The male and female gaze in cinema: current issues

Is a woman’s gaze different from a man’s? This question is at the heart of the notion of “female gaze” as opposed to “male gaze”. This term was first coined in 1975 by critic and director Laura Mulvey in an article in Screen magazine: “In a world of sexual inequality, the pleasure of looking has been divided between an active male and a passive female”.

We will interrogate this question today with the perspectives deployed by psychoanalysis and philosophy, but also thanks to the work of certain filmmakers.