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Visual And Other Pleasures
The essays collected in this book reflect some of the commitments and changes during the period that saw the women's movement shift into feminism and the development of feminism's involvement with the politics of representation, psychoanalytic film theory and avant-garde aesthetics.
231 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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2354 people want to read
About the author
Laura Mulvey
40 books150 followersLaura Mulvey is an English feminist film theorist. She was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She is currently professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck, University of London. She worked at the British Film Institute for many years before taking up her current position.
Mulvey is best known for her essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", written in 1973 and published in 1975 in the influential British film theory journal Screen. It later appeared in a collection of her essays entitled Visual and Other Pleasures, as well as in numerous other anthologies. Her article, which was influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, is one of the first major essays that helped shift the orientation of film theory towards a psychoanalytic framework. Prior to Mulvey, film theorists such as Jean-Louis Baudry and Christian Metz used psychoanalytic ideas in their theoretical accounts of the cinema. Mulvey's contribution, however, inaugurated the intersection of film theory, psychoanalysis and feminism.
(via wiki)
Mulvey is best known for her essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", written in 1973 and published in 1975 in the influential British film theory journal Screen. It later appeared in a collection of her essays entitled Visual and Other Pleasures, as well as in numerous other anthologies. Her article, which was influenced by the theories of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, is one of the first major essays that helped shift the orientation of film theory towards a psychoanalytic framework. Prior to Mulvey, film theorists such as Jean-Louis Baudry and Christian Metz used psychoanalytic ideas in their theoretical accounts of the cinema. Mulvey's contribution, however, inaugurated the intersection of film theory, psychoanalysis and feminism.
(via wiki)
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
December 24, 2018
É sempre um prazer (sic) ler a Mulvey, mas a seleção de ensaios presente aqui desvela o brilhantismo que encontramos tanto em seus escritos quanto em seus filmes.
Teórica do cinema e cineasta avant-garde de primeira linha, foi a primeira intelectual a unir cinema, psicanálise e feminismo como teoria sustentável, ou seja, ela é a mãe de muita gente que vemos por aí, inclusive minha.
Aqui temos uma apanhado geral do que Mulvey escreveu entre os anos 70 e 80 que inclui ensaios sobre Miss Universo, a arte de Allen Jones, Godard, Sirk, Fassbinder, Kahlo e Modotti, Barbara Kruger, Victor Burgin, Mary Kelly e um assombroso sobre o mito de Édipo que encerra o livro, sempre tendo como carta na manga o male gaze, o feminismo e Freud e Lacan. Essa seleção só não é maior do que a própria Mulvey.
P.S. Fiz uma seleção dos filmes que ela cita no livro aqui: https://letterboxd.com/ladyspiggott/l...
Teórica do cinema e cineasta avant-garde de primeira linha, foi a primeira intelectual a unir cinema, psicanálise e feminismo como teoria sustentável, ou seja, ela é a mãe de muita gente que vemos por aí, inclusive minha.
Aqui temos uma apanhado geral do que Mulvey escreveu entre os anos 70 e 80 que inclui ensaios sobre Miss Universo, a arte de Allen Jones, Godard, Sirk, Fassbinder, Kahlo e Modotti, Barbara Kruger, Victor Burgin, Mary Kelly e um assombroso sobre o mito de Édipo que encerra o livro, sempre tendo como carta na manga o male gaze, o feminismo e Freud e Lacan. Essa seleção só não é maior do que a própria Mulvey.
P.S. Fiz uma seleção dos filmes que ela cita no livro aqui: https://letterboxd.com/ladyspiggott/l...
September 28, 2011
Like many students my age, my first introduction (and for a long time my only introduction) to Laura Mulvey was through her essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." In this work, Mulvey outlines the dynamics of cinema as voyeurism, both for the audience and for the characters on screen. She coins the term "the male gaze" in this article, a descriptor of images made to appeal to men, with women as object rather than subject of the film.
Maybe I took a few too many photography courses in college, or maybe it was the course entitled, "Psychoanalysis and Literature (yes, I did have impractical majors), but I've always felt an affinity with the views expressed in this one article. So I decided to have a look at more of Mulvey's work.
In Visual and Other Pleasures, several of Mulvey's most important and influential works are compiled. They are presented in chronological order, for ease of reading and divided into sections with titles like "Melodrama" and "Boundaries". I came to realize that perhaps the reason for the canonization of "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" in particular comes from ease of its references. Nearly everyone has seen Alfred Hitchchock's Vertigo, one of the movies mentioned in this essay.
