Psychoanalysis & the Gaze
Mary Cassatt, In the Loge, 1878 When learning about psychoanalysis and the gaze, many things spiraled in my mind. The first thing, which just was interesting to me, is the idea of film and theaters. “Although the film is really being shown, is there to be seen, conditions of screening and narrative conventions give the spectator an illusion of looking in on a private world . Among other things, the position of the spectators in the cinema is blatantly one of repression of their exhibitionism and projection of the repressed desire onto the performer.” -Laura Mulvey This quote from Laura Mulvey describes the idea of the theater. It had never occurred to me that watching a film can be considered viewing a private world. Scenes between actors and actresses that involve personal topics may be private to them, but for the viewer, they are open. When a viewer of a ...