Mulvey: American Beauty

Laura Mulvey's theory is shown through this clip of American Beauty as females are objectified. At the beginning of the clip we see the girls wearing revealing outfits which signifies that they are seen as objectified females. The camera zooms in on the male that's viewing the girl and uses a wide shot to show that he is fantasizing about her as there is nobody else there but him and the girl. This shows scopophilia through the males perspective. We can identify that this is an example of hyper reality as the female is not actually acting the way the male is viewing her therefore creating hyper reality as its through a masculine voyeuristic position which is in most cases the way women are expected to act. The camera uses extreme close ups on different parts of her body to show objectification and fragmentation and also follows tilts down the girls body as she undoes her zip. This supports Mulvey's theory that female characters are passive and are there to be looked at and for visual pleasure. As the girl opens her zip we see roses spilling out of her jacket, this signifies seduction as red gives connotations of love and lust. Mulvey suggests that the female character has no real importance herself, she is only there for how she makes the male feel, which is significant in this clip as the close up shots used on the males eyes and mouth addresses that the female is only there for scopophilia. This scene in the film also shows us a patriarchal society as the male is fantasising about the 'ideal vision' of the way women should act.