mother of Mary Shelley) published A Vindication of the
Rights of Women, which is generally considered the first text on Feminism. During the nineteenth
century, women started to campaign for equal rights and react against the suffocating Victorian
image of the 'proper role' for women. Women were expected to care for the family above all and to
be satisfied with domesticity and the patriarchal law. It was against this strongly patriarchal (male­
led) society that the first Feminist movements emerged, although the term 'Feminism' was not
coined until the 1890s. The development of the Feminist movement is recognized as having four
stages, often referred to as 'waves'.

First Wave

The First Wave gained momentum around the 1900s. Writers such as Olive Schreiner, Women and
Labour (1911), and Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own (1929), gave vivid portrayals of the unequal
treatment of women. They felt that women seeking education and alternatives to marriage and
motherhood were frowned upon. Therefore, Feminists campaigned for equal property rights, rights
to higher education, to careers and later, women's right to vote (Sufragettes). During World War I
f

(1914-18), women put their demands to one side to help with the war effort. In 1918, women were
finally given the vote, providing they were thirty years of age, owned a property or held a degree. It
was not until 1928 that women secured the vote on the same terms as men, at the age of twenty-one
years.
The freedom afforded women during World War II, in undertaking what had been seen as male
roles (factory work, farming the land, etc.), fuelled women's aspirations to remain in the public
sphere. In 1949 Simone de Beauvoir wrote The Second Sex, a political and theoretical work that laid
the foundations for subsequent Feminist research and incited women to question their position
in society. De Beauvoir's book quickly became a classic and helped to inspire the next wave of
Feminists.

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Second Wave

This Second Wave of Feminism was known as the Women's Liberation Movement and lasted from
the 60s-80s, with the term 'Women's Lib' passing into common usage, often with negative conno­
tations. For example, it was implied that Feminists burnt their bras and disliked men. Importantly,
these Feminists were informed by the political, social and cultural climate of the time. They wanted
to raise awareness of how the existing patriarchal ideology excluded, silenced and oppressed women.
Rather than 'his-story', Feminists wanted 'her-story' to be recognized.
Feminists questioned the established order and encouraged radical reform. Germaine Greer's The
Female Eunuch (1970) became an international success. Greer's main thesis was that 'traditional'
society repressed women. She urged for change, which she believed would come, not from evolution
but from revolution. Overall it was a period when Feminists fought for equal opportunities in the
workplace and an end to sexual discrimination. It was at this point academics began researching
women's literature and film.

Third Wave

The Third Wave Feminists, from the early 1990s to the 2000s, sought to address what they saw as
the failures of the Second Wave. These later Feminists believed that the focus had been too concen­
trated on the upper-middle-class white woman. They saw that film theory could be employed as
a radical act. As a result, there was a move to a more encompassing agenda which drew on Queer
Theory, Race and Ethnicity Studies, Postcolonial Studies and so forth. These Feminists advocated a
new definition of subjectivity. They highlighted issues that continued to oppress and limit women,
such as the right to be able to access contraception and abortion. However, the Third Wave is often
criticized for lacking a single objective.

Fourth Wave

Post 9/11, a movement has emerged that is recognized as 'New Feminism', Post-feminism or
Fourth Wave Feminism. Starting in America the main motivating issue for these Feminists was
peace-making. It appeared to be 'a fusion of spirituality and social justice that is reminiscent of the
American civil rights movement and Ghandi's call for nonviolent change' (Peay, 2005) and was seen
at popular conferences organized by women, spiritual and religious leaders. Peay notes:

These gatherings share a commitment to a universal spirituality that affirms women's bonds
across ethnic and religious boundaries. They're also exploring a new feminine paradigm of power
that's based on tolerance, mutuality, and reverence for nature that have long been identified with
women - values they now see as crucial to curing the global pathologies of poverty and war. (2005)

Meetings attracted thousands of participants and celebrity speakers. For example, Jane Fonda spoke
at the 'Women and Power Conference' in New York, September 2009.

Post-feminsim

From these early roots, what is most usually called Post-feminism, or Neo-feminism by some, has
developed and there is no agreement as to what this next stage in the development of feminism

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 FEMINISM

should be called. So throughout this section, the term Post-feminism will be used. Similar to the
earlier forms of feminism, Post-feminism is a contested notion in the pantheon of Feminist cultural
and media studies due to the many different positions and interpretations by academics in the field
(Tasker and Negra, 2005). Neo-feminism, also emerging in response to earlier feminisms, has gained
less traction in debates and is often referred to as 'Lipstick feminism' due to its acceptance of women
in traditional and stereotypical roles and eroding the hard fought for freedoms of the 2nd wave
feminists. Post-feminism's focus is on 'difference', diversity and anti-essentialism, where multiple
identities are promoted and binary categories are dismissed (Butler, 1990, p.9). It has emerged as a
response to what has been acknowledged as the Third Wave's complacency and the belief that not
all the aims of Second Wave feminists had been addressed.
Post-feminism places itself back in the public sphere and re-enters issues that were of paramount
interest to the earliest phases of the women's movement. Issues such as unequal pay, violence, sexual
abuse and the demands on body image are embraced by neoconservative and tradition values, all
of which receive media and political attention. In the representation and development of this new
feminism the role of the media has been powerful. For example, reality shows that concentrated
on makeover aspects, What Not to Wear: Trinny and Suzannah (2001-5) and 10 Years Younger (UK
and worldwide 2004- ), and demanded that women exert self-discipline in order to conform are no
longer aired. Interest in this sub-genre has waned as public opinion and discussion show that these
ideas have less currency (McRobbie, 2009, p.135).
In contrast, television programmes that feature characters such as the women in Absolutely
Fabulous (1992-5, 2001-3), Sex and the City (1998-2004), Ally McBeale (1997-2002) and Desperate
Housewives (2004-12); and in film, Bridget Tones Diary (Sharon Maguire, 2001), Kill Bill: Volume 1
and Kill Bill: Volume 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003, 2004), Hairspray (Adam Shankman, 2007) and
Bridesmaids (Paul Feig, 2011) portray a wide range of women in today's society. Bridget Jones,
Carrie Bradshaw and Ally McBeal depict earlier incarnations of feminism, but they are keen and
happy to abandon these and embrace the trappings of traditional girlhood that will allow freedom
and agency (McRobbie, 2009, p.21). McRobbie calls this the 'new sexual contract' as it embodies
positions of visibility through participation in education, employment and consumerism (p.57).
Rather than telling women what they should not do, it encourages success, enjoyment, entitlement
and social mobility.
One of the main and important changes with Post-feminism is the rejection that femininity
and feminism are polarized. It concedes that women may be both feminine and feminist and may
embrace the conventional customs of articulating femininity in the form of wearing high heels,
make-up and being sexy and glamorous (Genz, 2007, p.334). This celebration and endorsement of
consumerism and body image moves it from a perception of powerful manipulation, to one of posi­
tive and powerful engagement that is no longer anti-feminist.
The avoidance of the constraints of binary thinking allows for more focus on race, androgyny
and queerness. Post-feminism is more inclusive and not just for white, middle-class females, as it
advocates that every woman finds and understands her own mix of identities (Featherstone, 1996).
It welcomes the need to recognize marginalized and colonized groups (hooks, 1996; Spivak, 1999).
Post-feminists believe that the suppression of women needs to be understood in a context of margin­
alization of other genders and groups. It can be seen to intersect with other academic discourses;
those of Post-structuralism, Postmodernism and Postcolonialism, Race and Queer Theories. All
these cross-fertilizations allow for the questioning of ideas of identity and expansion of widely used
concepts of gender.
However for some people involved in this latest incarnation, the word 'feminism' is problematic,
because it can connote that it is for radical feminists, concerned with issues examined within the
context of gender binaries and for female membership only. Some followers worry that the feminism
label raises antipathy in the wider society. However, the current generation wants a more assertive

