Female gazes are developed in the narrative structure of Thelma & Louise in three key areas: 1) resistance to male objectification and dominance, as articulated through the protagonists' mockery of the key male characters-Darryl, Thelma's emotionally abusive husband; the film's law enforcement officers; the leering ...

What is the feminist analysis of Thelma and Louise?

The vision - and version - of feminism presented in Thelma & Louise is one that emphasises friendship, love and unity between women as much as it depends upon a vigilante response against the men who abused and oppressed them.

What does the female gaze try to represent?

The female gaze is a feminist theory term referring to the gaze of the female spectator, character or director of an artistic work, but more than the gender it is an issue of representing women as subjects having agency. As such both genders can create films with a female gaze.

What is an example of the male gaze in Thelma and Louise?

For instance, when they arrive at the Silver Bullet saloon, men turn and watch them as they walk across the room. Various men, from Harlan to the leering truck-driver who they encounter later, make clear to Thelma and Louise that they are seen as sexual objects and as potentially “possessable” 27 through the gaze.

What are the characteristics of the female gaze?

Characters viewed through the lens of the female gaze are not charicatures. The beauty of the female gaze is that it aims to empathize rather than objectify, to show emotion and intimacy while also showing respect. This a refreshing idea compared to the control, dominance, and superficialities of the male gaze.

How Thelma and Louise Uses The Male Gaze

What is the male gaze vs the female gaze?

Historically, we consider the male gaze as one that empowers men while objectifying and subjugating women for men's pleasure. The female gaze casts women more frequently as subjects (instead of objects) and, in cases when women do appear as objects of attention or desire, it imbues them with agency and autonomy.

What is the female gaze on females?

The ways in which women and girls look at other females, at males, and at things in the world. This concerns the kinds of looking involved, and how these may be related to identification, objectification, subjectivity, and the performance and construction of gender.

How does Thelma & Louise display a connection to feminist film theory?

Based on the expression of the theme of female subject consciousness, Thelma & Louise combines the openness of road films in terms of environment and landscape, casting feminism into spatial construction, effectively realizing the combination of Hollywood genre films and feminism.

What does Thelma say to Louise?

Thelma : Hey Louise, better slow down. I'd just die if we get caught over a speeding ticket. Louise : You know, for the first time in my life I wish this car wasn't green.

What is the female objectification for the male gaze?

The male gaze is a concept that refers to the way in which men view and objectify women's bodies. It is a way of looking at women that reduces them to objects of desire, rather than full human beings with their own agency and autonomy. One of the ways that the male gaze is perpetuated is through the media.

How to dress for the female gaze as a woman?

Dressing for the female gaze implies dressing for self-desire. What a woman imagines will be aesthetically pleasing in her own eyes rather than the eyes of the heterosexual man. As this movement has seen an influx of patterns, we also see patterned pants as a common trend.

What is the female gaze on TikTok?

The female gaze is the subversion of the male gaze, which means it actively avoids objectifying. and simplifying female and male characters in film. I see there's a lot more onus on emotions and feelings.

Where did the female gaze come from?

In her essay published in 1973, Laura Mulvey theorized the existence of the male gaze in Hollywood cinema. Since that point, feminist critics have wondered about the women in the audience, why her argument is so male-centered, and the concept of the female gaze that arises from this work.

What does Thelma and Louise symbolize?

Over the Cliff

Thelma and Louise decide to "keep going" instead of turning themselves into the police. They drive off the Grand Canyon's edge to their deaths. This is a symbol that they'd rather have the choice to decide how they die than be told how to live, confined in a jail cell for the rest of their life.

What does Thelma and Louise represent?

In the absence of men, on the road Thelma and Louise create a paradigm of female friendship, produced out of their wilful refusal of the male world and its laws. No matter where their trip finally ends, Thelma and Louise have reinvented sisterhood for the American screen.

What is a famous line from Thelma and Louise?

Thelma: Hey Louise, better slow down. I'd just die if we get caught over a speeding ticket. Louise: You know, for the first time in my life I wish this car wasn't green.

Why did Louise kiss Thelma?

The ending of Thelma and Louise makes the film a tale of sapphic escape. Their last act together before dying is to kiss. To me, this kiss is a vow. In life or death, sickness or health, Thelma and Louise are there for each other.

Who turned down Thelma and Louise?

Michelle Pfeiffer, Cher, Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep were all seriously considered for the starring roles. But because of delays in production, scheduling didn't work out.

Was Thelma in love with Louise?

In fact, Thelma and Louise's demise is familiar. Their deaths echo that of Romeo and Juliet. They fall in love and realize that when they have nowhere else to turn for a life where they can live out happily with each other, they take their own lives.

What is the patriarchy of Thelma and Louise?

Thelma learns the terrible truth about patriarchal dominance of which Louise never speaks. With this knowledge, she rejects her husband, her former self as a "little housewife" and chooses Louise over patriarchal authority.

Do Thelma and Louise pass the Bechdel test?

What begins as a relaxing day of fishing quickly escalates into a high-stakes adventure culminates in a gunfight at the Grand Canyon's rim. Thelma and Louise are two independent women. The Bechdel test was quickly passed because there were multiple named female characters and non-male-centric dialogue.

What is the feminist perspective in film?

Feminist film theory has provoked debates about the representations of female bodies, sexuality, and femininity on screen while posing questions concerning identity, desire, and the politics of spectatorship, among other topics.

Who coined the term female gaze?

Feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey conceptualized the female gaze in the 1970s. The idea behind it is that classical Hollywood films create a lens for all audiences to identify a protagonist—usually male—driving all viewers, regardless of background, to experience and identify with the (typically) male protagonist.

How do we define the female gaze in 2018?

What is the female gaze, then? It's emotional and intimate. It sees people as people. It seeks to empathize rather than to objectify.

What is the male gaze in simple terms?

The Male Gaze is a theory that visual media is essentially created from a heterosexual male's point of view. It's also believed that because women are rarely portrayed from the position of power, they are normally reduced to objects to be admired instead of playing an actual role.