Male Gaze Moments in Childhood Movies: the scenes that taught me how to be a woman
Rightly, wrongly, hurtfully….
Since the release of the new Netflix drama Adolescence, there’s been a lot of talk about misogyny and where it stems from . I haven’t seen the show yet, but the themes it covers — particularly the culture that causes young men to harm women — is an important angle that is rarely discussed.
Whenever I think of misogyny, I think of the explicit acts that have happened in my life that have been hurtful — the words or the actions aimed to belittle my gender specifically - but what keeps me up at night more is all the little, insidious ways misogyny has crept into my life without me even realising it.
Recently I’ve been thinking about the moments of my favourite childhood movies that became blueprints for what to expect as a woman. What I realise now is that they were reflections of the rules and structures around me and a representation of how misogyny is taught young, to both boys and girls.
Early 90s Disney and the male gaze
I was born in 1991, at a time where the plot’s of Disney movies were expanding beyond the classic Princess-meets-Prince story. However, this was just the beginning and there were still many aspects of the stories that were not particularly progressive.
One of the main influences that was clear in the Disney films I watched as a kid was female characters were depicted through the lens of the male gaze. The male gaze is a phenomenon in storytelling where women are portrayed as objects entirely for the pleasure (often sexual pleasure) of the male viewer. You see this most obviously in films pitched at men, where a women will appear at some point as a romantic interest.
The male gaze in cinema, especially children’s cinema, is one of the most insidious examples of how misogyny can infiltrate a woman (or man’s) life at a young and impressionable age. Even films pitched at women, such as a Disney princess film, can conform to the male gaze.
Let me explain how with a few examples.
Ariel and the blind pursuit of love
Growing up, The Little Mermaid was (and still is to this day) my favourite Disney movie. I wanted to be a mermaid so badly. I was obsessed with the sea and loved swimming, so I found the concept of Ariel’s life living underwater with her fish friends, singing songs and collecting thingamabobs, extremely aspirational. It also had (second only to prince Naveen of The Princess and the Frog) a very handsome Disney prince and I was enamoured by their against-all-odds love story and how she gave her life to be with him.
In particular, I found it very soothing to think that if you met someone whom you loved very much and chose to be with them, this would leave you a level of security in life. Ariel fought for the love and she won, and now they can live in their palace and be happy, right? This wasn’t the first, and wouldn’t be the last Disney movie to teach my young brain that romantic love equals happiness and that men equal security.
In the film, Ariel is sixteen. She likes singing and collecting forks, but has anyone asked her what her she’d like to do with her life? What are her dreams, the things she wants to achieve? Romantic love is great, but it is also complicated and challenging just like other aspects of life. As an adult I now know this, but undoing this from my subconscious has been a lifelong task. There was a time where a women did have to put all their eggs (literal and metaphorical) into one basket-case of a man in the hope of survival, but little me wasn’t aware that I was it wasn’t the 1940s anymore, and that this lesson was no longer relevant to me.
This is an old Disney film now, and maybe it’s just a reflection of the times, but there is still a ghost of this in mainstream thinking. It is a shame looking back how little me saw the joy and the freedom of romantic love and thought this was the only route to achieve happiness. It set me up for a lot of confusion later on in life and also a lot of expectation of the kind of life that was safe to lead. It told me nothing of the other options available to met to find peace — self-love, friendship, travel, learning — and that is a real loss.
Jasmine and how to be a seductress
I loved Disney’s Aladdin because it piqued my curiousity. It was set in a world very different to the one I lived in. Aladdin swung through the streets causing chaos and the scenes were fun and colourful and lively. Plus the comedy of the genie was transformational to me and I rewatched it over and over again, trying to absorb the genius of Robin Williams.
