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The Male Gaze

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The Male Gaze
Both films It's a Wonderful Life and American Beauty focus on a protagonists identity crisis. George has a momentary break down in which he lashes out at his wife and children, plagued with fear of not being ale to provide for his family, nearly drives George over the edge. When he enters an alternative universe, nobody recognizes him and he is cast as an outsider. Though George contemplate suicide, he is able to reclaim his life after recognizing his home, family, and friends make him whole. On the other hand, Lester never retreats back to a life of normalcy. He quits his job, smokes pot, fascinates about his daughter's friend, and appears to not have a care in the world. However, the audience starts to realize that Lester does care about …show more content…
Lester encapsulates the stereotypical gaze of Male > Female gaze. Lester suffers from what appears to be a mid-life crisis and fantasizing about Angela . On the other hand, Ricky adopts a voyeuristic gaze when he films those around him (i.e. Jane, Lester). However, the gaze is not held predominantly by the male viewer. For example, Jane turns the camera around back on Ricky. He doesn't mind because he already feels free, though he conforms to the "good son" in his fathers eyes. Angela refers to him as a creep, but she doesn't mind putting on a show for the camera. As Gillian stated in the lecture, Ricky's voyeuristic gaze implicates others, like of a film maker. I think it resembles how our culture, stardom, and media is ingrained with voyeurism. Reality TV, for instance, demonstrates how much people love to watch others suffer. It's not just a show for boredom, but the drama that ensues. It's scripted, but we don't care. For example, Lester says, "Our marriage is just a show, a commercial for how normal we are when we are anything but." This resembles how we follow this narrative of doing what we are told, conforming to our ascribed social identities, and being ordinary. Therefore, the gaze is a mis-en-abyme, a lens within a lens, reflection with reflection, as captured through Ricky and Jane looking in the
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