Male vs Female Gaze

One of my favorite things to talk about when discussing women’s portrayal in superhero movies is the male vs the female gaze. These are terms used to describe and identify the lens with which a director shows audiences female characters. There are certain descriptors for each gaze but some are more subtle and difficult to identify. Women have an easier time seeing these differences because it directly affects us and the way these differences make us feel are quite obvious.

There are many examples that spring to mind that can clearly show the differences between the male and the female gaze. Let's start with what inspired this entire article, Harley Quinn. David Ayer’s portrayal of Harley and Cathy Yan’s portrayal of Harley could not have been more different. One is clearly more true to the character and more respectful of not just the character but the woman portraying her. In the Suicide Squad Ayer not only sexualizes Harley, but aggressively plays up the idea that Harley is nothing more then a violent ditz. Even the way she is framed in solo shots focuses on accenting her beauty. The way she is portrayed in Birds of Prey is far more true to her character. She is definitely violent, but she is also lonely, affectionate, strong, passionate and hopeful. This movie not only grows her personality through her story but her wardrobe. Nothing Harley wears in Birds of Prey highlights Margot’s breasts, legs or ass. She simply looks like she’s wearing what's comfortable and fun for her and that is what Harley’s character is about.

Our next example is Scarlet Witch. Though her MCU portrayal has many problems that aren’t related to her sexuality, we are going to focus on how she was depicted as a character. In her introduction in Age of Ultron we see her be used as nothing more than a plot device with cleavage. She is simply the catalyst for the plot, her strength starts to grow throughout her appearances yet her character isn’t treated as such. Moving to Civil War she is treated like a child who can’t be trusted to her own devices despite EVERY single male Avenger causing far more damage then she has. In Infinity War and Endgame we really only see her suffer, we see her strength but we really just see her suffer. Finally women save her in Wanda Vision where she develops personality, heart and her own motivation. She turns sexist comic book tropes on their heads when she gets stronger as she calms herself down. She even gets a more battle appropriate costume that doesn’t expose her chest. This beautiful, strong character arc gets destroyed when Waldron selfishly and ignorantly uses her as the villain in Multiverse of Madness, reducing her to nothing more then someone willing to murder people for her own comfort…despite having just learned that lesson.

In a much shorter example and so we alternate between Marvel and DC we have Snyder’s portrayal of the Amazons. In Wonder Woman Patty Jenkins made sure that the Amazons were comprised of athletes and olympians. They were also dressed in battle ready, mythologically and historically accurate armor. Now these costumes were made and ready before Justice League so just to be clear they were completed and FREE. And yet Snyder decided to put his amazons (who instead of athletes were supermodels) in leather bikinis. Completely impractical, oversexualized, there was no reason at all for them, leather bikinis.

And finally we have the MCU portrayal of Black Widow. For nearly a decade she was sex object, no personality, simply there as eye candy. Introduced in Iron Man 2, Natasha’s entire purpose was to be ogled. Tony literally says “I want one” fully telling the audience that she is not a human being, she is an object. Her wardrobe in that film was also absurdly revealing and not at all practical, even in her Black Widow suit. This treatment of her is maintained through her death. A death which I fought at the time when the internet labeled it fridging, however as the MCU has continued that line has gotten real blurry. Natasha was in fact fridged - something that rarely happens under the gaze of a woman. Enter the Black Widow movie, a decade too late we finally get backstory to our first female Avenger, a shame it was wasted on her already being dead in the context of the MCU and existed only to introduce a different widow into the universe. However, giving her an actual story added depth to her character, despite that depth being too little too late. Cate Shortland did also give Nat a more practical costume, and honestly wardrobe plays a huge part in identifying whose gaze you are watching.

It's hard to explain sometimes why these differences are impactful and important. But media doesn’t happen in a vacuum, media influences society and visa versa. So writing women as shallow, sexualized objects tells young men and women that that's all women are for, it also cements the idea that nerd spaces are for men and women are the invaders. We are progressing and that progression will continue as long as writers like Michael Waldron are never allowed to create media again.