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and upfront approach to address the existing inequalities and sees the use of 'feminism' as germane
to this end.
Post-feminism covers ideas within popular media to do with what Tasker and Negra call 'the "past­
ness" of feminism' (2007, p.1). For them Post-feminism is about the complex relationship between
culture and politics (2007, p.3). Tasker and Negra believe Post-feminist culture aims to cover all areas
of culture from professional opportunities, freedom of choice in work, domesticity, and parenting to
physical and sexual empowerment and that it firmly places Post-feminism as white and middleclass.
Rosalind Gill shares similar concerns to those of Tasker and Negra. In order to forward and possi­
bly help to resolve these points Gill proposes a new understanding through 'a sensibility that char­
acterizes increasing numbers of films, television shows, adverts and other media products' (Tasker
and Negra, p.4). She sets her argument within the areas as shown below.

Rosalind Gill

'Postfemlnlst Media Culture: Elements of a Sensibility' (2006)

Rosalind Gill rightly notes that there has been nearly two decades of argument about Post-feminism
and yet still no agreement. The discussions about the term are 'contradictory, signaling a theoretical
position, a type of feminism after the second wave, or a regressive political stance' (pp.147-8). This
could indicate vibrant interest, but Gill finds additional concerns:

First, the difficulty of specifying with any rigour the features of postfeminism, and secondly the
problems with applying current notions to any particular cultural or media analysis. What makes
a text postfeminist? What features need to be present in order for any media scholar to label
something postfeminist? (p.148)

In answer to these questions, Gill identifies nine areas for consideration regarding the Post-feminist
sensibility.

Femininity as a bodily property

In Post-feminist media culture there is an obsessional preoccupation with the body. In a move from
earlier representational practices, femininity appears to be defined as, 'a bodily property[...] Instead
of caring or nurturing or motherhood being regarded as central to femininity (highly problematic
and exclusionary) [...] in today's media it is possession of a "sexy body'"(p.149). This has become
key as women's source of identity. This scrutiny exists in films such as Bridget Jones Diary (Sharon
Maguire, 2001 ), where excess in terms of cigarette smoking or calories is portrayed as emotional
breakdown.

The Sexuallsatlon of Culture

This section follows closely on from the above. Gill looks at the 'striptease culture' with its erotic
presentation of female bodies. She includes in this newspapers' coverage of rape stories and 'Porno
chic' in lad mags. These contrast with those representations of the male which' are hailed by the

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 FEMINISM

lad mags as hedonists just wanting "a shag"' (p.151 ). In women's magazines men are rendered as
'complex, vulnerable human beings' (p.151). Yet, in magazines aimed at men, women are required
to discuss their underwear, sexual fantasies, 'filthiest moments' or body parts (Turner, 2005 in Gill,
p.151). For Gill, these uneven discourses are key to insights on sexualisations.

From sex object to desiring sexual subject

No longer are women presented in the media as 'passive, mute objects of an assumed male gaze'
and 'straightforwardly objectified' (See Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure Box ). They are offered as
'active, desiring sexual subjects who choose to present themselves in a seemingly objec­tified
manner because it suits their liberated interests to do so' (Goldman, 1992 in Gill, p.151 ). This is
particularly obvious in advertising.

Individualism, choice and empowerment

Notions of choice, of 'being oneself', and 'pleasing oneself' are central to the Post-feminist sensi­
bility that pervades contemporary Western media culture (p.153). It resonates powerfully in talk
shows, advertising and makeover shows where individuals are enticed to take control of all aspects
of their life. Little thought is given to the additional pressures this may bring to that individual who
is coerced into believing they need breast augmentation at the age of 14. This idea that all our
choices are 'freely chosen is central to postfeminist discourses which represent women as autono­
mous agents no longer constrained by any inequalities or power imbalances whatsoever' (p.153).
Yet if women are 'pleasing themselves' why, asks Gill, is the 'resulting valued "look" so similar[ ...]
hairless body, slim waist, firm buttocks etc' (p.154).

Self surveillance and discipline

The idea of self-surveillance is closely linked with the point above. Careful 'grooming, attire,
posture, elocution and manners' (p.155) are portrayed as essential to femininity and requires
constant effort to maintain. In particular, Gill argues, such imagery is focused on emulation of
the 'upper-class white ideal' {p.155). Gill notes that presently there are three distinct elements,
'first, the dramatically increased intensity of self surveillance, indicating the intensity of the
regulation of women [ ...] secondly, the extensiveness of surveillance over entirely new spheres
of life [ ...] and thirdly, the focus upon the psychological requirement to transform oneself'
{p.155).

The makeover paradigm

Here, mainly women are encouraged to believe that their life is flawed and that it may be improved
by relationship advice or lifestyle gurus. Televised participants endure 'toxic shame' (Peck, 1995
in Gill, p.156) and by being humiliated, contestants will learn to improve their perceived 'flaws'
(p.156). The final stage of this manipulative journey is to show the participant trying to continue
the advice on their own; often with mixed results. According to Gill, these shows strengthen racial
and class oppositions and encourage people to laugh at unfortunate people.

