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The Male Gaze Theory

The male gaze is a concept conceived by Laura Mulvey, a feminist film critic. It refers to the way the visual arts are structured around a macsuline viewer. Mulvey came up with the theory that for years men have been observing women, the women watch the men observe them and gradually mould into what the men want to see, as women grow to love the attention and love being admired. This means showing more skin, dressing in a particular way and ajusting certain body language. Mulvey believes this is an art and has developed over centuries with the influene of sirens symbolising the art of seduction. 

In teen movies, the most common reason why the male gaze is used is to attract the heartthrob of the film. An art the new girl learnes to steal the heart of the boy she likes. For example in 'Legally Blonde' Resse Witherspoon's character Elle, teaches her arguably less attractive friend to do a 'bend and snap' as she tells us that from her experience it has a "95% chance of a dinner invitation". This line tells the audience that Elle has watched men observe her and through this has picked up things they like and used it to her advantage.

Another reason why the male gaze might be put into teen movies, is because the main target audience for teen comedies are females. Therefore by putting in scenes of women who are dressing or saying things that males find attractive, could draw in a bigger target audience by getting more males to watch the film.

I made a short video containing various clips from teen comedys that include the male gaze.