Laura Mulvey Male Gaze Theory Jordan Welsford

Biography

• British feminist and film theorist

• Born August 15th 1941

• Currently Professor at Birbeck, University of London

• Gained three degrees throughout her university career including Doctor of Letters, Doctor of Law and a Doctor of Literature.

The Theory

The main concept of the theory is about how people are represented and viewed by the audience. This can be split into three different sub concepts:

• How men look at women

• How women look at other people

• How women look at themselves

The theory mainly focused on the first point of how men look at women, however, the theory expanded due t research made by Mulvey which created two other sub concept theories.

Use in existing media products The male gaze theory is used in a large number of music videos today. A lot of rap/ hip hop videos will use attractive women due to their main fan gender is men. The attractive women are ‘gazed’ at by the men which draws an audience in and makes them more intrigued into the video. A good example of this is Candy Shop by 50 cent. The video is set up as a brothel and the women are presented in a way which is extremely sensual. This is a sexual attraction which heterosexual men would have towards women.

Camera Shots incorporating the theorySome of the most common camera shots which would reinforce the use of this theory would include close ups of a woman's face or focusing on the curves of the female body. The bust and the backside of women would also be a common focal point to ‘gaze’ the male viewers.

Some music videos that exist today include dance routines which include a number of women dancing. This is applying the theory because the movement of the female body within the video would attract the male audience. This particular feature is common in Hip Hop videos. A good example of this would be ‘Single Ladies’ by Beyoncé.

Little Mix Little mix use a lot of dance routines throughout their videos. This can relate to the male gaze theory where by the female body is using voyeuristic movements to attract a male audience. The use of mise en scene such as low cut tops and whips support the use of the theory.

Little Mix- Salute

However, this particular music video is set up slightly different than a typical music video. Some of the shots used within the video sense that the woman dominants the man. A good example of this would be this particular shot below.

One of the members of Little Mix is performing a dance routine with two men either side of her shown through a wide shot. She is positioned in the centre of the two men and slightly in front. This is suggesting that the woman is in charge of the men. This is also reinforced by the use of the whips which the woman is holding at one end and the men at the other. The video could be trying to change the way men are stereotypically dominant over the women.

Research

In Mulveys research, she decided that the male gaze was more than focusing on how men look at women. Because the media products are presented from a perspective of a man through the male gaze, the women are sometimes taken to this. If taken, they act as the male and ‘gaze’ at the women in the video. This is giving a sense that the women are objects. This would particularly affect bisexual women who would gaze at the women in the video just as a heterosexual man would.

Objectifying women is also reinforced by the use of the male being dominant and controlling the woman in a large number of existing media products including films, TV programmes and music videos. This is also known as a Patriarchal Society.

BassHunter- All I ever wantedThis is a screenshot from the music video ‘All I ever wanted’ by basshunter. As you can see, the man is looking down on the woman shown through a two shot from a side angle. This is giving a sense that the man is on control and it almost objectifies the woman. This makes the audience think that women are objects, and this is why the man is stereotypically in control of the female society.