Laura Mulvey - The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey - The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey believes that film audiences have to view characters from the prospective of a heterosexual male. The theory suggests that the male gaze denies women human identity, relegating them to the status of objects; the camera usually lingers over the curves of the female body, and events which occur to women are presented largely in the context of a man's reaction. Laura Mulvey and her theory of the Male Gaze was influenced by Freude, the creator of Psychoanalysis and the elaborator of the unconscious. This inspiration was the key to the Feminist Film Theory movement and had been of a great influence since the mid 1970's. Mulvey argues that women are represented only to provide visual pleasure to men and that the audience is constructed in a manner where by they are all expected to be of male gender.

Jonathan Schroeder (1998) - "To gaze implies more than to look at - it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze"

I am going to compare three different music videos in relation to the theory of Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze. The music videos I have chose are

Kylie Minogue - Spinning Around

Scouting For Girls - She's So Lovely

Jenifer Lopez - On The Floor

This video conforms to the conventions of Mulvey's theory in several different aspects. However there are some features which show the video to subvert against the Male Gaze.

The opening shot of the music video focuses on Kylies feet. She is wearing gold strappy heels. This choice of footwear shows the audience that Kylie is a confident character. The colour of gold is usually associated with the idea of a prize. This suggests that Kylie is a possession and therefore conforms the theory of the Male Gaze. The video then moves on to Kylie dancing in relation to the lyrics (spinning around). We then see a close up shot of Kylies bum while she walks, moving her hips side to side. Both these dancing and walking shots are in slow motion, which allows the audience to see Kylie in a more detailed way. In the style of Mulvey, the close up shot of her bum would give pleasure to the audience, the male audience. The shot also gives off sexual connotations.

 In the next shots we see Kylies entire outfit. She is wearing a range of different colour gold's, again relating to the idea of a prize and her being a possession. She is positioned laying on top of the bar, she has her back arched and her legs tucked in, drawing attention to her bum. While she is on the bar she is dancing and moving in a provocative way. The servers behind the bar are men which could be the reason she in dancing and moving in such a way. This also shows us that she is trying to grab their attention. The servers behind the bar are enjoying watching her dance, almost as if she is performing for them, relating to Mulvey's theory that women are presented in a way to provide men with pleasure. Her facial expressions are happy, showing she is enjoying what she's doing. Through out the shots on the bar and the shots of her dancing her outfits are very revealing, also providing pleasure to the audience. There are also shots of Kylie laying on a sparkly platform, turning and posing in different provocative positions, almost as if she's selling herself. This also relates to Mulvey's theory showing she is an object that can be brought, denying her human identity.

As Kylie is making her way through the club she is singing and dancing whilst making eye contact with the male characters. This suggests she wants them to approach her. In one of the long shots she throws her body over the sofa, positioning herself in the middle of two males. The way she does this appears as if she is throwing herself at the men and giving them what they want. She then pushes herself upon the male whilst facing the other way and singing with eye contact towards the other male - this could subvert the theory of the male gaze as it appears to be the female who is leading and in control the males. The lyrics read "I found a new direction' and then she takes the male to the dance floor: subverting against the theory of the male gaze again.

When she gets to the dance floor and begins to dance with the male. At this point the lighting is high key and the spotlights are often on Kylie, making her the centre of attention and taking attention off of other females. The fact she has most screen time shows she is important and has power over all characters, even the males. Although a female having most power would go against the Male Gaze it also would conform it as the female with the most screen time would be watched by a male audience. Whilst dancing in a sexual manner Kylie sings 'you know you like it like this' which then leads to Kylie leading a dance that men join in with. This subverts to the male gaze as it shows the two genders performing together. However Kylie is the first to lead the dance, making her the main focus, overlooking the male characters. The majority of the aspects in this video conform to the Male Gaze theory.

Scouting for Girls

When analysing this video I found that it follows Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory in a number of ways. The title of this song, 'She's so lovely', can be misleading. Possibly suggesting the female being spoken of has a lovely personality or that the female is someone's loving mother, sister or friend. However, this is not the case as the female that's being spoken about is in fact eye candy for the male singer.

 

 The first verse of this song starts with 'I love the way she fills her clothes' making strong references to the females body type. The fact this is the first line of the song implies that the body is the first thing the man notices: this would relate to the idea of women being pleasurable in Mulvey's theory. The first shot of the female, in relation to Kylie Minogue's Spinning Around, is again the females feet. The shoes in the first video were a gold colour suggesting that the female was a prize; in this second video the colour of the shoes are red, suggesting that the character is provocative. The style of the shoes are similar in the fact that they are both high heels. This makes them appear to be confident. The camera shows the feet to be at the bottom of the screen and the bare skinned legs in the middle giving the main focus to the females legs.

Again, in this video men are watching the female character. This suggests the audience would be doing the same and that they to would be of the male gender. This conforms to Mulvey's theory as it shows how women are presented in a way that provides pleasure for men. The man that looks at the female is again behind a counter giving him control and more power than the female. This could suggest that the women is a possession. There is also a close-up shot of the characters behind relating to the selection of shots within the first video.

The chorus reads 'She's so lovely' and is also the title of the song. The fact this line is of such importance, being repeated many times, shows how the male character is only focusing upon the females looks. As this is being sung, the audience see the male gazing upon the female as a series of close-ups show her walking past different men with a happy expression upon her face. She is clearly enjoying the attention. If the character is happy then the audience would be too, showing how the female is represented in a pleasurable manner for the male members of the audience. The speed of these shots are slow, giving the female longer screen time and giving the audience a longer viewing time of the female.

The lyrics are continuously making references towards the characters looks. In one shot the male sings "She's got a boyfriend though and that's a pity" and then the audience see the couple kiss whilst the boyfriend raises his eyebrows towards the male singer. The boyfriend is tormenting the other male as if to say 'she's mine not your'. Again, the female is being presented as a possession. The lyrics are demoralizing also "she's flirty and dirty" however, the female appears to be enjoying this. The video does subvert from the theory of the male gaze if you look at it from a different perspective. The male is the singer and the video comes from the males point of view. In the his opinion he believes that she enjoys attention from males. However if the point of view and the narration of the shots was selected by the female then the video could potentially be completely different. In comparison to this, the first video was from the females point of view and she clearly did enjoy the attention of the males. The name of the band is Scouting for girls, this again is very demoralizing and suggests that they are all about girls. Scouting is about being chosen and therefore this suggests that females are possessions in the eyes on these men.