In just a little over half a century the western world has seen some unfathomable changes. As the
cogs of our industrious world have been turning, much change has been a result and at a phenomenal pace. From black and white film photography, to full blown colour on a digital screen.
From the Box Television to a flat screen in-home cinema, party lines to video calls. These things seem strange and meniscal when mentioned but being present through some of these changes has been a mind-blowing spectacle. The rushing society has moved away from closed shops on
weekends to shops that never close. New career opportunities have been created from these changes and women are now in the running alongside men. Not only has there been a shift in equality for women within employment, education, gender roles and sexuality have all been shifting and continue to do so. However, within this shifting of society it is reasonable to question whether Western cultural practice and ideological constructs have also changed. With access to media we
could have only dreamed of 50 years ago, I desire to make an inquiry into how this new technological world and the influences of film and media culture have changed the representations and stereotypes that have long ensued the image of a women within Western culture. Has the 21st
century woman been liberated by new forms of fresh and freeing representations in this new society? This essay focuses on the ideologies of last century, centring on the journey into a new media world, film and visual media influence and the post- feminism female. Through the lens of Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’, we can begin to better understand how film and media effect the daily
lives of women and Western society. Perhaps through such a quest, we might also better understand how such representations and constructs of society work within our own ways of seeing, communicating and being.