Read the editor’s introduction to Laura Mulvey’s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” and the text itself (2081-2095). Then, in a response of at least 600 words, address the following:
Mulvey claims that mainstream Hollywood film offers the spectator two types of visual pleasure: scopophilia (or the pleasure of looking at another as an object) and narcissistic identification (the pleasure of identifying with an idealized image of oneself). According to Mulvey, what is the significance of these two concepts in the work of psychoanalysts: specifically, Sigmund Freud on scopophilia and Jacques Lacan on narcissistic identification? How have these two visual pleasures been split between active/male and passive/female, according to Mulvey, and what does she mean by the “male gaze” (2088)? In Mulvey’s analysis of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, she discusses the voyeurism, sadism, and fetishism of the protagonist, Scottie. According to Mulvey, what role do these three forms of sexual desire play in Vertigo? Finally, think of films you have seen, whether recently or in the past. Does Mulvey’s article persuasively elucidate the roles of female and male characters in any of these films? If so, explain why. If not, discuss how these films operate in a different way than that theorized by Mulvey. For full credit, please support your claims with
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