The entire concept of “the male gaze” is idiotic and rely on the warped perception of how people think and consume media.

For one, women tend to love romantic comedies much more than their male counterparts, movies that rely heavily on “the male gaze” and fail the Bechdel test. You either claim that “women have been conditioned to like and consume movies and literature which focus on the male gaze,” or accept the fact that what you refer to as such, is more equivalent to “the female gaze.”

Secondly, if you flip it over, action movies utilize the female gaze, by your definition. It focuses on the suffering of the protagonist, putting him in delicate situations, and, at times, focuses on his physical appearance.

However, equating it to the concept of “the female gaze” is a weak argument and take away from the myriad of other aspects of the writing and production that makes such a movie appeal to a particular demographic.

The biggest problem with working from that perspective is the way it makes any film political, rather than artistic. You don’t consider what the character is going to do and what its motivation are, the writer thinks more about the message, which usually tends to ruin the entire experience.