Understanding the
Female Gaze
In Barbie and Jane
Austin's Emma films.
What is the female gaze? Is it the same as the male gaze?
There is a theory that the male gaze is a predatory one, that men are always on
the lookout for conquest, therefore their enjoyment of seeing a female is one
of how to triumph over her; and yet, men can often be just as romantic and
self-sacrificing as women. Some would argue that this self-sacrificing is part
of the male DNA, in that men, especially when they become fathers, need to
protect the family unit. Therefore, the male gaze is ultimately one in which
they are looking for someone to sacrifice for. The female gaze is slightly
different: they are looking for a man who can take care of them and any
children which they may have together. Now this may all seem stereotypical and
out of date; however it has been proven that this is the basic way in which
man/woman relationships have worked since the dawn of time.
Let us look at two recent films that some say challenge this.
First, the 2020 film Emma. This is based on Jane Austin's book of the early
nineteenth century, so surely this cannot be a Woke feminist film? Well no, of
course not, but it does revel in the female gaze; the character Emma and the
mainly female audience are given the male lead and rakish supporting male
character as something to look at and think about. Then we have the new 2023
film Barbie. This, so many of the film reviewers have stated, is an outright
piece of Woke feminist garbage. However, as the days go by and more reviewers
come to the film and indeed to the reviewers, some are saying that the film is
the opposite of Woke and feminist propaganda. The film starts with a take on
the 2001 Space Odyssey film's beginning where the apes are infused with
intelligence from a mysterious monolith then start to use bones as weapons and
tools, thus beginning man's long progress to civilisation. The beginning of the
Barbie movie references this and has a huge Barbie appear among young girls
playing with baby dolls who then after touching the huge feminist Barbie start
to bash their baby dolls in the same fashion as the apes with bones.
The film then goes to Barbie land where all the Barbies rule
and the Kens (the male companion of Barbie) are down trodden. Barbie goes
through an existential crisis and leaves Barbie land with Ken for the real
world to find her girl owner who is very unhappy. In the real world the
"Patriarchy" men rule she is treated in a sexist way. However, Ken
likes the Patriarchy and brings it back to Barbie land where men then rule what
has become Kendom. However, when Barbie returns she sets the men against each
other and the Barbies rule again. Only for Barbie to return to the real world
as she has discovered she has a vagina and visits a gynaecologist. Could this
be a tell tale part whereby the feminist trope has been reversed and Barbies
actually want to have babies after all?
Could Barbie actually be an anti-Woke anti-feminist film after
all, and the female gaze was more evident in the 2020 Emma film?
By Prayer Crusader St Philomena
