The Male Gaze

The Male Gaze, a theory presented by scholar and filmmaker Laura Mulvey in her now famous 1975 essay, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema outlines the basic idea that women in certain film (and theatre) are sexualised for heterosexual, male desire without real need. This could take shape in many forms, from what the female actor says, wears, acts or any other action that could be deemed as sexual in the eyes of a male audience.

The Male Gaze is seen a lot in superhero movies in particular. As action movies like these are stereotypically geared towards a male audience, these films tend to be filmed in such a way that would attract a stereotypical heterosexual male to view them. This means that often the female leads in these films are dressed in provocative clothing, act in a sexual manner (whether this be flirting, dancing provocatively or being otherwise alluring for the male), or is placed in front of the camera with the intention of being looked at for both the male lead and the male audience. A very obvious character from a superhero style film would be Harley Quinn from DC's The Suicide Squad: 

(Harley Quinn's Costume)

Although I won't go too much into Harley's costume here, it is very obvious that she is dressed for The Male Gaze, an extremely short pair of shorts coupled with a very tight t-shirt leaves nothing to the imagination. On top of this, throughout the film Harley's character makes very sexual references, licks her weapons in a sexual way, and the angles of the camera highlight her body and her features rather than what she says. This still from the movie may seem innocent at first glance, but the centre of the image isn't Harley's face, but instead her chest. This isn't the only time we see this treatment of Harley in The Suicide Squad. In fact, there are many shots throughout the film where Harley is seen doing things like getting dressed, dancing sexually, or performing an action where the camera highlights her body. If you're interested, I've linked some evidence of this via YouTube videos below:

Getting Dressed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ4sWPKnZfU

Prison Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEjSQK2tYyU

Lets take the scene where the characters suit up and really dissect it through The Male Gaze to see what really is going on. Firstly, Harley opens her crate and the first thing she pulls out is her full-length quintessential red and black harlequin costume from the comics. She holds it up to herself, before seemingly discarding it, discarding the only thing in the box that would fully cover her body. When the camera comes back to her, it pans up her entire body whilst she pulls a gun out of the crate, tying together an idea of power and sexuality. The camera returns and we see her with the "Puddin'" accessory, showing her reliance on men and her need for validation through the Joker, although this could be explained away as a characteristic of Harley, as she is madly in love with the Joker. The camera returns to her again and pans up her body, showing her thighs, behind, waist, exposed midsection and her chest covered only by a bra as she pulls on her tiny t-shirt. The music stops and the camera pulls back to show everyone watching her, the other male characters in very close proximity to where she has just changed. It is obvious that they have been watching her do this. She then bends down in front of Diablo, showing herself off. Just from this scene we can see how the writing, acting and camera angles show Harley as a sexual object, something to be looked at by both the male characters of the film, and the male audience.

Obviously, this doesn't just happen in superhero films or just in The Suicide Squad. This theory can be used to look at many films where a lead female is being shown. The Male Gaze is something that can be seen quite often throughout varying movies: The Bond films always have a sexual or glamourous females sidekick for James to fall in love with, for example. 

So... What does this mean for costume designers and the costume world?

Well, a lot of The Male Gaze does centre around what the characters wear. Although costumes are supposed to elevate a character or define certain aspects of the characters personality, costumes can also be used as a device to make a character sexual or attractive to a certain demographic of an audience. Personally, I feel that costume designers have a responsibility to not only make costumes that elevate a character but to also make sure that the actors themselves feel comfortable and empowered in the costumes they wear. In reference to The Suicide Squad  and Harley Quinn, Margot Robbie (the actor) said "As Margot, no, I don’t like wearing that. I’m eating burgers at lunchtime, and then you go do a scene where you’re hosed down and soaking wet in a white T-shirt, it’s so clingy and you’re self-conscious about it." and it is reported that Robbie even asked the director to change the costume to a set of overalls which the director discarded as not being part of Harley's "iconography". I think that of course it is hard for costume designers to go against directors and their vision, and I cannot say that they should do, but I do think that if an actor doesn't feel comfortable in a costume then perhaps things should be changed so that they do feel better about what they wear.

Overall, I do feel that the The Male Gaze can be a very harmful lens that turns women into sexual objects. I think that, going back to The Suicide Squad, the amount of times Harley's character was shown in skimpy clothing, being over sexual was far too much for it to be just her character. If a character is known for being sexual, that is their established way of being, then I don't necessarily think that it is harmful. But Harley Quinn isn't really a sexual character, her main traits being crazy and in love with the Joker and therefore doing anything for him. In fact, she is so devoted to the Joker that her overly sexual actions towards other men don't even make sense really. Apart from in the club when the Joker wants her to be sexual, there is no other time where she needs to be as the Joker isn't there for her. All the sexual things done in the rest of the movie are for The Male Gaze as they do nothing to further Harley's character or develop her in any way, they are simply sexual acts for the sake of the stereotypical heterosexual male audience. The Male Gaze is harmful towards women as it portrays them purely as sexual objects for male gratification when there is no need for the character to act that way or do the things they do. Sexuality purely for the sake of the audience reduces the female characters to purely their bodies and, really, takes away from the character and story as a whole.