American Beauty
In the scene that we analysed, we can see that the cheerleaders were sexualised by applying the male gaze theory . The camera shots and music emphasise this. There are close ups on the blonde cheerleader, these close ups focus on her body parts such as her thighs and this shows fragmentation of the female body. This fits in to the male gaze theory as the girl is objectified. There is also a use of high key and low key lighting to help objectify the cheerleader. Her surroundings are covered by low key lighting and she is shot in high key lighting, this makes her stand out and draws attention to her. The way the camera films her fits the theory of the male gaze too, we see a close up of the males face and then there is a slow zoom towards the girl. This makes the audience view the girl from the males perspective.
As the cheerleaders start dancing there is digetic music playing from inside the stadium. As the camera zooms in on the cheerleader and we see the male staring at her, the music becomes non-digetic and becomes a fantasy as this shows that the male has become obsessed and attracted to the girl. The camera then tilts and follows the actions of the girl as she touches her body, this looks like the camera is being operated by the male as it only looks at certain parts of her body, again this shows fragmentation of the female body and sexualises her.
There are also elements of stereotypical characters throughout the clip. The males daughter is represented as being a stereotypical moody teenager. We see this because she doesn't smile when she is dancing and she is telling her friend that she doesn't like her mum and dad at the start of the clip. The mother is a stereotypical proud mother. She only focuses on her daughter when they are dancing and she claps and cheers for her.
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