Women And Gender Essay Sample

Since the early 1980s, the female spectator has become a huge source of debate in the feminist film theory. The film has stirred rigorous debate on the figuration of the feminine within the social and cultural discourses and the figurative forms of a greater endeavor to justification for the process of the feminine prejudice (Doane 2004).
In contradiction to the popular belief in the world film where women are portrayed as objects things to be looked at, Doane suggests a different conceptualization. Narcissism is factor into this antagonism between proximity and distance by Doane’s efforts to denounce female spectatorship by conceptualizing in a totally different mode. Doan admits that women are often the object of the voyeuristic or else fetishistic admiration in the film world but encounters nothing does stop her from reversing the relation then appropriating the gaze to her benefit.
The representativeness for the female spectator theory that the woman is an image, and therefore she is within proximity to what she is viewing (Doane 2004). Due to the intimacy of this relationship, the female spectator’s longings can only be designated in terms of a kind of narcissism. The female spectator is at high risk of revealing herself to narcissistic as well as masochistic behavior. Doane thereby concludes that there are three major approaches to female spectatorship namely; over-identification, transvestitism, and masquerade.
In each of these modes, there is a certain level of proximity or distance. The theory contains an element of antagonism between proximity and distance in line with the image. Proximity is negative as it conducive to over-identification of image while distance from the image is positive as it prevents the jeopardy of over-identifying as well as narcissism.

Work Cited

Doane, Mary Anne. "Theorizing the female spectator." Hollywood: Cultural dimensions: ideology, identity and cultural industry studies 4.3 (2004): 95.