Male Gaze vs. Female Gaze
The Wolf of Wall Street deploys the traditional ‘Male Gaze’. The film was praised upon release while simultaneously being criticized for supposedly glorifying the debaucherous actions of the characters. The filmmakers intentions of these portrayed actions were misconstrued as supporting these actions rather than displaying the juvenile ‘frat boy’ nature. Throughout the film the main character (portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio) indulges in sex, drugs and many other condemnable feats, the most prominent of which is the continuous objectification of women, the film failed to send the message it originally set out to achieve.
Creed, released in 2015, was directed by Ryan Coogler, the film deploys the newer ‘Female Gaze’ thanks to its director of photography Maryse Alberi, despite being a very ‘macho’ film about men punching each other the camera does not often objectify these men but rather displays them in full stature and size by moving the camera back and viewing them from outside of the ring and from an audience member’s point of view. At a pivotal point in the film there is a single shot sequence, the camera rotates around the two characters in the ring as the fight progresses, the two minute scene focuses solely on the characters faces, with shots rarely moving below the shoulders.