Such is not the case for the examples in equally interesting closer to this compilation "Thoughts on the Young Modern Woman of the 1920s and Feminist Film Theory". In this article, Mulvey doesn't recant her earlier hypothesis of the male gaze so much as she finds the alternative to it she has been seeking. In this text she examines the movies of the "flapper era", early films of modernity and modernism in which women are given the agency most Hollywood talkies later robbed them of.
This collection covers a lot more than simply cinema, however. Mulvey delves into Freud, and particularly the Oedipus myth, as well as the paintings of Frida Kahlo and the visual art of Tina Modotti and Barbara Kruger. For so long I have thought of Mulvey purely as the author of one article I read repeatedly for class, I am glad to see more of her range and intrigued by it.
Maybe I took a few too many photography courses in college, or maybe it was the course entitled, "Psychoanalysis and Literature (yes, I did have impractical majors), but I've always felt an affinity with the views expressed in this one article. So I decided to have a look at more of Mulvey's work.
In Visual and Other Pleasures, several of Mulvey's most important and influential works are compiled. They are presented in chronological order, for ease of reading and divided into sections with titles like "Melodrama" and "Boundaries". I came to realize that perhaps the reason for the canonization of "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" in particular comes from ease of its references. Nearly everyone has seen Alfred Hitchchock's Vertigo, one of the movies mentioned in this essay.
Such is not the case for the examples in equally interesting closer to this compilation "Thoughts on the Young Modern Woman of the 1920s and Feminist Film Theory". In this article, Mulvey doesn't recant her earlier hypothesis of the male gaze so much as she finds the alternative to it she has been seeking. In this text she examines the movies of the "flapper era", early films of modernity and modernism in which women are given the agency most Hollywood talkies later robbed them of.
This collection covers a lot more than simply cinema, however. Mulvey delves into Freud, and particularly the Oedipus myth, as well as the paintings of Frida Kahlo and the visual art of Tina Modotti and Barbara Kruger. For so long I have thought of Mulvey purely as the author of one article I read repeatedly for class, I am glad to see more of her range and intrigued by it.
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September 7, 2020This volume is great! While the Visual Pleasures essay is an obvious draw, what is particularly interesting is the narrative that this volume allows the reader to follow: from Mulvey's involvement in the early stages of the Women's Movement's relation to culture, on through the search for a feminist theory and film form, on through various catalogue texts for and reviews of exhibitions, and culminating with two great essays where Mulvey considers myth and narrative from a wide-angle.
In 'Magnificent Obsession': An Introduction to the Work of Five Photographers Mulvey writes that “the exhibition has an art-historical perspective, quite apart from the intrinsic interest of the individual work, in that it records the way a specific movement can grow, change and develop, avoiding the dangers of fossilised repetition and purism” [p138]. This is true, mutatis mutandis, of this collection as a whole. It is in this respect, as a diachronic look at Mulvey's involvement with and thoughts on the Women's Movement, that Visual and Other Pleasures is most interesting. She writes, in the volume's introduction, that “the articles and essays published here were not originally intended to last. I often sacrificed well-balanced argument, research and refinements of style to the immediate interests of the formative context of the moment, the demands of polemic, or the economy of an idea or the shape and pattern of a line of thought” [pvii]. Thus, while many of these essays, taken individually, are products of their time, the narrative that this book forms provides a timeline of some of the key issues for Mulvey, and for the Women's Movement in general, and how this has changed over time.
In the essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Mulvey argues for the appropriation of psychoanalysis as a political weapon, as well as for the destruction of pleasure as a radical weapon: “It is said that analysing pleasure, or beauty, destroys it. That is the intention of this article” [p16]. These “negative aesthetics” are displaced in later essays as the search for a feminist theory and a feminist film form is outlined. These considerations are discussed within the five catalogue texts/reviews for various exhibitions and art shows that are included in this volume. As well as examining the art itself, Mulvey assesses their place within the Women's Movement as a whole. Mulvey, a filmmaker herself, includes her own films in her analyses and comments on the intentions behind them.
The final section of the book, Boundaries, contains two essays reflecting on myth and narrative itself. In the first of these, Changes: Thoughts on Myth, Narrative and Historical Experience, first published in 1985, Mulvey writes: “After the 1983 election and into 1984, I began to feel that work I considered to be ongoing, in the present tense, had shifted into the past to become identified with the previous decade. […] Once a movement can be reviewed retrospectively its story can be told, but how it should be told could still be considered. It seemed as though narrative patterns and expectations of endings had become inextricably intertwined in history as in fiction” [p159]. In this essay and the following essay, The Oedipus Myth: Beyond the Riddles of the Sphinx, Mulvey investigates narrative and closure. As the volume ends, “The story is still in the making. The Sphinx and her riddle are still waiting for a 'beyond'” [p200].
