Laura Mulvey: Representation
“In a world ordered by sexual
imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and
passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto
female figure which is styled accordingly”. (Laura Mulvey, 1992.)
The statement
above explains to us Laura Mulveys view on representation in Music
videos. She speaks of a 'male gaze' and 'pleasure', two terms which
interlink often when describing some music videos. She picks up
mainly on the representation of women, made to look more attractive
to the male gaze. This essentially could mean to turn the female
figure into a sexual object in order to attract the male audience
through visuals.
From this, I
expect that you could see many common representation of women in
music videos produced for the 'male gaze' such as:
- Attractive women
- Women in little clothing
- Focus on certain body parts of female.
- Man empowering female
Below is a video
which conforms to much of what Laura Mulvey has said. There is a
clear representation of women of the points mentioned above. Certain
women body parts are a significant part of the lyrics as well as the
title of the song.
Alternatively in
videos which may have been created for the female gaze,
representation would be very different and challenge objectifying
women. Videos which do this may include:
- Women looking 'modest'
- Women not under male control
- Focus on an attractive male figure
I believe Mulveys
opinion is still relevant to today's society. There are plenty of
music videos which objectify women for male gaze as well as many
challenging this view. This style is much more common in rap and pop
music today and is a familiar representation of women
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