The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey: visual pleasure and narrative cinema.

• Women are often objectified in music videos and men can be but not as much. we see women being seen in less clothing and more erotic than a man. In some music videos women are wearing little clothing to attract male attention.

• In the media women arguable are still more objectified than men and always have been, even though now it may be more than it was 50 years ago. This could have the impact on females that may be younger because it can have a mental impact as girls will not feel good enough. 

                          

• To gaze at something means you will stare or look at something for a long period of time.

The Main features of the male gaze theory: 

• The representation of women as a sexual fantasy and from a male heterosexual point of view.
• Scopophilia - The pleasure involved in looking at other peoples bodies
• Objectification of female characters
• active males passive females
• men controlling subject
• women as image
• men do the looking and women are there to be looked at
• needs of the male ego

The male Gaze looks that the way in which the visual arts and literature depict the world and women from a masculine point of view, presenting women as a object of male pleasure. This is encouraged through the use of costumes, makeup and camera work. The male gaze is often used to represent a gender in a certain way e.g. masculine/dominant, feminine/passive.

Some videos challenge the idea of the male gaze and suggest that there is such a thing ass the female gaze.

Criticisms Laura Mulveys Theory: 

some women argue they enjoy being looked at in things such as beauty pageants. For example women and girls dress up in big outfits to attract the attention and make people look at them