![]() ![]() Those three gazes will always be aligned, which means that the viewer will ultimately look through a camera to see what a man sees- this is very evident in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad (2016).” I would use Laura Mulvey’s definition, who first wrote that there are three gazes in cinema- number one being the camera looking at the actors, the second being characters looking at one another, and the final being the audience looking at the film. That term is so often used without fully even understanding the term. Sophia: “Firstly, I think it’s important to really understand what “male-gaze” means. So, she will explain all of the nuances on and off the screen that go over my head. ![]() My good friend Sophia Rubino is currently studying at the Chapman University Dodge film college and is the most passionate and thoughtful film expert I know. I’ve never taken a film class, and quite frankly, I’m not the best at analyzing them, so rather than spout a bunch of nonsense, I have turned to an expert. Just one problem, I’m very much a layperson when it comes to film theory. These two movies can act as a case study to examine the “male gaze theory,” and I argue they prove having more women at the writer’s desk, in the director’s chair, and starring as lead roles can break down the “male gaze” in film and benefit the entire industry. But the key difference- and what I would argue is the causal factor- is that the two movies have different writers, directors, and producers, and in Birds of Prey, they are all women. So I, like many people, started wondering, why is it that Birds of Prey looks and feels so different from Suicide Squad? Both films have the same actor playing the same character in the same superhero universe. Rather they drove the plot, made the jokes, and won in the end. It really was a “fantabulous emancipation”: a superhero (more like antihero) movie that didn’t exploit the women in it. The women had autonomy they were their own character, not an addendum to the men. I didn’t get that icky feeling I did when watching Suicide Squad. But, I decided to watch Birds of Prey since the title had already piqued my interest. Margot Robbie’s acting was amazing, but there was just something that made me feel uncomfortable when watching it, though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. The one thing that held me back from watching it was Harley Quinn herself because I hated how she was portrayed in Suicide Squad. Just the title alone – Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn– caught my eye I’m a sucker for long titles. ![]()
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