Research - Mulvey's Male Gaze

The theory of the male gaze by Laura Mulvey started in 1975. The theory shows a feminist view of how women are represented. The camera is seen from a heterosexual male and lingers around female assets. Woman are both passive and active towards the way women are represented in music videos through mulvey's theory due to young women copying and portraying actions from women in music videos such as; Twerking. The women represented through this theory as seen in three different ways due to who the person is, such as;

·         From a man’s point of view, the women are seen as sexy, pleasurable to look at and are seen as an ‘object’.

·         From the female on screen’s point of view, they see themselves as sexy, they are confident within themselves to show off their body to the world through music videos, feel powerful and also feel good because they are making money by representing their own assets on camera.

·         From another female’s point of view, they look at the women in these music videos as promiscuous women that do not respect their bodies, disgusting and disagree with their way of making money.

My first example of a music video that shows Mulvey’s male gaze is ‘Satisfaction’ by Benny Benassi. The whole video is based around half naked women using building equipment in a promiscuous way. The women use phallic objects which represent sexual movement between a man and a female, which also represents these woman as promiscuous and interested in sex. For example, the drill is a phallic object. Many close ups are used to show detail in female assets such as bottom, breast and lips which mime the lyrics to the song.

My second example of a music video that shows Mulvey’s male gaze is ‘Partition’ by Beyoncé. The camera around Beyonce mainly shows her female assets being touched by her husband jay z which is representing her as very sexual and promiscuous in this music video. The whole video is her being very sexual within herself and towards her husband Jay Z, which is not only shown in the visuals but also heard in the lyrics.

My third example of a music video that shows Mulvey’s male gaze is ‘Pour It Up’ by Rihanna. The camera focuses on her twerking on poles and chairs which is phallic and represents her as promiscuous. This completely shows Mulvey’s theory due to the whole music video being on pole dancers and their bodies moving in slow motion and at a normal pace, doing very various movements such as; twerking, whining and promiscuous dancing which is appealing for a heterosexual male.

Criticisms of the theory:

·         The theory is only for heterosexual male’s eyes, going against/not considering gay or lesbian people.

·         Excludes cultural, social and religious views.

·         The theory says men are never sexy, which isn’t true.

·         Doesn’t consider female opinion.

·         Some women enjoy being looked at.

·         Doesn’t include female empowerment, however, Beyoncé tries to portray this in her image.

·         Exposing to younger generations.

·         Going to effect a female opinion.

Only some genres use the male gaze theory, such as; R&B, Hip Hop, Rap, Salsa and Bashment. Whereas, some genres do not use the male gaze theory, such as; Jazz, Classical, Country, Metal and Soul. Also, some genres are in the middle as they will only use the male gaze theory in some music videos, such as; House, Pop and Dance. I have used these genres because of the fact that the lyrics usually relate to love and sex, so the movement and representation of this theory will link with the lyrics, creating as relationship between the lyrics and visuals. Also, the relationship between the music and visuals could represent mulvey's theory and fit together due to the movements being created on certain beats which makes a sexual atmosphere for the audience.

My genre of trap music won’t really be needing this theory, but this might be used due to the constant visuals of women powering over men and being rebellious. However, this all depends on the way we want to portray women in our music video.