Feminism

Feminism is the act (or belief) of equality in social and political aspects for women. Feminism had a strong presence during the late 1800's with the suffrages movement. However, with the first and second World War, feminism was left as an issue unsolvable at the time. However, during the 1970's, feminism once became prominent during the first media breakout during the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement.

A prominent feminist during the Suffrages was Emilienne Pankhurst, who was well renowned in Britain.

Whilst feminism in these times started out as a legal-based system, it has since evolved into a much more socially dedicated movement. A popular feminist, even today, is Laura Mulvey. 

Mulvey argued that women were represented in the media in a way that emphasises appearance and sexuality. She cited three trends in Hollywood films:
*Men controlled the action, and moved the narrative along.  
*Women are represented as 'passive' objects for the male gaze. 
*The pleasure of viewing comes from a combination of voyeurism and narcissism.
These points together make up 'the male gaze theory'.

However, there have been some criticisms of this theory, and many films do not support it. James Cameron's 'Titanic' has a female as the lead and someone who rescues the male character, breaking this convention. As well as this, the female character is not only central to the plot, but is in fact the one driving it.

As well as this, Gammon and Marshment used semiotic theory to explain how texts are interpreted in different ways by different people, and 'the male gaze' can't exist if 'the female gaze' doesn't. This can be supported by numerous modern day magazines and adverts (Including one for Diet Coke) applying 'the female gaze'.