Research: Mulvey's male gaze

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 in return for success within their career. Moreover some women actually enjoying being in the video and feel a sense of empowerment with what they are doing e.g. beauty pageants. This shows that being e.g. a candy girl is not a negative thing to do as long as it is what a female loves and has a passion for doing. 

• This theory also assumes everyone is heterosexual and does not consider the homosexual viewpoint.
• Some women enjoy being looked at and showing off their figure and body.
• The female gender isn't considered as the main focus is the male gender.

    Laura Mulvey is a British feminist film theorist. She is currently professor of film and media studies at Birbeck, University of London. Her theory (1975) suggests that audiences view characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male. She believes that men look at women for sexual pleasure in music videos.

 

Different ways it can be thought of:

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

Example of the 'male gaze' within music videos

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.

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.

Conclusion
In my music video I could consider using aspects of the male gaze as it would enhance the popularity of my music video. If I do use women I would represent them in a more passive way as this would gain popularity from the male audience. However I would not portray females as sexual objects or other extreme ways as such shown in the examples.