However, during my watches there was this one scene that used to confuse me. It was one where Jasmine was captured by Jafar and put her in a red set of clothes rather than her usual blue. She was clearly afraid, yet suddenly her character changed. She kept making these eyes at Jafar and moving her hips in a strange way. I didn’t understand what it was that she was doing but it seemed to hynotise Jafar and he softened around her, becoming less cruel. I used to watch that scene with rapt attention, trying to figure out what it was that was happening. It was like I knew something adult was occuring but I had no idea of it’s meaning.
Of course, now I know that Jasmine is using her ‘feminine wiles’ to seduce her way out of her entrapment. I know now that women are often in situations where they feel powerless, and their sexuality then becomes a weapon that can be weilded against a man. It’s a strange thing to realise looking back as an adult that there were moments in my youth where I was recognising the power dynamics between a male and female characters and the sexual politics at play.
Somewhere deep in a my child mind I squirreled that behaviour away as a tool and when I saw other examples in other films growing up, I knew this pattern was a part of being a woman. That my looks and my body would we weapons against cruelty from men. It’s difficult to begin to describe how much these worries permeate a woman’s life and how simple the message is — stay beautiful to stay safe. Another difficult lesson to untangle as an adult.
Lola Bunny and how to support a man
Space Jam was the first film I’d ever seen to use both live actors and cartoons characters, and this made me giddy with excitement. It flew off the screen, giving me access to the dazzling world of superstar 90s basketball culture packaged into a cartoon wonderland. When the only female character in the story, Lola Bunny, was introduced as Bugs Bunny’s main love interest and a member of the Toon Squad basketball team, I stuck to her like glue. As far as I was concerned, I had someone to represent me in this sporty, male dominated movie.
The only problem was there wasn’t very much of Lola in the movie (I would pay good money to see a spin-off movie about Lola and how she became a basketball player). Instead we see her as someone who completes Bugs and the team, makes him a more three dimensional character. Every male lead needs a leading lady right?
Women often are seen as people who’s chief role is to compliment men. Providing a loving presence and allowing men to access their emotions is a key function of women in society and a form of misogyny. You can be the leading lady, but do not eclipse the man. Lola Bunny was definitley a token character in this story, and maybe even a way to attract female viewers (I had a doll of her that I adored). Choices like this are a disservice to young women because it robs them of their own leading character experience.
They later remade the Space Jam movie and changed Lola bunny’s body type. This was a move to make her less ‘sexualised’. I would argue that fundamentally there can be an ‘attractive’ woman in a kid’s film — the problem was not her body necessarily but the sexualisation aspects within the plot which furthered the male gaze. Now she’s in baggier clothes, but if she’s a one dimensional character the misogyny is still present.
Film makers need to stand up and recognise their own biases and biases in society that fuel their film making. This is crucial for stop the next generation of kids fighting battles that are a waste of their time and potential.
Untangling Oneself From the Male Gaze
Don’t get me wrong, I love these movies to this day, but as an adult I’ve worked to dispell some of these influences from my life and can now appreciate the aspects of the movie that are enjoyable. Despite all I have said, there were of course aspects of these characters that were inspiring and good for me as a young girl.
However, media often provides a very one dimensional, hyper exaggerated representing of gender. I think this has a specific function, to keep people in their gender roles, rather than encouraging a wide range of interests and expressions in the people. Women provide an important and under appreciated role in society and mainstream media keeps this status quo functioning.
It is a difficult balance to represent all types of women in one film because every woman has their own definition of womanhood. Men’s movies suffer from this too. However, the difference is a man can be the ‘chosen one’ and go on a grand adventure whereas female characters are almost always emotional or caregiving first and independent adventurers seconds. I can only think of one Disney movie that queers this — Frozen, where the love interest is secondary to the story of the two sisters.
In my opinion, these early lessons are preparations for maintaining the status quo — rather than a lesson in how to break free of oppression. Growing up as a woman then becomes a battle of deciding whether to conform to what you have been taught or forge a new path. Recognising these influences show that is it the subtleties that bring women down, that erode their mental health — and that it starts at a troublingly young age.
Do you have any favourite movies that you now realise are problematic? Any that are great for young women? Please feel free to share!