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The reassertion of sexual difference

In the 1970s and 80s there were ideas that males and females had basic similarity which allowed
for equality. This was soon dispelled by the 1990s. Key to Post-feminist sensibility is the resurgence
of ideas of natural sexual difference. This is seen across all media. The 'new man' figure has been
roundly attacked as inauthentic and considered a performance and having little to do with what
men were like. In contrast the rise of the 'new lad' in the 90s was seen as a rebellion against the
rise in feminism and the constraints of political correctness. What was needed was a frank acknowl­
edgement of difference rather than its denial (pp.158-9).

Irony and knowingness

Post-feminist media culture has adopted irony as a means of 'having it both ways'. It allows
unacceptable comments to be directed at homophobic and sexist issues, whilst claiming that no
offence was intended (p.159). Gill suggests that if we accept this as 'just a laugh' we, 'are left with
a fast-growing area of media content [... ] that is chillingly misogynist, inviting men to evaluate
women only as sexual objects' (p.160). Such arguments regarding ironic misogyny ensued follow­
ing the treatment of the female character, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Light), in the Tarantino
film The Hateful Eight (2015).

Feminism and anti-feminism

In her final point Gill draws in ideas about the media of the 1960s, 70s and early 80s and how
in the 2000s feminism is currently part of the 'cultural field' (p.23). In the 2000s, all forms of
media discuss 'date rape, have sexualized images and cover war experiences of women, domestic
violence or anorexia' (p.161). Gill cautions that it would be wrong to believe that the media has
become unproblematically feminist. She notes Judith Stacey (1987), who wrote that feminist
ideas are simultaneously 'incorporated, revised and depoliticized' and Gill suggests 'attacked'
(p.161). According to Gill, contemporary media culture is 'distinctively postfeminist, rather than
pre-feminist or anti-feminist, is precisely this entanglement of feminist and anti-feminist ideas'
(p.161).

Conclusion

Here Gill wants to make clear the point that contemporary gender relations are profoundly contra­
dictory and that there is an 'intimate relation to feminism and to neoliberalism' (p.163). It is this that
makes 'postfeminist sensibility quite different from both prefeminist constructions of gender or femi­
nist ones ... [in] that it is clearly a response to feminism' (p.163). She continues that contemporary
gender relations are immensely contradictory but not random, they are 'patterned and amenable
to elaboration', it is these contradictions that 'constitute sensibility' (p.163). Individualism, auton­
omy, choice, self-improvement and self-regulation are all similar to central notions of neoliberalism
(p.163). Finally, noting that the relationship of neoliberalism and gender relations has yet to be
examined, there are parallels that suggest that 'postfeminism is not simply a response to feminism
but also a sensibility.

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 FEMINISM

In summary, Post-feminism offers a means of reflecting on second and third wave feminism and
looks to provide alternatives by considering a broad-based platform that encourages pluralistic
discussions. There is a positive endorsement of consumerism and it reclaims signifiers such as high
heels/lipstick/designer clothes from powerless to powerful signification. Where traditional feminism
perpetuates the idea of women as victims, Post-feminism concentrates on ideas of empowerment
and liberation with an emphasis on freedom to choose from a range of options. Women now claim
agency over their body and how they chose to dress and act. A particularly controversial example of
this is Miley Cyrus and the 'Wrecking ball' video where she is seen nude and in underwear simulat­
ing sexual acts. In Gender Trouble (1990) Butler argued that feminism had made a mistake to assert
that women were a group with common characteristics and interests. That approach had performed
'an unwitting regulation and reification of gender relations' (p.5), thus reinforcing a binary view
of gender relations. This no longer holds true as Post-feminism/Fourth Wave Feminism celebrates
diversity of identity available to women of all cultures. It is this pluralism that gives voice to all.

Reflect and respond

1 Who do you consider a Post-feminist icon and why?
2 Is this new approach to feminism more empowering for women, or does it weaken their posi­
tion? Give reasons and examples for your answer.
3 Is the term 'Fourth Wave Feminism' or the term 'Post-feminism' more appropriate and useful in
furthering the place of feminism?
4 How useful do you think Gill's Post-feminist sensibility is in navigating the modern world of
feminism?

It is from these Second, Third and Fourth Wave Feminist aspirations that Feminist critical film theory
developed. Early Feminist studies began to theorize on stereotypical images of female representations
in film and the overt focus on the woman's body. The American Molly Haskell was one of the first
academics to address these concerns. In her book, From Reverence to Rape (1974), she discusses how
Hollywood's portrayal of women in conventional roles such as mothers and girls-next-door did not
accord with women's real experiences. She noted a decade-by-decade shift from the respect afforded
female characters in the silent era to a less deferential attitude in films of the 60s and 70s. Haskell
argued that the American film industry 'manoeuvred to keep women in their place' by showing
them to be socially inferior (Haskell, 1974, pp.2-3). She further maintained that women were stere­
otypically reduced to stock characters of glamorous sex goddesses, femme fatales or self-sacrificing
mothers, all of which could be considered as traditional male fantasies (1974, pp.3-4). Haskell
believed that the 'woman's film' emerged to compensate for the fact that women were excluded
from most genres (Western, Gangster, etc). Overall her book implies that historically, films ignored
the achievements women attained in real life, portraying them as submissive caricatures.

Psychoanalytic approaches to Feminism

Psychoanalysis has been readily adopted by Feminists as a means of understanding the way women
are represented on screen. Claire Johnston and Laura Mulvey both produced seminal articles in
the 70s, which were to have a huge impact on the study of film and media. Johnston's 'Women's
Cinema as Counter-Cinema' targeted the processes of film production rather than concentrating

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on images alone. Johnston draws on Jacques Lacan, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault and Louis
Althusser in her investigation of film as a semiotic sign system. She focused on gendered and signi­
fying contradictions to show how films maintained patriarchal order. She argued that films worked
to preserve and perpetuate sexual inequality, and that 'the dominant ideology presented her [the
woman] as eternal and unchanging, except for modifications in terms of fashion' (1973, p.32). John­
ston stressed the importance of developing filmmaking in ways that would question and challenge
mainstream dominant cinema and its patriarchal agenda.
At a similar time to Johnston's discussion of woman as a sign in patriarchal discourse, Laura
Mulvey employed a Psychoanalytic approach to explain how cinema works at the level of the uncon­
scious. In the male-dominated film industry, men had two widely differing roles: behind the camera,
concerned with production and technology, and as actors. In contrast, women would work in the
costume and make-up departments (traditionally associated with the domestic sphere).
Before looking at Mulvey's groundbreaking essay, an understanding of the terminology that she
appropriates from Freud is instructive:

