Male Gaze Theory:
In class we've been looking at the Male Gaze theory with one of our teachers in order to have a better understanding of music videos.
In class we've been looking at the Male Gaze theory with one of our teachers in order to have a better understanding of music videos.
The male gaze theory was created by Laura Mulvey and is a theory based on how an audience view the people presented. It has three main points to it:
- How men look at women
- How women look at other women and
- How women look at themselves
The theory relegates women to the status of an object and its visuals are presented from a viewpoint of a heterosexual man. For example in newer music videos there are sexual themes to them which convey that we look to them as an object of desire. This video is an example:
This video shows the women in skimpy tight Lycra with lots of leg view. The costumes and performance make them an object of desire as it seems to be sexy but it actually makes them look cheap. This video is bordering on sexist as there's a bunch of skimpily clad women dancing provocatively to dance music whipping their hair back and forth in a way that can only be compared to a stripper/exotic dancer. There is one man in this video and he is seen to be enjoying it by his expressions and the fact that his tongue is hanging out. However, is he next to naked? No he is not. This is why it's sexist as it only degrades the women and not the men making the women out to be cheap and easy. To be fair there are one or two groin shots (during a pan) of the man as he's stretching but he's nothing special and fully clothed so technically it's not really that 'sexy'; compared to the women.
This video is inappropriate to be on music channels such as MTV before a watershed as it's incredibly sexual and demoralising to how women act and the next generation shouldn't be damaged at such a young age by this kind of video.
Newer music videos especially the pop genre now, seem to be more and more daring. For example the artists can be seen in their videos in next to nothing. For example:
This video can go one of two ways; either Beyonce's in her underwear because it's unnecessary but sells or because she's getting ready for her big day and the lingerie is for her wedding night. There is no real reason for Beyonce to be in her underwear. Narratively it fits but it's not necessary as she could be wearing a dressing gown or a towel or be fully clothed.
Up until her most recent album '4', Beyonce had never really done a music video where she was partially naked to that extremity. Nudity seems to be a big competition between artists in the music industry; it's also a marketing technique. Beyonce seems like she's in competition and you could compare her to Rhianna. They're both talented singers singing the same kind of songs in the same genre - R&B Pop, they both are sassy strong women and are very successful in the music industry! It seems that Beyonce is realising she's getting older and has suddenly decided to let people know that she actually has a good body and that in order to reinstate her crown of R&B Pop queen she has to sink to a new low by getting her kit off,; just like Rhianna.
One of Rhianna's most outrageous videos is her single S&M:
It's quite interesting and contrapuntal to watch this video as it's the opposite of the male gaze.
The male gaze doesn't just apply to the music video, it applies to the CD cover too. Here are some examples:
All three of these album covers are controversial and the gaze is explicitly male. However there are some CD covers that subvert the gaze. For example:
No comments:
Post a Comment