The term Male Gaze was coined by Laura Mulvey in her essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema from 1973 or 1975 (it's credited differently all over the internet).
To quote Mulvey: "There are three different looks associated with cinema: 1) that of the camera as it records the pro-filmic event, 2) that of the audience as it watches the final product, 3) and that of the characters at each other within the screen illusion."
To put this in to easier to digest terms: Male Gaze is comprised of a three way look -
1. Audience looking at on scree characters - objectifying the woman and relating to the main male protagonist.
2. Characters on screen looking at each other - the main male protagonist is looking at the female character. She is passive being looked at. He is active looking at her.
3. The camera recording the scene, which is written by a man, directed by a man, and is filmed by a man (overwhelmingly - esp in 1973 when Laura Mulvey wrote the essay).
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