• Scopophilia: This Freudian term denotes pleasure taken in looking. The scopophilic instinct
occurs when people or images are viewed as erotic objects. For Freud scopophilia can become
a perversion if it is connected with deviant behaviour as in the case of voyeurs (Gay, 1995,
p.251).
• Voyeurism: Pleasure is voyeuristic when it is dependent on the object of the gaze being unaware.
Someone spying on another is popularly known as a 'Peeping Tom'. To some extent both
photography and film invite voyeuristic looking. It is the act of viewing the activities of others
unbeknown to them. Therefore the act of looking can be seen as illicit or as having forbidden
connotations. In the cinema we are voyeurs, watching people on screen who are 'ignorant' that
we are watching them. We derive pleasure from this. The camera is also a voyeur.
• Fetishism: An object becomes a fetish when it is the focus of sexual desire. The fetishist idealizes
an object associated with a woman to displace sexual anxiety. '[T]he normal sexual object is
replaced by another which bears some relation to it. [ ... ] what is substituted for the sexual object
is some part of the body' (Gay, 1995 , p.249). For example, images of shoes or hair can take on
sexual connotations. In film, the audience may notice an excessive objectification of the female
body, numerous shots of breasts and legs. The intense concentration on parts of the female body
in the cinema is a prime example of fetishism. Nowadays this is no longer recognized as solely
about women. Men can similarly be fetished in film and all forms of media.
• Narcissism: This is erotic pleasure derived from looking at one's own body. For both Freud and
Lacan it was a natural stage in childhood. In film it is the audience's identification with the image
on the screen and is often explained through the use of Lacan's 'mirror stage' (see
'Psychoanalysis').

Reflect and respond

Can you think of any films that adopt scopophilia, voyeurism, fetishism and narcissism as plot
devices?
2 From your examples, can you see any generic trends?
3 Can you speculate why Feminist film theorists were so preoccupied with scopophilia, voyeurism,
fetishism and narcissism?
4 Name some male actors/films where the masculine body is fetishized.

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 FEMINISM

Laura Mulvey
'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' (1975)

Laura Mulvey is a Feminist film theorist. Her work signals a move from purely textual analysis
towards an interest in the visual pleasure and identification found in the cinema. She employs
Psychoanalytic Theory to discuss how popular cinema produces what she calls the 'male gaze'; here
she appropriates theories from Freud and Lacan (see 'Psychoanalysis'). In more tradi­tional film
theory, the spectator is assumed to be male; in light of this, Mulvey places the issue of sexual
difference as central to her discussion. In order to do this:

It [the essay] takes as its starting-point the way film reflects, reveals and even plays on the
straight, socially established interpretation of sexual difference which controls images, erotic
ways of looking and spectacle. [...] Psychoanalytic theory is thus appropriated here as a political
weapon, demonstrating the way the unconscious patriarchal society has structured film form.
(1975, p.34)

For Mulvey 'the gaze' is the main mechanism of control in film (1975, p.60). The image of the
woman is first the object of male desire and second the signifier of the threat of castration.
Mulvey notes two 'pleasures', the first being scopophilia and voyeurism that are crucial to the
sexual objectification of women. The second part of this pleasure is the narcissistic aspect that devel­
ops from scopophilia. This is discussed by Mulvey with the aid of Lacan's mirror stage as an explan­
atory model (see 'Psychoanalysis'). According to Mulvey, elements of narcissistic identification with
the person on screen occur because the projector is behind the spectator's head. This allows the
spectator the illusion of controlling the image.
In her section, 'Woman as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look' (1975, p.62), Mulvey takes issue with
the sexual imbalance of looking. It is Mulvey's contention that this gaze is always male because the
'look' in cinema (by the camera) is controlled by men and aimed at the female as an object. Indeed, at
this time, studios were run by men. Directors, producers, cinematographers and some screenwriters
were also typically male. Furthermore, the male actors and the spectators (presumed male) voyeur­
istically identify with the camera and gaze at the woman in a fetishistic way. Mulvey selects films by
Hitchcock as examples: Rear Window (1954), Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960) and Marnie (1964).
One of the key ideas that Mulvey promotes is that within traditional storytelling the female
subject is always passive, whereas the male is active. For example, in fairytales the princess waits to
be rescued by the dashing hero (knight, prince, etc.). Mulvey recognizes that these long-established
tropes have carried through into filmmaking. She states:

In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male
and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which
is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at
and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can
be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness. (1975, pp.62-3)

Mulvey has suggested that women have two roles in film, 'as erotic object for the characters
within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium' (1975, p.63).
Mulvey believed that filmmakers had been trapped into following certain codes and conventions in

9
traditional Hollywood narrative. However, recent historical work suggests that the situation is much
more complex than this. Women do undertake starring roles and increasingly make up part of the
production team or are directors.
While Mulvey's article was groundbreaking and became the focus of debate and quotation,
it was criticized for its limited and essentialist focus in addressing only the male spectator and
that her 'male gaze' is pertinent to Classical Hollywood films but less so to films after the 1960s.
Variously, academics noted how she overlooked the important areas of women's voices, race and
sexual preferences when looking at the male hero. Academics such as E. A. Kaplan (1976) contra­
dicted Mulvey's findings, claiming that the male was not always a controlling force and that the
female was not always a passive object. Furthermore, she believed that the female viewer could
identify with both the passive and active positions. Nearly ten years later Mulvey responded to
her critics.

