Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist. She developed the Male Gaze Theory in 1975, in which she said that women in films and the media are used to satisfy the eye of a heterosexual man. She said that women are portrayed as either vulnerable characters in which they need a man to protect and look after them, or they are portrayed as sexual objects to men and are represented through provocative clothing and being unintelligent compared to a man. In films, men are usually seen to have more power. The theory, for feminists can be thought of in three ways which include: how women look at themselves, how men look at women and how women look at other women. In the film 'Red', Sarah the female is protected by Frank who was a former CIA agent. In this instance, he was the most powerful character as he had had previous training and knowledge on how to protect and defend himself which he then demonstrated on Sarah. Even though in this film she is not represented sexually, she is still shown unable to protect herself and therefore needs a man to do so.
'The Wolf Of Wall Street' represents women in a different way. Naomi, Jordan's wife is represented as a character who is sexualised and for the male eye. She is attractive and also portrayed as less powerful, whereas Jordan is the character who makes all the money and is more successful. However, it seems that as time goes on that this theory seems to be disappearing and more women are taking the roles as what would have been seen as a male role. In films in the modern day women are becoming less sexualised/ vulnerable and more powerful. For example, in 'The Hunger Games', Katniss Everdeen is portrayed as a strong independent woman who is able to fight her own battles and is on an equal level to men. She is shown to be playing a role which usually would be expected of men, and this completely goes against the idea of The Male Gaze Theory.
In the film 'Red', Sarah the female is protected by Frank who was a former CIA agent. In this instance, he was the most powerful character as he had had previous training and knowledge on how to protect and defend himself which he then demonstrated on Sarah. Even though in this film she is not represented sexually, she is still shown unable to protect herself and therefore needs a man to do so. 
