Lolita in the Lens: Pleasure and the Male Gaze in Lolita’s Film Adaptations

This article examines pleasure and its absence in Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and its film adaptations. By approaching the novel and its adaptations from a feminist perspective, it shows that Lolita on film introduces pleasure into a story where its absence is essential. Applying Laura Mulvey’s notion of “the male gaze” to the films exposes Hollywood’s obsession with commodifying women and girls, which can be extended to how Americans, collectively, view and (mis)treat women.