Definitions

Representation
Representation means something that has been constructed to look a certain way so that this act or characteristic becomes 'reality' or the 'normal' and therefore anyone or anything that is portrayed in this way is then categorised and looked at in the same way again. Representation may not always be how it is put on the screen but also how the viewer interprets it, for example male and female viewers would see a scene or act in completely different ways to one another. Indicating that it is not just how it is constructed but also how the audience sees it.

The Male Gaze
The male gaze is when an audience are to watch film that is in the perspective of a male for example women are seen as an erotic object or of a lower status of men as they walk in to the room they have power and dominance over any woman. Mulvey wrote that it was unfair that the male gaze took precedence over the female gaze, however she also argued that because of this the female and male gaze became the same thing over time because eventually women felt they were only seen in the way the male gaze suggested.