Research: Mulvey’s male gaze by Jemar

What is the Male Gaze theory?

The concept of male gaze is how the heterosexual male gender looks at the voyeuristic female genders that are presented to them in music videos.

Feminist believe that women are viewed different in order to attract and please the male target audience.

Different ways it can be thought of:

• ·         How men look at women
• ·         How women look at themselves
• ·         How women look at other women

Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male Gaze’ (1975)

Laura Mulvey is a british feminist film theorist who believed that women in music videos are viewed from a heterosexual male perspective due to their representation.

Laura Mulvey’s Feminist Theory on the Male gaze suggests:

• ·         Audiences ‘view’ characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.
• ·         Men only look at women for visual pleasure.
• ·         Active Male/Female Passive

Examples of the ‘Male Gaze’ used in music videos.

- Benny benassi - Satisfaction

In the Satisfaction music video, women are represented as hard working, voyeuristic individuals. The way they are dressed and how they choose to wear their clothes makes them in a male’s perspective look like sex symbols. An example of this is when one of women are viewed using the sander in a seductive way, cinematography is seen in this motion as the camera focuses on her body rather than her face. A close up shot is then used to view her breast. This reinforces Laura Mulvey’s Theory of characters being viewed from a heterosexual male’s perspective.

- Rihanna – Pour it up

Male gaze is heavily exploited in this music video as every female is seen demonstrating the male gaze, including the artist Rihanna who is known for her sexual behavior in her music videos. Firstly, when one of the women is seen dancing on a pole in her revealing clothes, close up editing is used to focus on the women shaking her ass. This is a sign of voyeurism as the camera movements make the women viewed differently as they are now seen as sexual objects and fantasy’s to men. This relates and reinforces Laura Mulvey’s theory of men looking at women for visual pleasures.

- Mariah Carey – Touch my Body

The ‘Male  Gaze’ is represented throughout this music video as the artist Mariah Carey is seen behaving in a seductive and voyeuristic manor. This is first seen through the way she dresses throughout the music video, she wears very sexy matching stockings and bra, short tight skips and revealing tops which shows a lot of cleavage. Close ups are used to focus on her curves and boobs. This suggest that this is all that men think of when they look at women as a lot of the focus was on her curves, ass and boobs. Laura Mulvey’s theory is then introduced her as this relates to her saying men only look at women for visual pleasure. In addition, at the end of the music video it shows that the video turned out to be nothing but a fantasy for the male character which reinforces the visual pleasure statement.

‘Male Gaze ‘ Criticisms

• ·         Directed towards men – New age of commercialism
• ·         Assumes everyone is heterosexual
• ·         Doesn’t consider female spectators
• ·         Views are many from a heterosexual perspective.

 Conclusion

Evaluating all my research I’ve gathered, I’ve decided I will in fact be using the ‘Male Gaze’ in my music video if I do use women as this will allow me to target a male audience. I will represent women in my music video very seductive fashion in order to give my music video a bit of something special.  However, I could lose potential female feminist audience as they may not like the way women are presented in my video.