'Afterthoughts on "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'" (1981)

'Afterthoughts' was inspired by King Vidor's Duel in the Sun. Here, Mulvey responded to critics who
found her work essentialist and reductive (in her assumption that the gaze was solely male). After
defending her position in the original article, this essay concentrates on Melodrama and on the
woman spectator in particular. She develops two lines of analysis:

First (the 'woman in the audience' issue), whether the female spectator is carried along, as it
were by the scruff of the text, or whether her pleasure is more deep-rooted and complex. Second
(the 'melodrama' issue), how the text and its attendant identifications are affected by a female
character occupying the centre of the narrative arena. (Mulvey, 1981, p.122)

Mulvey says that she is 'concentrating on films in which a woman central protagonist is shown
to be unable to achieve a stable sexual identity, torn between [...] passive femininity and [...]
regressive masculinity' (1981, p.123). She sees these as the dilemmas of the female spectator.
Here, her work indicates a move away from how women are represented, towards studying female
responses. She considers how women watch films and discusses the role of Melodrama (a genre
traditionally considered female in orientation) in contrast with genres typically regarded as male
(action movie).
Mulvey notes that the conventions cited by Freud on masculinity are deeply embedded in the
structure of most popular narratives (Freud in Gay, 1995, pp.440-3). The male hero saves the
female victim and any sexual desire is contained in marriage. Further, it is the hero's sense that
'nothing can happen to me' that drives him on. In contrast, the heroine is passive, waits to be saved
and the narrative closes when this happens.
Mulvey then turns to Vladimir Propp's work on folktales (see 'Formalism') to confirm how firmly
these structures of active male/passive female are ingrained in storytelling. She notes that when a
woman is introduced as central to the story, the structure and meaning of the narrative changes (as
exhibited in Duel in the Sun). In this Western, the woman is faced with the conflicting desires of passive
femininity or regressive masculinity. When the lead protagonist is female, the plot can be 'overtly,
about sexuality: it becomes a melodrama' (1981, p.12 7). Mulvey analyses the female position in this
film in great detail and summarizes her findings. She suggests that female spectators need to be
awoken to be "'pleasured" in stories' (1981, p.129).

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 FEMINISM

Reflect and respond

To what extent do you think the tradition of the passive female and the active male is still prev­
alent in cinema today?
2 Discuss whether you agree or disagree that the camera adopts a male gaze.
3 Can we invert Mulvey's ideas and consider whether men adopt a female gaze when watching
women's genres (Musicals, Romantic Comedies and Melodramas)?
4 Consider whether women are still objectified in contemporary filmmaking. Can the same be
said of men?

Mulvey's 'Afterthoughts' in the early 80s recognized the change in mood among some Feminists.
They wanted to focus the debate exclusively on political issues and indeed this remains a powerful
line in Feminist thinking today. Accordingly, a number called for a counter-cinema to deconstruct
the images associated with the patriarchal agenda of the film industry. There was a tum towards
exploring the ideas of femininity and reconstructing lost or suppressed records of female experience.
One of the more recent interventions into the gaze comes from Todd McGowan who examines
this in Lacanian film theory (2007). In The Real Gaze rather than adopting the historical perspective
of the gaze coming from the spectator, McGowan relocates it within the filmic image. Here he shows
that the gaze has the potential to unsettle the spectator's sense of identity. Key to this is taking Laca­
nian film theory away from the 'Imaginary' and utilizing Lacanian ideas on 'The Real'. McGowan
believes that the focus on the relationship between spectator and screen (Metz and Baudry) has
ignored the relationship between the spectator and the 'real'. McGowan notes, 'The direct experi­
ence of the gaze collapses the distance between subject and object, and it thereby forces spectators
to experience themselves as directly implicated in what they see' (p.163). To explain this McGowan
uses Stanley Kubrick's distortion of the gaze in Eyes Wide Shut (1999). Kubrick breaks the fourth wall
with a close-up shot with the character starring directly at the audience thereby returning their gaze.
This has an unnerving effect on the viewer. For example, McGowan refers to characters in other
Kubrick films: Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange (1971), Private Pyle in FullMetal facket (1987) and
Jacj Torrance in the Shining (1980). According to McGowan these gazes are unnerving because they
challenge the viewer's power. Both Mulvey and McGowan examine difference as it relates to the
gaze. However, McGowan aims to want to reposition the spectator's connection to the real.

Mary Ann Doane

'FIim and the Masquerade: Theorising the Female Spectator' (1981)

The American theorist Mary Ann Doane explored the female gaze in relation to masquerade and
drew insights from the work of psychologist Joan Riviere (1929). Riviere had observed that an 'intel­
lectual' woman, when in a position of authority, donned a mask of 'Womanliness [... ] to hide the
possession of masculinity and to avert the reprisals expected if she was found to possess it' (Riviere,
1929, p.38). Doane introduces the term 'masquerade' to describe the way women often adopt a
metaphorical mask; a way of behaving that is inscribed by gender expectations. She found that a
common strategy was for women to act in an excessively flirtatious manner. This performance can

11
 then be manipulated for pleasure and this entails developing a new interpretative strategy (1981,
p.137). Doane asks:

After all, even if it is admitted that the woman is frequently the object of voyeuristic or fetishistic
gaze in the cinema, what is to prevent her from reversing the relation and appropriating the gaze
for her own pleasure? (1981, p.134)

Doane combines Riviere's findings with Freud's lecture on 'Femininity', in which he maintained
that issues in childhood paved the way for fetishism, and that this was an invariably male tendency.
Accordingly, Doane sees the male spectator as destined to be a fetishist, whereas the female
finds it difficult, if not impossible, to take that position. Rather than absorbing the image, she is
absorbed by it. She argues that the female spectator lacks the distance that voyeurism dictates.
This has profound effects on women's leisure patterns and means that they will see adornment and
consumption as inherently pleasurable activities. Women can indulge and inhabit their feminine
identity. Doane refers to this as 'over-identification'. 'Womanliness is a mask which can be worn or
removed' (1981, p.138).
Doane questions Christian Metz's work on apparatus and image in the cinema; she finds much of
this theorizing untenable for a female spectator as it 'lacks the attribute of distance' (1981, p.143).
Cinema has relied heavily on voyeurism, fetishism and identification with the ego, all in masculine
terms. Thus it has encouraged theorists to see the female gaze as repressed. For Doane this shows
that it is crucial to understand the woman's position in this in order for spectatorship theory to
develop in a positive way.

Reflect and respond

Discuss whether femininity and masculinity are 'performed'.
2 Can you identify films where women deliberately adopt 'masquerade' as a plot device?
3 How far is the notion of 'over-identification' appropriate or useful?
4 If we think of gender as a sliding scale rather than clear binary demarcations, can you identify
times where you emphasise masculine or feminine attributes of your own identity?

Before moving on to consider Horror and the feminine, it is important to understand two crucial
critical categories.

1 Masochism: Freud defines masochism as, 'any passive attitude towards sexual life and the sexual
object [... ] in which satisfaction is conditional upon suffering physical or mental pain at the
hands of the sexual object' (Gay, 1995, p.252). For example, people who like to be whipped for
sexual gratification can be termed masochists, like the character of Christian Grey in 50 Shades
of Grey (Sam Taylor-Johnson, 2015).
2 Abject or abjection: For the French Feminist Julia Kristeva, the abject is 'the place where mean­
ing collapses' (1982, p.2). It is where we cannot explain what we see. It is being forced to face a
traumatic event or object such as Kristeva's example of 'the museum that is now what remains
of Auschwitz, I see a heap of children's shoes, or something like that, something I have seen
elsewhere' (1982, p.4). Further, according to Kristeva this is '[e]ssentially different from "uncan­
niness", more violent, too' (1982, p.5). She explains: 'It is the infecting life. [...] It is thus not lack

12
 FEMINISM

of cleanliness or health that causes abjection but what disturbs identity, system, order. What does
not respect borders, positions, rules. The in-between, the ambiguous, the composite' (1982, p.5).

In summary, abjection comprises those ideas, images and objects that ignore borders and rules; they
are disturbing because they question stable identity, systems and social order.

Barbara Creed

'Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection' (1989)

Barbara Creed's contribution to Feminist critical analysis relates to the Horror film and the notion of the
monstrous-feminine. Drawing on writers as diverse as Freud (fetishism, 1927), Joseph Campbell (prim­
itive mythology, 1959) and Julia Kristeva (abjection), Creed examines 'horror as a perverse pleasure'
(1989, p.253). She finds that the Horror film illustrates the way abjection works in the sociocultural arena.
Creed illustrates in great detail things that create the abject. First, there are countless images of
corpses, 'whole and mutilated [...] bodily wastes such as blood, vomit' (1989, p.253). She records
how spectators feel sick or experience fear within the viewing process. Yet watching Horror satisfies
perverse desires and allows abjection to be encountered in the safety of the cinema. Second, the
construction of the monstrous threatens to cross borders and threatens stability. Creed notes that
the monstrous changes from film to film:

[B]etween the human and inhuman, man and beast (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde) [... ] the border is
betweeri the normal and the supernatural, good and evil (Carrie, The Exorcist, The Omen) [ ...] or
the monstrous is produced at the border which separates those who take up proper gender roles
from those who do not (Psycho, Dressed to Kill, Reflection of Fear); or the border is between normal
and abnormal sexual desire (Cruising, The Hunger, Cat People). (1989, p.253)

Third, Horror films frequently cast the maternal figure as abject. Creed draws on Kristeva again,
who suggests that all babies face abjection when they try to break free from the mother who tries
to resist this separation. This refusal to let go prevents the child from achieving its proper place in
society. This is seen in Hitchcock's Psycho, The Birds and Brian De Palma's Carrie (1976), where the
mother is presented as the monstrous-feminine (1989, p.254).
Furthermore, Creed draws on Kristeva's discussions on the rituals of defilement, the polluting
substances of excrement and menstrual blood, 'Images of blood, vomit, pus, shit etc., are central
to our culturally/socially constructed notions of the horrific' (1989, pp.255-6). Creed cites The
Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) and Carrie as particularly representative examples of the 'gaping
wound' and castration anxiety that are central concerns (particularly in Slasher films). Creed claims
that historically, religion functioned as a means to purify the abject. However, this is no longer true
because, 'the work of purification now rests solely with "that catharsis par excellence called art"'
(Kristeva, 1982, p.17; Creed, 1989, p.257).
Many of Creed's points are developed in her extensive analysis of Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) in
which she addresses the idea of the 'treacherous mother, the oral sadistic mother, the mother of
the primordial abyss [...] the toothed vagina' (1989, p.258). This image of the 'toothed vagina' is
present in many cultures and is frequently referred to as 'vagina dentata'. It can be read as a symbol
of male castration anxiety. Creed argues that the function of the Horror film within a patriarchal
culture is to evoke the monstrous-feminine. She also suggests that the blurring of gender boundaries
in horror reveals a great deal about male fears and desires.

13
 Reflect and respond
Why does the film industry rely on bodily fluids to instil feelings of abjection?
2 Why do you think the idea of 'vagina dentata' occurs in all cultures?
3 Can Horror be understood as the manifestation of male fears?
4 How does film deal with taboo objects such as bodily fluids and/or taboo practices such as
necrophilia and incest?

Mulvey, Doane and Creed's work on the gaze, spectatorship and the monstrous-feminine utilizes
Psychoanalytic theories to examine how the female spectator is constructed by the text. Yet there
are other approaches that require attention, such as questions of audience response.

Feminist approaches to subjectivity

Annette Kuhn was concerned with the 'woman in the audience'. She felt that film theory had not
examined the ways in which audiences have understood films within a framework of social contexts.
To address this, she explores Soap Operas and Melodramas in her essay, 'Women's Genres: Melo­
drama, Soap Opera and Theory' (1984). Kuhn outlines three problems that she intends to address;
first, the problem of gendered spectatorship; second, the historical specificity of gendered spectator­
ship; and third, the relationship between film and television texts (1984, p.21).
According to Kuhn, these problems have arisen because psychoanalytic theories have offered
'little scope for theorising subjectivity in its cultural or historical specificity' (1984, p.22). Kuhn
advocated the notion that there was no fixed feminine text, although a text could become feminine
when it was read. She looks at the relationship between text and context by concentrating on the
differences between the spectator and the idea of the wider audience.
Kuhn notes that, 'Looking at spectators and at audiences demands different methodologies and
theoretical frameworks, distinct discourses which construct distinct subjectivities and social rela­
tions' (1984, p.23). For her, it is important to question how large audiences of women identify with
popular media texts. This will enable an assessment of 'the political usefulness of popular genres
aimed at, and consumed by, mass audiences of women' (1984, p.27).
Teresa de Lauretis raised issues concerning subjectivity. In her essay, Alice Doesn't. Feminism.
Semiotics. Cinema (1984), she examined the structural representations of 'woman' in cinema and
discussed how narratives produce images of subjectivity. She points out that narrative structures
are formed by desire. This desire is inherently Oedipal (men's control of women). To explain this,
she cites many examples from Hitchcock, in particular the female characters in Rebecca (1940) and
Vertigo. Here the females are made to conform to the ideal image that the male protagonist imposes
upon them. In Vertigo, Scottie's 0ames Stewart) desire for the enigmatic Judy/Madeleine (Kim Novak)
drives the narrative of the film. The female subject is made to perform a specific feminine role. Yet
for de Lauretis the performance of the female character is impossible, and the narrative tension
is often resolved by the destruction of the female 0udy/Madeleine in Vertigo and the new Mrs de
Winter 0oan Fontaine) in Rebecca). Furthermore, she finds that desire in narrative is intimately
bound up with violence against women, and the techniques of cinematic narration both reflect and
sustain the social forms of oppression of women.
De Lauretis writes about two different processes of identification in cinema. The first moves between
a masculine and active identification with the gaze (Scottie) and a passive feminine identification with

14
 FEMINISM

the image 0udy/Madeleine). This enables the female spectator to take up both the active and passive
positions of desire. The second is simultaneous identification, which can be seen with both the new
Mrs de Winter and with the imagined image of the first Mrs de Winter in Rebecca. For de Lauretis,
feminist theory is built on the contradiction of the unrepresentability of woman as subject of desire.

