In the beginning, Nezar AlSayyad declared the concepts of voyeur and flaneur, then further discussed the “male gaze” with Elizabeth Wilson’s argument. To get a better understanding of this particular type of voyeurism, I tried to analyze films introduced in this reading from three perspectives of the male gaze: the man behind the camera, the male characters, and the male spectators. Zeke in Sliver (1993) viewed women through the video-surveillance system before making relationships and having sex with them, which shows that man as a character is in control of the action, and as a character, director and spectator consume women as objects. In the meantime, women are actively showing themselves as “to-be-looked-at-ness”, e.g., in The End of Violence (1997), Mike’s wife tried to attract his attention by changing her clothes, which shows how women look at themselves as to be consumed. To conclude, the male gaze is one of the spaces reflecting the general sexual mindset and women’s role in 20th-century urbanism.
Shiqing, Li 3035772456