Feminism Film Theory

By Megan Mc Clean

For this assignment I am going to give you a brief history and introduction into the movement
and waves of feminism that caused great changes to how women fought for their artistic rights. I
also plan to give examples of how the film industry has changed to let women through but even
in the present day women are pushed to the side-line.
Feminism is a collaboration of movements and ideologies aimed at defining equal rights for
women [fn.1]. There are three waves of feminism throughout history. The first wave of
feminism was formed in the late 1800s, also known as the Suffragette movement. In the
beginning of feminism these women stood up for womens vote, as they wanted to be equal
with men and have the same rights to voting [fn.2].

The second wave of feminism came in the 1960s. In this movement women wanted equality
through their, sexuality, family, workplace, reproductive rights, de facto inequalities and office
legal inequalities [fn.3]. This second wave of feminism moved right through the 80s into the
early 90s.

The third wave of feminism was born in the early 90s through to today. This wave involves
ideologies focusing on equality for gay and non-white women [fn.4]. Women in this wave want
to abolish the typical stereotypes for women but also, gender role expectations and the queer
theory [fn.5].

Feminism film theory was seen to have begun in the second wave of feminism in the 1960s. This
was after the radical movement crashed in 1968 women began to look in more detail of the
female history [fn.6]. In the beginning of the movement women began to move away from the
idea that capitalism is the reason for women not being equal with men. This is when the male
gaze was born.
The Male Gaze occurs when we as an audience are being put in the perspective of the
heterosexual man [fn.7] gazing at the women on screen as we stare at their curves- as camera
movement, lighting and slow motion are used to emphasise this. In Mulveys theory she talks of
how women are placed on screen for the visual pleasure of men [fn.8] - putting women in the
position of being sex symbols or objects instead of human beings. We as women then can only
see ourselves as visual pleasure for men, putting us in position of having to focus on what the
heterosexual man wants us to look like.

In mainstream films women were seen as the passive characters and the men were active
characters. This is when the women were used as inspiration to the man in the film and caused
the man to act on this, moving the storyline forward. Women were seen to almost only exist
because of the male [fn.9] this can be found in such films as 007. The dominance of male gaze
at the time comes from the Hegemonic ideologies that exist in our society [fn.10]- this was an
era where white heterosexual men were in power and set to oppress the underdogs such as
women, gay people and black people.

Throughout history women have been battling for equality to men. The first female director was
a woman named Alice Guy-Blach (1873-1968). She was a well-known French director that
never came to great light as Hollywood had never credited her and this was a time that women
didnt even have equal vote. Even in the present day some women are still being oppressed by
male domination and religious power.
I have chosen to look at the female director Haifaa al-Mansour. She is the first female director to
come out Saudi Arabia and is seen as one of the country's best-known and most controversial
director [fn.11]. Saudi Arabia is country known for its women to be covered head to toe and
stand in the shadows of the men as they have higher power. Haifaa al-Mansour grew up in this
society of oppression for women and completely understands how the lives of women dont
mean a lot compared to the men.
In 2012 Haifaa al-Mansour made an uplifting film about a young rebellious girl in Saudi Arabia
who enters and Koran reading competition to get the money to buy herself a bike.

The director of this film has a subtle but powerful way to express how women in Saudi Arabia
are oppressed and they may not even realise it themselves. Haifaa al Mansour talks in an
interview of how she tries to tell an intimate story and change peoples perspective on film
when they see a human person, it puts a face on a culture rather than expose it [fn.12]. This is a
perfect film that comes into contact with women of different ages from Wadjda herself to her
mother- as her mother is too distracted by trying to make her husband happy by getting him a
second wife; where is the mothers happiness?

What I find so special about this film is that the director does not try to sexualise women or give
them false hope of how they should look. She presents them in a realistic manner, so that the
point that she is trying to get across becomes more real for the women and also men watching.
Unlike the 1950s women- like in this film- have got more realistic styles and ways of life; even
though Haifaa al Mansour talks of how she tries to be respectful of the culture [fn.13] she still
makes a powerful point of putting women in power and changing the direction of womens
rights in Saudi Arabia.
Overall Feminism in film has powered a movement throughout the past 60 years and shall
continue. Women have come from being a mans sexualised imagery on screen; to becoming
their own empowerment and moving the great voice of women forward. Even though we still
have so far to go for women to become seen as an equal sex to men, we as women are slowly
changing the perception that women are second to men.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffragette
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-wave_feminism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-wave_feminism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third-wave_feminism
http://www.slideshare.net/nepaliain/feminist-film-theory
http://www.slideshare.net/christimothy12/laura-mulvey-the-male-gaze26381318?qid=afdc0cb7-f338-47d6-b14d-43146c774651&v=qf1&b=&from_search=1
8. http://www.slideshare.net/christimothy12/laura-mulvey-the-male-gaze26381318?qid=afdc0cb7-f338-47d6-b14d-43146c774651&v=qf1&b=&from_search=1
9. http://www.slideshare.net/christimothy12/laura-mulvey-the-male-gaze26381318?qid=afdc0cb7-f338-47d6-b14d-43146c774651&v=qf1&b=&from_search=1
10. http://www.slideshare.net/christimothy12/laura-mulvey-the-male-gaze26381318?qid=afdc0cb7-f338-47d6-b14d-43146c774651&v=qf1&b=&from_search=1
11. Joan Dupont. Saudi filmmakers come out of the shadows. International Herald Tribune, 14
December 2006.

12. http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2013/jul/16/wadjda-saudi-arabia-female-directorvideo
13. http://www.theguardian.com/film/video/2013/jul/16/wadjda-saudi-arabia-female-directorvideo