In 'Magnificent Obsession': An Introduction to the Work of Five Photographers Mulvey writes that “the exhibition has an art-historical perspective, quite apart from the intrinsic interest of the individual work, in that it records the way a specific movement can grow, change and develop, avoiding the dangers of fossilised repetition and purism” [p138]. This is true, mutatis mutandis, of this collection as a whole. It is in this respect, as a diachronic look at Mulvey's involvement with and thoughts on the Women's Movement, that Visual and Other Pleasures is most interesting. She writes, in the volume's introduction, that “the articles and essays published here were not originally intended to last. I often sacrificed well-balanced argument, research and refinements of style to the immediate interests of the formative context of the moment, the demands of polemic, or the economy of an idea or the shape and pattern of a line of thought” [pvii]. Thus, while many of these essays, taken individually, are products of their time, the narrative that this book forms provides a timeline of some of the key issues for Mulvey, and for the Women's Movement in general, and how this has changed over time.
In the essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Mulvey argues for the appropriation of psychoanalysis as a political weapon, as well as for the destruction of pleasure as a radical weapon: “It is said that analysing pleasure, or beauty, destroys it. That is the intention of this article” [p16]. These “negative aesthetics” are displaced in later essays as the search for a feminist theory and a feminist film form is outlined. These considerations are discussed within the five catalogue texts/reviews for various exhibitions and art shows that are included in this volume. As well as examining the art itself, Mulvey assesses their place within the Women's Movement as a whole. Mulvey, a filmmaker herself, includes her own films in her analyses and comments on the intentions behind them.
The final section of the book, Boundaries, contains two essays reflecting on myth and narrative itself. In the first of these, Changes: Thoughts on Myth, Narrative and Historical Experience, first published in 1985, Mulvey writes: “After the 1983 election and into 1984, I began to feel that work I considered to be ongoing, in the present tense, had shifted into the past to become identified with the previous decade. […] Once a movement can be reviewed retrospectively its story can be told, but how it should be told could still be considered. It seemed as though narrative patterns and expectations of endings had become inextricably intertwined in history as in fiction” [p159]. In this essay and the following essay, The Oedipus Myth: Beyond the Riddles of the Sphinx, Mulvey investigates narrative and closure. As the volume ends, “The story is still in the making. The Sphinx and her riddle are still waiting for a 'beyond'” [p200].
April 1, 2022
ich hab nicht actually das ganze buch gelesen aber große teile und das oft deswege logge ich es jetzt aus trotz für die hunderte von seiten die ich für meine eine hausarbeit gelesen hab.
anyways besonders die alten texte sind einfach inzwischen veraltet und nicht intersektionell. fand tbh das vorwort zur zweiten edition mit am aufschlussreichsten und das kapitel über changes zum ende hin. schon wichtig natürlich als grundlage für feministische filmtheorie aber bin legit einmal beim lesen im zug eingschlafen also naja..
anyways besonders die alten texte sind einfach inzwischen veraltet und nicht intersektionell. fand tbh das vorwort zur zweiten edition mit am aufschlussreichsten und das kapitel über changes zum ende hin. schon wichtig natürlich als grundlage für feministische filmtheorie aber bin legit einmal beim lesen im zug eingschlafen also naja..
May 9, 2024
lu pour mon mémoire. des articles super intéressants, Laura Mulvey était vraiment en avance dans ses propos féministes et d’analyse cinématographique. je trouve ça super intéressant d’avoir des articles plus récents dans lesquels elle remet en question ce qu’elle a écrit précédemment tout en complétant ces questions avec de nouvelles connaissances et idées (le principe de la recherche quoi mais j’ai aimé la façon dont c’était fait là)
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September 28, 2025read for school
September 13, 2023
After reading through the entire book (not just 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema') slowly and carefully and engaging seriously with Mulvey as a thinker I can say the way I view the world and art has been changed. The nature of that change is subtle and elusive but nonetheless present. This is a rare feat for any book, but particularly important for me as someone very invested in art history, the cinema, and hopefully with much filmmaking in my future.
April 27, 2013
I've read Mulvey's book several times over now (especially the first two sections of the book. It's heady but intellectually gratifying. It's a product of its period - a time when a theorist like Mulvey was both intellectually astute and politically confrontational.
October 14, 2017
A critical essay on the perpetual objectification of women through men and their gaze.
July 17, 2025
Sure, check it out if you're looking for the famous "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." That essay is considered the foundational text for the concept of the "male gaze."
Though the essay is short, plenty of it is filled with Freudian mumbo-jumbo. If you can get past that, there are some interesting ideas in here about, e.g., how narrative film is unique from other arts, even theater and photography, in how it controls the image of women (e.g., the author mentions that the crew controls specific camera angles; she doesn't mention that the director chooses among multiple takes, but that seems important.)
