The female gaze isn't real. It isn't something we can cater to in our real lives.

There seems to be space for the “female vs male gaze” characterisation on TikTok and Instagram, particularly within the beauty and fashion communities. I believe social media itself tends to play out like a fictional world with characters and structures of its own (a topic Hichki will explore soon).

The term originates from Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema; Mulvey talks about the 'male gaze' in film as an extension of the patriarchy, under which women are merely passive beings who are meant to be looked at as erotic objects. The original essay serves as a psychoanalysis of 50s Hollywood depictions and narrative structures, as well as its political implications.

Connecting the female gaze back to film is important to me because I view cinema as an inherently voyeuristic medium of storytelling, whether it involves fetishisation (as theorised by Mulvey) or not. I wanted to talk about this theory, not just to emphasise the importance of its original meaning, but also to talk about my understanding of it via a new series - Femmes in Film. Inspired by the likes of Cheryl Dunye and bell hooks, I'd like to delve further into specific directors and themes, as well as explore femininity and feminism through a more intersectional lens - including women of colour and queer/trans women in cinema.

Film attracted me for many reasons. As a young writer, the medium seemed to transcend the need for plot or structure. I was always drawn in by the visuals - eyes wide and mouth agape. Colour and objects and symbols and aesthetics fascinated me in a way that words sometimes could not. The colors of The Grand Budapest Hotel, the music and magical realism of La La Land, the symbols and allusions of Moonlight - these are just some of the films that shaped my idea of what cinema actually meant.

Above everything, I was drawn to film (and film-making, at some point) because of the humanity of it. Watching people on screen felt like getting to know the ones around me. As someone who felt disconnected and unsure of myself for most of my life, it felt like being taught - but not in a prescriptive way. I never felt like I was being preached to or told what I should be. “The female gaze” opened my eyes to not only what was, but what could be.

Chick flicks taught me makeup tricks. Trashy TV showed me self-possessed adult women who previously felt like unattainable ideals and made me wonder - could I possibly be like them? Suddenly, the femininity I felt alienated from as a teenager was within reach. When I rewatch certain films like Unrelated (Joanna Hogg), Shiva Baby (Emma Seligman) or The Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Céline Sciamma), for example - they’re an intersection of the beauty of the film and the circumstances of "being a woman". This marks the difference between films “about women” that made me uncomfortable before (Irréversible - Gaspar Noe, Mother! - Darren Aronofsky) as I felt that the woman’s pain or sexuality was being exploited, portrayed without compassion or vulnerability - used to further a story, but not her story.

I never experienced a lot of what I watched, but I sure did feel it. A woman’s story unfolding, relatable or not, felt (and still feels like) someone reaching out - and being seen. The girls who get it, get it.

References: - Visual Pleasure & Narrative Cinema by Laura Mulvey (1975) - Girl Online (Abha Ahad) https://www.girlonline.in/p/female-gaze-does-not-exist

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