The Objectification of Women on Screen
Mulvey makes use of few similes and metaphors in this essay, a notable lack that is significant in many ways. First, the genre of the text (academic essay) does not leave much room for literary devices and flourishes—indeed, Mulvey writes in straightforward prose that is nonetheless difficult to parse due to the essay's subject matter. The organizing principle around the essay is psychoanalytic theory, meaning Mulvey applies a theoretical framework to the popular culture phenomenon of narrative film. As such, comparisons made by way of similes and metaphors only obscure the relationship between Mulvey's subject (film) and her methodology (psychoanalysis), as psychoanalysis itself refuses the use of metaphor to explain its principles.
The one predominant metaphor that exists throughout the essay is that of women operating as objects on screen. Mulvey argues that through the persistent use of the male gaze and conventional Hollywood plots, women in films are rarely integral to the plot and often fetishized by male characters and spectators alike. This representation effectively strips women of any narrative agency and renders them objects for male consumption. As the essay grows more complex, Mulvey suggests that this equation of women with objects is not, in fact, a metaphor at all, but instead a realistic description of what happens psychoanalytically when women appear on screen.