Since it's so short, it's worth checking out if you're interested in gender issues and film. I imagine anyone in their 40s who has taken film seriously will have encountered these kinds of ideas somewhere else. But it's still nice to get on the same page of a founding text.
Though the essay is short, plenty of it is filled with Freudian mumbo-jumbo. If you can get past that, there are some interesting ideas in here about, e.g., how narrative film is unique from other arts, even theater and photography, in how it controls the image of women (e.g., the author mentions that the crew controls specific camera angles; she doesn't mention that the director chooses among multiple takes, but that seems important.)
Since it's so short, it's worth checking out if you're interested in gender issues and film. I imagine anyone in their 40s who has taken film seriously will have encountered these kinds of ideas somewhere else. But it's still nice to get on the same page of a founding text.
December 21, 2017
I think I would have appreciated this more if I had watched half the films referred to. Understandably, visual evidence is difficult to present when Mulvey discussed films, but when she discussed photographs, I thought it only natural for the relevant ones to be included, for ease of understanding.
My favourite essay is 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema', which weaves psychoanalysis into film theory very coherently. What a waste that she only introduced the concept of the audience's double-identification with the cinema apparatus at the end, though; to me it was one of the most illuminating parts of the essay and I wish she had taken that concept further.
My favourite essay is 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema', which weaves psychoanalysis into film theory very coherently. What a waste that she only introduced the concept of the audience's double-identification with the cinema apparatus at the end, though; to me it was one of the most illuminating parts of the essay and I wish she had taken that concept further.
March 28, 2025
Minha cópia do Kindle do livro foi mal digitalizada (por exemplo, algumas vezes o m vinha escrito como rn) - não sei se isso atrapalhou a leitura ou se algo foi perdido no processo.
Gostei do livro, mas não tenho conhecimento aprofundado dos autores de psicologia/filosofia, assim como não vi a maioria dos filmes mencionados... então vou precisar reler num futuro distante para absorver melhor.
Gostei do livro, mas não tenho conhecimento aprofundado dos autores de psicologia/filosofia, assim como não vi a maioria dos filmes mencionados... então vou precisar reler num futuro distante para absorver melhor.
October 29, 2022
Read multiple different excerpts of this book for class and wrote a dissertation on "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema". I was extremely impressed and many times disgusted with humanity and the patriarchy as per usual- will be getting my own copy and finishing the rest of it in the future.
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January 30, 2021read for MA thesis
April 17, 2021
read for uni
October 27, 2021
DNF/Skimmed. The title essay is very important, but most of the rest do not apply to my work or to my hobbies. It's me and not the book.
January 31, 2022
Laura Mulvey is so influential in my research, I'm so thrilled to be able to add some of her most important work to my reading list.
July 19, 2022
entire omission of race and intersectionality
July 20, 2022
old theories that probably are problematic in 2022 but it was extremely useful for my dissertation
July 14, 2023
concepts very very good ma minus 1 star perché troppo ripetitivo
d’altronde è una collection of essays
d’altronde è una collection of essays
January 16, 2024
The male gaze, voyeurism, the cinematic apparatus. Topics necessary to at least be aware of
May 7, 2021
Starting with her seminal article on the masculine gaze in classical cinema, this collection catalogs her writings over decades to show her evolving theories and work in feminism and art/cultural analysis.
October 31, 2010
Laura Mulvey is brilliant. Her work literally changed the way cinema and the visual was viewed. It is a seminal book in film theory and feminist theory. It probably changed your life and you didn't even know it.
The book/paper is however getting old and as with many things, it is beginning to show its age.
The book/paper is however getting old and as with many things, it is beginning to show its age.
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May 20, 2008Well, who ever liked pleasure anyway? Or beauty, for that matter. Or patriarchy.
Yes, beauty, pleasure, and patriarchy are now things I can do without.
Fie on them!
Fie!
But, thank you, I'll keep Hitchcock.
Yes, beauty, pleasure, and patriarchy are now things I can do without.
Fie on them!
Fie!
But, thank you, I'll keep Hitchcock.
March 2, 2008
This woman only single-handedly de-railed contemporary feminist thinking regarding how the female image is regarded in current theory about cinema and film--a must read for anyone interested in "the movies"
February 13, 2008
A must read for any film critic, feminist or not. She is a good foundation to any feminist film theory discussion.
May 27, 2012
I suppose I'm cheating a little by putting this book on my "read" list. I read parts of it for my dissertation research over the past few months but not the entire book... Hm.
January 25, 2013
Mulvey makes good points concern fetish fantasies and women in the media but she hold to absolutist Lacanian principles that are outdated.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews