Gender Theories

The Male Gaze Theory:

Laura Mulvey coined the term "Male gaze" in 1975. She believes that in film, audiences have to view a character from the perspective of a heterosexual male. The Male gaze consists of three different Gazes.
1. That of the person behind the camera
2. That of the characters within the representation or film.
3. The Gaze of the spectator.

The man man emerges as the dominant power within the film. The woman is portrayed as passive to the active gaze from the man.

John Berger:
"Men look, Women appear"- He suggested that women are there solely for objectification of men within all platforms of the media. We are subverting this stereotype in our film trailer, as the protagonist does not appear in the film to look "attractive" as we are not focussing on the looks of the character, but her actions instead.

Jib Fowles:
"In advertising, males gaze and females are gazed at"

The Carol Clover Theory:


In slasher movies, the killer is finally stopped by a character who Clover (1992) calls the "Final Girl". The " Final Girl" is always a pure innocent girl who abstains from sex. She sometimes has a unisex name (e.g. Laurie, Sidney.) Occassionally the Final Girl will have shared a history with the killer. Sidney Prescott from the horror film Scream, is a common example of Clovers theory.





In our film trailer, we chose to subvert gender theories because we didn't want to comply with the audiences expectations. In our film opening, the girl shown to be the dominant character, subverting the "Male Gaze Theory" (Laura Mulvey) who suggested that the man emerges as the dominant power within the film.  However she could be viewed as the perfect "English Rose". the term "English Rose" is a description associated with English Culture, that may be applied to a naturally attractive woman or girl traditionally with a fair complexion who is from or associated with England. The description has a cultural reference to the national flower of England, the rose, and its long tradition within English symbolism.