The impact of the Academy Award winning film, Gravity, cannot be overstated. Released in 2013, it was a technologically ground-breaking endeavour – resulting in a blockbuster action film that not only centred on a woman, but featured a woman alone onscreen for a significant proportion of the film. In terms of women in cinema, this seemed to be next-level stuff – flying in the face of those tired arguments about how female-led stories are not as popular as those led by men. But, while all of those things are indeed true, the feminism of Gravity is only skin-deep. Scratch the surface, and we find all kinds of patriarchal influence, tucked away in the folds of the narrative. For all its phenomenal brilliance and nail-biting tension, Gravity is entirely Male Gaze Cinema.

It is a si...

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