Research: Mulvey's Male Gaze

Mulvey's Male Gaze

What is the Male Gaze:

The Male gaze is shown in a music video through the prospective of a heterosexual man and how they look at women. Through the male gaze women are represented as sexual objects and objectifies women in the video. Furthermore women are down graded in some music videos through the male gaze which has become more apparent in music videos.

Mulvey's Male Gaze 1975:

This theory originated from Lura Mulvey and she is a feminist who said that it can be seen in three different ways which are the following: 

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

Lura mulvey believes that the camera is a man and it is shown how men look at women for visual pleasure and men are active and women are passive.

Examples of Mulvey's Male Gaze:

This video Tip Drill by Nelly is an example of the Male Gaze in n this video women are objectified, shown as sexual objects and degraded to much of the pleasure to the men and it is shown as acceptable for men to act in this way in society and it shows how men see women's position and use in society.

 In the video this shows women on women however this still provides pleasure for men and the camera only focuses on the female assets as the camera shot is showing in the picture from the video.

 In this image the camera focuses on the female assts again and it shows the man in control as he has both women sitting on his lap dancing to his pleasure this also used to create other men to wish they were in his position.

This image is very explicit as it shows a close up of the female assets and it is degrading women as it shows what the men want from women as they do not give women the respect that they deserves showing the mens only motive.

This image shows that the man is bragging about him doing what he pleases with the women and he is showing it as an achievement as he has he can do what he wants with the women showing his dominance.

Wrecking ball by Miley Cyrus-This music video shows the male gaze on the female even though it is a female artist she is showing what the males look at therefore it is why she is portraying herself in this way in the music video as the women feel that the men look at certain things to make their music video appealing.

 From this image the male gaze is evident as the artist shows what the men look at as she is in the pose where it is appealing to the male audience and the camera shows and gives the prospective of the male.This is an example of voyeurism where man get the sexual pleasure from viewing these shots.

 The close up of the face and the red lips which is very arousing for males that is why in a music video with the male gaze theory there is always a shot of the artist and their red lips to sexually engage and grap the attention of the heterosexual target audience.

 This mid shot shows how women are seen as sexual objects and that men only seek them for their assets.

Long shot of the artist is shown as she is naked which also arouses the heterosexual target audience as they are looking to see these image or shot in the music video and the audience plays with their emotion as the audience gives the target audience what they want to see to her benefit where she is in control but the target audience don't think about that they are only interested in their benefits.

Bad Romance by Lady Gaga- Lady Gaga's music video portrays the male gaze as she the artist has chosen for her video to show the male gaze to bring in new audiences and to please her loyal fan base with this video. Also it is the only that this type of music video would get attention and it also shows a different side to her as an artist.

 In this image which is in the music video it shows the male gaze as she is dancing in the middle of all those men surrounding her showing how men perceive women as they are seen as objects which please men. Also the image shows a mid shot of only the women assets this clearly shows what the men are looking at whilst she is dancing in the middle.

This image also shows the male gaze as she is being very seductive as she lays on the bed which arouses men in the ways that she is laying on the bed with only her lingerie.

 This image shows a mid shot of the artist and the artist is wearing little clothing which the audience want to see and that is what pleases the artist. Also it shows and pays key attention to the female assets.

The first image which shows the artist crawling on the floor which is very seductive towards heterosexual males and it shows a shot of her chest pleasing the audience. The image where artist is wearing red the colour red is seen as sexy and arousing.


Criticism of the theory:

The theory only shows that women are looked at and objectified however men also liked to be looked at and men are sometimes objectified but this is not shown.
Also the theory is only in the perspective of male and not in the prospective of females. In addition the theory does not include the prospective of bisexual and homosexual men and women view it is only in the view of the heterosexual men.

Conclusion: 

In conclusion my music video will not have the male gaze as my genre pop has very little or very moderate male gaze in music videos as the target audience are much younger and this theory cannot be used in my music video.