Reflect and respond

1 Discuss films in which female subjectivity is made central.
2 Account for the destruction of the female character when she is portrayed as an object of desire.
3 Identify other film texts where men manipulate women to conform to their expectations.

For Feminists, female spectators are seen as marginalized. In order to develop ideas from Mulvey and
others into different directions, critical analysis began to focus on other 'marginalized' spectators
(gay, black, etc.).

Feminist approaches to marginalized groups

Jackie Stacey's 1987 essay 'Desperately Seeking Difference' takes up the homosexual perspective to
address critiques of homosexual spectatorship. Adopting the work of Doane and Kuhn, she notes
that the pleasure of the female spectator has hardly been addressed, 'specifically homosexual pleas­
ures of female spectatorship have been ignored completely' (1987, p.244). Although it needs to be
noted that various writers, including de Lauretis (1984), have written on this, Stacey sets out to
suggest some reasons for the general neglect.
She considers that the film text can be read and enjoyed from different gendered positions or,
despite the masculine apparatus, spectators can respond differently to the visual pleasures of the
text. Stacey examines All about Eve Ooseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950) and Desperately Seeking Susan (Susan
Seidelman, 1985) to pursue ideas on the pleasures of desire and identification. From her work Stacey
concludes that a focus on the 'distinction between either desire or identification, so characteristic of
film theory, fails to address the construction of desires which involve a specific interplay of both
processes' (1987, p.257). Of course, it is important to distinguish between the different spectator
positions adopted by lesbians and male homosexuals.
Whereas Stacey acknowledged that Feminists had historically ignored the gay female audience,
bell hooks raised concerns regarding black female spectatorship.

bell hooks

'The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators' (1992)

It is important to note that bell hooks, the African American feminist scholar, insists that her name
appear in lowercase rather than with initial capitals. She believes it is the substance of her writing
that is important, rather than who she is. hooks queried Mulvey's position on the 'male gaze'. She
points out that black people have historically been punished for looking. Here she cites the incident

15
 when Emmett Till, a fourteen-year-old black boy, who was murdered for looking and whistling at a
white woman (p.118). She believes that Feminist theory ignores the issue of race in the same way
that the film industry has historically struggled to represent black womanhood on screen. Even
when African American male filmmakers attempt to depict black women, they typically objectify
them, which, for hooks, perpetuates the subtext of white supremacy (p.118).
hooks states that as a black woman she has a choice either to identify with the white woman or
resist identification. The latter is the logical position, as black women do not recognize themselves on
screen, since the film industry has tended to misrepresent or ignore them entirely. Accordingly, black
women adopt an 'oppositional gaze' or what Manthia Diawara calls 'resisting spectatorship' (p.128).
In embracing this attitude of rejection, black women can no longer be hurt by derogatory images of
African American female identity. Rather than agreeing with Mulvey's concept of the female as passive
and the male as active, hooks laments that, even when black women assume the role of director, black
femininity is still victim to 'the white supremacist capitalist imperialist dominating "gaze'" (p.129).

Reflect and respond

1 Identify the difference in spectatorial positions between heterosexual and homosexual viewers.
2 Discuss whether hooks's notion of the 'oppositional gaze' can be usefully applied.
3 Have gay women and black females been under and/or misrepresented on screen?

As has been noted here, much of the work from Feminist critics in the 80s has taken its lead from
Mulvey. However, there are other approaches. Kaja Silverman is a Feminist critic who has focused
her attention on the woman's voice. In 'Dis-Embodying the Female Voice' (1984), her analysis looks
at the sound/image relationship in terms of gender, and concentrates on the noticeable absence of
a female voice-over in classical cinema. She believes that this absence expressed the fact that the
female subject was 'associated with unreliable, thwarted, or acquiescent speech' (1984, p.131). Silver­
man called for a re-analysis of Hollywood films with more attention focused on the construction of
the soundtrack. She discussed the use of the 'disembodied' female voiceover in a number of films
directed by women, especially Yvonne Rainer's Journey from Berlin (1971). She developed her ideas
further in the book The Acoustic Mirror: The Female Voice in Psychoanalysis and Cinema (1988).
In the 90s there was a notable interest in Feminist theories on pornography, which took a
wide-ranging approach to the issue of female objectification. Maggie Humm noted that Feminists
were divided in their opinion. Some were anti-pornography, arguing that it was misogynist and
dehumanized women, with Andrea Dworkin claiming that it encouraged violence against women
(Dworkin in Humm, 1997, p.43). On the other hand, other Feminists such as Linda Williams took
an anti-censorship stance, arguing that: '[P]ornography involves issues of fantasy and fetishism too
complex to be reduced to any possible effects; and that pornographic representations could be an
important, even creative, part of women's - not just men's - sexual pleasure' (Humm, 1997, p.43).
In her essay, 'Film Bodies: Gender, Genre and Excess' (1991), Williams succinctly summed up
what she thought of pornography and Horror films,

Alone or in combination, heavy doses of sex, violence, and emotion are dismissed by one faction
or another as having no logic or reason for existence beyond their power to excite. Gratuitous sex,
gratuitous violence and terror, gratuitous emotion are frequent epithets hurled at this phenome­
non of the 'sensational' in pornography, horror, and melodrama. (Williams, 1991, p.142)

16
 FEMINISM

Feminism and the Film Industry

More recently, there have been challenges to the inherent patriarchal make-up of the film industry.
Jennifer Lawrence was scathing when she discovered that her male co-stars that appeared alongside
her in American Hustle (David O Russell, 2013) were paid considerably more money. This resulted in
the Oscar winning, A lister writing an impassioned essay, in it she laments:

