Laura Mulvey - Male gaze theory
The Male Gaze is a feminist theory written by Laura Mulvey, this deals with how an audience views the people presented, particularly the women. She argues that they are seen as objects and that 'in film audiences have to 'view' characters from the perspective of men'. She stresses about how dominant the presence of the male gaze is within the mainstream Hollywood films, this is because most film makers and directors are male, so the film is presented though the view of a man, made to satisfy and reflect their views subconsciously.
Laura Mulvey argues that the 'male gaze' regulates women to the status of objects, sexualising them, this is because the camera may zoom into or linger on the curves or intimate areas of the female body. This view of women can also be shown by the way the women are presented, such as having the number of women to men much higher and their clothing which can sometimes be very revealing and sexual.
As well as close ups, tracking shots of the women's bodies and slow motion is used throughout the video to emphasize their movements, particularly when showing a women drilling into the ground, a long shot is used at first, then a close up of her breasts, emphasizing her 'bouncing' body, this would grab the males attention. The artist is not shown in the music video, but his voice has a very strong presence and is very dominant, controlling what the women are doing, encouraging them to act seductively. This music video is definitely targeting the stereotypical male audience, using the combination of barely dressed attractive women and power tools, both aspects seen as being very masculine.
But on the flip side, there is a large proportion of female artists and celebrities who would use sex to increase there sales of albums and there name in the music/celebrity world, for instance Rhiannon's video for the song S'n'M, the use of "secret" sex tapes that are "acidentley" leaked to the public, which go viral within hours because at the end of the day sex sells, and when you are already famous lots of people will follow what videos you post and as they share the videos through social networking sites such as Facebook Twitter and YouTube the celebrity gets there name out there and gets into magazines making them gain more audience, money and become more and more famous.
A music video which supports Laura Mulvey's theory is 'Ben Benassi- Satisfaction', this is because of the amount of close ups which focus on the women's body parts, such as their legs, breasts, bums and legs.The women are wearing very little clothing and are covered in what looks like oil, this combined with the close ups of quite sexual body parts makes the video more appealing for a male audience. The colour red is a key theme throughout the video, seeing as the women are wearing red clothing and have red lips, this is a very 'sexual' and 'intimate' colour. Whilst the women are using power tools which is stereo typically a men's area of profession, rather than giving the women equal power to men, it appears that the music video is a man's 'fantasy' having women doing the DIY, this encourages the view of women being sexual objects for men.
As well as close ups, tracking shots of the women's bodies and slow motion is used throughout the video to emphasize their movements, particularly when showing a women drilling into the ground, a long shot is used at first, then a close up of her breasts, emphasizing her 'bouncing' body, this would grab the males attention. The artist is not shown in the music video, but his voice has a very strong presence and is very dominant, controlling what the women are doing, encouraging them to act seductively. This music video is definitely targeting the stereotypical male audience, using the combination of barely dressed attractive women and power tools, both aspects seen as being very masculine.
But on the flip side, there is a large proportion of female artists and celebrities who would use sex to increase there sales of albums and there name in the music/celebrity world, for instance Rhiannon's video for the song S'n'M, the use of "secret" sex tapes that are "acidentley" leaked to the public, which go viral within hours because at the end of the day sex sells, and when you are already famous lots of people will follow what videos you post and as they share the videos through social networking sites such as Facebook Twitter and YouTube the celebrity gets there name out there and gets into magazines making them gain more audience, money and become more and more famous.
No comments:
Post a Comment