Laura Mulvey's theory

(British feminist film theorist)
This is a quote from Laura Mulvey about how women are presented and expected to be looked at in music videos:




Stereotypes of women within music videos:

• Slim figure

• Close up shots of a woman's features

• Minimal/revealing clothing

• Higher ratio of females to males

• Attracting the attention of men 

A music video which demonstrates Mulvey's theory is Dizzee Rascal's video for his single Holiday:

In this video we see girls in bikinis and there are close up shots of their bum and legs and the camera tilts up the girls bodies. The men however are fully clothed in T-shirts and shorts and they are seen looking at the girls (active). The girls are seen smiling at the fact that they are being looked at and are not seen to be doing anything about it (passive).