It's hard for me to speak about my experience as a working woman because I can safely say my
problems aren't always relatable. When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less
I was being paid than the lucky people with dicks, I didn't get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself.
I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn't want to keep fighting over millions of
dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don't need. (I told you I wasn't relatable, don't hate
me.)
But if I'm honest with myself, I would be lying if I didn't say there was an element of wanting
to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight. I didn't want to
seem "difficult" or "spoiled." At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll
on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn't worry about being
"difficult" or "spoiled." (2015)

Lawrence's disaapointment and open decision to address inequality in the industry has been
matched by the female director Maria Giese. Giese, a female activist and member of the Directors
Guild of America (DGA), met with both the American Civil Liverties Union and the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission to discuss the problem of gender discrimination in Hollywood. This has
resulted in an action plan that will hopefully educate the industry regarding gender biased.
Geena Davis is similarly making 'waves' with her 'Geena Davis Institute on Gender in the Media';
'the Institute is the only research-based organization working within the media and entertainment
industry to engage, educate, and influence the need to dramatically improve gender balance,
reduce stereotyping and create diverse female characters in entertainment targeting children 11
and under' (2016).

Alison Bechdel

The Bechdel Test ( 1985)

The marginalization of women in film has long been a contentious issue, as discussed in this
chapter. Traditionally women have been objectified and accordingly function as a trophy for the
male protagonist. With the emergence of the feminist movement, women have become far more
critical regarding how they are represented on screen and it is clear that there has been a shift in the
industry as we are seeing an increase in iconic female characters being brought to the screen. For
example, Katniss Everdeen, Hermione Grainger and Lizbeth Salander are female leads that no longer
conform to the active/passive binary traditionally associated with male/female characterisation.
Alison Bechdel is a cartoonist and author that lives in America. She is known for her long­
runing lesbian comic entitled Dykes to Watch Out For. The comic strip, which ran from 1983 to

17
2008, documented the lives of a diverse group of lesbians. In a 1985 issue of the popular gay
publication, two women - supposedly Mo and Ginger - are discussing going to the movies.
One of the character declares that she has set rules regarding films and they entail three basic
requirements. These requirements have since been formalised into Feminist discourse and are
now known as the Bechdel Test; a test by which a film can be assessed in terms of female
presence.
In order to pass the Bechdel test, sometimes referred to as the Bechdel-Wallace Test in acknowl­
edgement of Liz Wallace who helped formulate the idea, a film must be able to fulfil the following
three stipulations:

The film has to have at least two women in it.

2 The women have to talk to each other.
3 They have to talk to each other about something besides a man.

This simple rule of thumb has become popularised on the internet to the extent where there is
a website dedicated to assessing films by the above rules. So far thousands of films have been
subjected to the benchmark criteria and this number increases daily.
Simple in its inception, and initially considered as a tongue-in-cheek joke, the Bechdel Test has
gained great importance in revealing how the industry systemically marginalizes women in films.
In the seven films that were nominated for the Best Picture Award at the Oscars in 2016, three fail
in reaching the criteria outlined by Alison Bechdel. The failures are The Big Short (Adam McKay,
2015), Bridge of Spies (Steven Spielberg, 2015) and The Revenant (Alejandro Gonzalez lnarritu, 2015).
The four that pass are Brooklyn 0ohn Crowley, 2015), Mad Max: Fury Road (George Miller, 2015),
The Martian (Ridley Scott, 2015) and Room (Lenny Abrahamson, 2015). This reveals how useful
the Bechdel Test can be as a benchmark for female representation.
To highlight the longevity of the problem, Bechdel insists that she was inspired after reading
Virgina Woolf's extended essay A Room of One's Own (1929), In her writing, Woolf suggests that
women are marginalised and belittled as writers, artists and musicians. The test itself has inspired
other ways of testing a film for female validity. In response to the Bechdel Test, Kelly Sue DeConnick
came up with the 'Sexy Lamp Test'; if your female character can be replaced with a sexy lamp with­
out interfering with the narrative trajectory, then this suggests that your film is lacking in substantial
female presence.
In 201 3, Vito Russo introduced the Russo Test which draws on Bechdel's premise, but this criteria
is used to assess the incorporation of well-rounded LGBT characters. Russo's criteria for assessment
in this case is as follows:

The film contains a character that is identifiably lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender.
2 The character must not be solely or predominantly defined by their sexual orientation or gender
identity.
3 The character must be tied into the plot in such a way that their removal would have a signif­
icant effect.

Although initially thought of as a joke, the Bechdel Test is gaining recognition in popular culture.
This suggests that in the future we should be seeing more films which include two named women
that discuss something other than men.

18
 FEMINISM

Reflect and respond

Were you aware of the Bechdel Test? If so where have you heard about it?
2 Do you think the Bechdel Test should be considered a sound academic device by which to read
female representation?
3 Try applying the Bechdel Test to the most recently released films? Are you surprised by the
results?
4 Can you think of any other criteria that you could use to check for female presence in films?

In this chapter we have shown some of the ways in which Feminism has stimulated new debate for
Feminist theory. Moreover, it can be seen that there is a lot of 'cross-fertilization' between Feminism
as a political movement (female suffrage, a right to education and equality in the workplace, etc.)
and Feminist film criticism. As Feminists they were working to the same agenda in the fight for
female recognition.

Conclusion

Feminism can be seen as site of social and intellectual debate. There is a focus on women's experi­ence of
sexuality, work and the family. The Feminist movement recognized the patriarchal structure of society; that the
world is organized on terms dictated by men to their own advantage. In order to challenge this, Feminists have
worked to achieve rights for women, to promote women's artistic undertakings in order to challenge the
stereotypical representation of women.
Feminism has no single vision; Feminist theory crosses borders of history, philosophy, anthro­pology, arts, etc.
Furthermore, it utilizes other theories such as Structuralism and semiotics, Post­structuralism, Race and
Ethnicity, Queer Theory and most importantly of all, Psychoanalysis.
Much has changed in Feminist film theory. The gaze is definitely no longer considered to be male; it can be
homoerotic, oppositional and so on. Film can be engaged as an ideological tool, which can counteract
stereotypical images of women presented in a male-dominated media. It can also raise women's awareness of
their inferior position in patriarchal society, where they are generally rele­gated to a subservient role. These
broader perspectives enable critics to see that film is a part of the cultural apparatus and that it relates in a
complex way to the structure of patriarchy.

19
 FEMINISM

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