Anna

Consider how 'The Male Gaze' Applies to Anna in the film Get Carter

The scene that I am analysing with Anna in is when she is speaking to Carter on the phone. There are various points that show that Anna is subjected to The Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema theory also known as the Male Gaze Theory from Laura Mulvey.

In this scene Anna is talking on the phone to Carter whilst she is lying on the bed, at first she is in her underwear but is then ordered by Carter to take her bra off. Already when can see the dominance that Carter has over Anna and that she will do whatever he wants her to.

 Anna at this point is naked and is sexualised by the way she looks and how she is filmed. The scene is filmed in various close- up shots of Anna's body. In one close up shot of her it is framed so that Anna fills up all of the frame, however it has voyeuristic side to it as Anna's legs block part of the screen, this gives the audience a sense that they are intruding in something private.

Anna is mainly a sex object for Carter as we can see in this scene because he is controlling her and telling her what to do. The film does not necessarily need Anna in as it would not break apart the story, this shows that this scene was mainly placed for the Male gaze of the audience and is used to draw in the male heterosexual.

The male gaze theory applies to this scene perfectly as both Carter and the audience members are seeing anna as an erotic object. She is there for Carter's use and is there to please him, Anna's sexual pleasure is dictated by men. She is passive in this scene whereas Carter is active.

At the end of the scene Fletcher walks in on Anna and questions if she has 'gut problems'. This comment from Fletcher highlights that men in the 1970's thought they were the only people who could pleasure a woman.

This scenes shows that women's liberation in the 1970's has not yet been a success. Because the scene appeals to the male gaze, we can assume that they agree with this representation of women and hold the ideologies, or are sympathetic to them in their personal lives.