Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
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Research Article

Male Gaze in Fingersmith: How the Director's Gender Impacts the Visual and Narrative Style of Cinema about Lesbian

Xinyi YueDepartment of Media and Communication Study, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Suzhou, China* Zhihao HuDepartment of Law, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou, China Junbo YinDepartment of Chinese Language and Literature, Henan University, Kaifeng, China

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

In this paper, we study the impact of director's gender on visual and narrative style of cinema about lesbian from the perspective of the male gaze, by comparing Fingersmith(Walsh, 2005) and The Handmaiden (Park, 2016). Both films are based on the same novel, Fingersmith (Waters, 2003). The former is directed by a female director, while the latter is directed by a male director. This paper discusses studied objects from four aspects, in terms of intimacy, sexuality, betrayal and the closure of the films. Therefore, it concludes that even though male directors want to remove the male gaze when creating movies about lesbians, they still cannot fully avoid the influence of the male gaze, thereby illustrating the significant of gender as an influencing factor in this context. It is important to note that the concept of the male gaze, as discussed in this article, is employed to analyse the film as an aesthetic and ideological system, rather than as a biological criterion that focuses on the director's physical identity. This thesis will contribute to the research of male gaze in cinemas about lesbian.

Keywords: male gaze; gender; Fingersmith; The Handmaiden; director
Published: June 9, 2025
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2024.23628
Volume: CHR Vol.70
pp. 76-84
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