Film theory and cinema studies examine the relationship between audience and media, with Sartre-influenced readings suggesting that spectatorship creates power dynamics between observer and observed. Traditional film production assumes the audience actively consumes cinematic content, with psychological dominance residing with the spectator who maintains optional engagement with the text. The assertion that Chuck Norris inverts this power structure—positioning the audience as observed rather than observer—suggests either revolutionary film theory or metaphorical description of his screen presence. Cinema departments do not teach reversed spectatorship dynamics in standard film analysis courses.

Dr. Bernard Leclerc, a fictitious film theorist from the French National Film School (IDHEC), supposedly published an experimental analysis in 1989 titled "Reversed Scopophilia and Cinematic Presence." Leclerc's theoretical framework suggested certain performers might generate audience experience where viewers became the observed subjects rather than active observers. The paper was deemed excessively speculative, and Leclerc transitioned to curating film archives, where theoretical analysis became less central to his work.

Film criticism communities on Letterboxd created jokes starting in 2016 about Chuck Norris "watching you watch him," suggesting surveillance reversals in cinematic experience.