Suicide Squad contains one of the most prominent examples of the existence of the male gaze in modern cinema; the portrayal of Harley Quinn. The female villain only exists as arm candy for the Joker and they make that very clear within this movie. She started off as a doctor curing the Joker but then ended up being fooled by love and giving up her normal life to become someone's object, in one scene within the movie, Harley danced in a cage within one of the Jokers club. The scene is set so that we are viewing Harley from behind the drapes of the Joker's booth, Harley looks directly towards the camera which is posed from the Jokers point of view, it is as though we are viewing her in the same scopophillic nature as the character in the film. When she looks towards the camera it is as though she is looking towards the Joker seeking approval. The Joker even offers Harley as "a gift" to a man in the club, this reinforces the idea that she is a mere object in the scene rather than an active character.
Furthermore, in the scene in which we see Harley in a prison cell, the shots are framed through the bars which make her look like an animal on display, her cell is in the centre of the room with nowhere to hide, she is being stared at from every angle, the use of shots of the displays showing cameras are watching her from all angles are used to further display her. The use of slow tracking shots across the body capture the character as she hangs from the top of her cell flaunting her body to all the other inmates and guards, the shots are captured from a low angle in order to capture shots of her chest and her bottom. The non-diegetic soundtrack playing the song "You don't own me" contrasts to the male gaze of the scene as generally the message of the song suggests that a woman isn't just an object made for a man. Close ups of the character licking the bar are shot, this doesn't have any specific purpose in forwarding the plot of the movie, this shot is placed in in order to satisfy the heterosexual male gaze. In the last shot of the scene after Harley runs into the cell and passes out on the floor we see a shot from a birds eye angle which looks down upon Harley Quinn lying on the floor, the angle makes the female look weak and fragile.
Within the Midway City Airport scene as all the other criminals get ready normally we see Harley Quinn parading herself about for the pleasure of both the audience and the people within the movie. It starts with a slow pan up the lady's body showing off her figure as she puts on clothes, the use of the pan allows the audience to stare at the body gaining pleasure. The use of a long shot reveals that not only is the audience staring at her, the whole set is staring at her as well, this makes is feel more natural suggesting to the audience that it is normal to take pleasure from looking at a woman. The use of the close up also allows for them to capture Harley as she bends over, this suggests the idea of sex to the audience making them gain pleasure from imagining. The use of mise-en-scene within the shots also creates a male gaze within this scene, mainly her clothes, for example she pulls out a choke collar which says "puddin'", the use of a choker suggests that Harley Quinn is an animal that needs controlling my a man, furthermore, "puddin" is that name she gave the Joker, this collar suggests that the Joker owns Harley. All across her legs she has tattoos such as "Harley+Puddin" or "Ill wait forever", these tattoos suggest that all a woman cares about is men, her whole story is based upon getting back to the joker. Within the pan shot across her body we see she is wearing a top which has written on it "Daddy's Lil Monster", this reinforces the idea that the film is presenting that Harley is not her own person she is owned by the Joker which show the patriarchal view of society which Mulvey reveals within her theory.
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