“Explore some of the ways in which you have gained fresh insights into your chosen film as a result of applying Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ Theory”

“Explore some of the ways in which you have gained fresh insights into your chosen film as a result of applying Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ Theory”

During the opening scene on the rooftop Scottie slips and ends up hanging for his life, a police officer tries to save him but ends up falling over the edge to his death. Scottie is metaphorically ‘castrated during this scene as he becomes feminine in the narrative, this is due to being unable to catch the criminal he was chasing and being unable to save the police officer. When Scottie falls he has to be saved by another man, this is seen as being feminine narratively speaking as he is positioned as being weak and needing help which is seen as not being masculine. Because of the incident Scottie develops acrophobia, this is seen as a weakness which further removes his masculine traits and makes him more feminine. After this scene it is explained that he has been removed from duty and his role in society has been restricted from him, this has effectively ‘castrated’ him.

Scottie starts off the scene injured to emphasise his weakness and is shown trying to balance his cane while Midge works, this shows the glaring differences between the two as Midge is employed and working while Scottie is presented as child-like as he is playing with his cane and is unemployed. Scottie’s cane is intended to show that he is not only physically diminished but it is also intended to be a phallic symbol, by having him try to balance the cane and failing he is shown to have lost virility as he literally “he can’t keep it up”. Scottie is positioned as a feminine character; this is shown through how he needs to be protected by Midge who catches him as he falls. The fall itself is over-exaggerated and is presented in a way that is similar to female character during the golden Hollywood era; this reverses the roles of masculine and feminine and positions Midge as the masculine character while Scottie is feminine. Midge is positioned as being motherly towards Scottie, this is shown through how she has to explain to him what a bra is an says, “You know about these things. You’re a big boy now!” Midge is also represented as being unappealing to Scottie as a love interest, she is not given a POV from Scottie’s perspective and because of this we are unable to ‘gaze’ at her like we do with Madeleine.

When Scottie goes to see Gavin there are cranes in the background, the mise-en-scene not only show how successful Gavin is in comparison to Scottie but they are also intended as a phallic images the show that Gavin is able to ‘keep it up’. Scottie lacks what Gavin has which is presented to us by how Scottie compares the two of them with telling him that he is single and retired, unlike Gavin who is employed and married. This comparison shows that Scottie lacks masculine qualities while Gavin has them, these qualities are what Scottie seeks and Gavin gives Scottie the opportunity to regain those qualities by following wife. When Scottie sits down Gavin stands up, Gavin displays his dominance and control over the entire room while Scottie is in the corner. Scottie is manipulated by a more masculine individual as when he enters Gavin’s office he refuses several offers by Gavin but then eventually agrees to do what Gavin asks.

During the scene in Ernie’s a tracking shot of the dining hall shows the other diners, these diners mostly consist of older men with their partners in order to make Madeleine stand out. The walls are covered by red wallpaper, the colour red connotes lust, pleasure but also danger which foreshadows later events. Madeleine stands out further as she is wearing a backless and sophisticated green dress. The colour green has connotations of envy and obsession that Scottie clearly has, as he is envious of Gavin and obsessed with Madeleine. The camera movement follows Scotties ‘gaze’ which is a visual signifier of his desire and obsession with Madeleine; his POV is presented to us to allow us to ‘gaze’ at Madeleine. Scotties posture improves as a result of seeing Madeleine; this is a physical sign of Scotties amazement. The doorway that Madeleine stands in ‘frames’ her to make her look like a painting, Gavin is blacked out and cannot be seen in order to focus our and Scotties attention on only Madeleine. The music becomes more romantic as a result of Madeleine, the diegetic sound is removed in order to emphasise how overwhelmed Scottie is. All these different aspects are done to present Madeleine as something to be loved.

After the scene in the bar Scottie is in his car waiting to follow Madeleine, during the entire scene Madeleine is consistently shot in POV. This reduces Madeleine to an object, as she is something that Scottie can use as a means to fix his castration. Madeleine is under the male gaze as due to the consistent use of POV, she is the object of the gaze and Scottie is the bearer of the gaze. Scottie is shot in a lot of close up but there is never a POV of him, this is to make us align with him rather than see him as an object. Scottie is shot at a slight low angle so that we look up at Scottie; we are positioned to suggest he is in control and dominant, which is seen as masculine. We are presented with a side profile of Madeleine, during this side profile non-diegetic angelic music plays; this reflects Scottie’s passion for Madeleine.

Later on Scottie and Madeleine are near a bell tower, the tower is first shown from a low angle in order to make the tower appear imposing. The tower itself is another phallic image, because Scottie is unable to save Madeleine from jumping off the tower Scottie is incapable of ‘keeping it up’. Scottie is seen as not being masculine as he is unable to save the damsel, this is not a typical trait of the male hero and therefore Scottie is seen as weak. Scottie is further manipulated and he fails due to his castration, a stronger and more masculine character then manipulates this weakness. When Scottie looks down the camera tracks backwards while zooming in, this is a visual signifier of his castration. The final shot of the scene shows Scottie slowly walking down the bell tower in the same shot as his vertigo, this is done to show he is overwhelmed by his weakness as well as presenting the spiral motif of the film. This spiral visually represents Scotties decent into more suffering at the hand of his own weakness.

Scottie meets Judy and sees her as an opportunity to gain his masculinity; dominating Judy does this. When Scottie is dancing with Judy he looks uninterested, he isn’t obsessed with Judy, as she isn’t changed to suit his own fantasies. When Scottie and Judy are shown a dress Judy says she like the dress but Scottie quickly ignores her, her opinion is ignored, as it does not follow Scotties fantasy as well as it demonstrates Scotties dominance over Judy. The other women in the shop are also dominated by Scottie and remain passive; this is shown by how one of the employees is shot in a long shot while watching Scottie and Judy argues. This is to show that she is keeping her distance and remains passive as a result. When Scottie is being aggressive about his choices the employee says, “The gentleman certainly knows what he wants!” she calls him this because he is displaying masculine qualities. Laura Mulvey states that men project their fantasy on to the female form; Scottie does this by changing Judy’s form so she is a copy of his fantasy Madeleine. At the same time Hitchcock does the same thing by projecting his fantasy form onto Kim Novak.

After that scene Scottie is with Judy as she explains that he prevents her from leaving even though she states she wants to, Scottie displays his dominance by making sure Judy can’t leave. In order to make up for making Judy feel unloved he embraces her and kisses her, however he doesn’t kiss her directly almost as if he is avoiding her as she isn’t his fantasy yet. A montage of her transformation from Judy to Madeleine is presented to us, in this montage four close up shots of Judy’s hair, nails, eyes and lips are shown. This is done to focus on those particular aspects of Judy and to objectify her, it further reinforces the meticulous nature of Scotties obsession.  Male characters advance to narrative while female characters slow the narrative down, this can be seen by how Scottie has to wait for Judy to appear. By having Scottie wait for Judy the narrative is halted is a result, there is no progression. The green neo light connotes the spiritual and supernatural, this is evident from when Judy comes out of the bathroom with her transformation now complete. Her appearance is intended to make it look as if Madeleine has come back from the dead, Scotties fantasy is realised and therefore he can then begin to recreate the conditions for retrieving his masculinity.