The Question of “Female Gaze”:

Will it Ever Be Possible to Have One?

Abstract

This paper problematizes the issue of an “active female gaze” as opposed to the passive one determined by the dominant ideological system that produces an “active male gaze” in narratives of cinema and advertisements. In mainstream cinema as well as the advertisement industry, usually the story is rendered from an essentially male perspective, regardless of the narrator’s being male or female. It is so even when the subject matter is related to issues that directly concern women like the repression of their desires or Lesbianism, for instance. Using some of the key ideas propounded by British film critic Laura Mulvey, the paper examines some of the texts from both cinema and the advertisement industry to find out the complex mechanism of the “male gaze.” It also attempts to explore the possibility of a “female gaze” that might, if achieved, give new dimensions to both forms of entertainment.