Male Hindi filmgoers' gaze: an ethnographic interpretation

This ethnographic study of male filmgoers in India supports Mulvey's conten tion that cinema bolsters male power by prompting men to make women objects of a controlling gaze. But it also shows that Indian male filmgoers both o bjectify and identify with on-screen male images. This identification promp ts men to see themselves as framed by a controlling gaze. Thus, a clear-cut distinction between looking men and watched women is not a universal featu re of male dominance.