Applying the Male Gaze to Scenes

The male gaze is a concept that is used in todays society and world. It can be applied to all types of different media, whenever that is on a magazines cover, advertisements or certain scenes in films. In this video clip taken from a single episode from Hollyoaks , shows how Rachel Shenton, who plays as a character in Hollyoaks is represented to the audience in different scenes. This clip shows how her character applies the male gaze theory to the representation of her character.



At the begging of the scene Rachel Shenton is seen wearing a short pink skirt, high heels and a handbag walking down the road portraying a sexy and attractive image of herself. The camera movements and editing help portray this image. For example a close up is used on her face in the first edit to show her appearance and a camera tilt looking up from the ground is used to represent her body image. Slow motion editing has been used to help portray her provocative side and the use of high key lightening has been used on her character to connotate that she is the dominant figure to look upon. This follows on to why her character helps answer why the male gaze is being applied in the video clip.

 

When Rachel walks into the bar, she is looked upon suddenly by other characters. Within the scene the two male characters are constantly staring at her and this follows on to another scene of the episode to were she allows a picture with the two males kissing her. This makes her figure more notified and objectifying to the other characters and the audience watching.