RESEARCH FOR MUSIC VIDEO - Mulveys theory

Laura Mulveys Theory on the the representation of gender
"The male gaze"

Laura Mulvey is a British Feminist film theorist. She based her ideas on the way genders are represented in music video. For a feminist such as herself, it can be seen in three ways:
1. The way men look at women
2. The way women look at themselves
3. How women look at other women

However, she focused on the male gaze. She understood that there was a sexual imbalance, the male being dominant and the female being a 'sexual object', as according to Laura Mulvey and other feminists, we live in a patriarchal society.

She believed that when watching such music video, the viewers has to view the video in the perspective of the heterosexual male. This is because a woman's experience of the narrative will be secondarily, by identification of the male. the camera lingers around the female body as an 'object', which causes different reactions between the heterosexual male and female.

In the music video above recorded by artists lady gaga and beyonce, a clear understanding and representation of Laura Mulveys theory is applied. Laura Mulvey talks about the male gaze, males being dominant and women as objects. thios is a clear example. For instance, the clothing worn by lada gaga and other characters in the prison (bra and pants) can be seen as revealing and exploiting in a feminists view. Furthermore, the performance is male dominant as the female characters are represented as puppets to men, as they are in a prison dancing and climbing cell poles in a way that catches the male gaze. Moreover, lesbianism is promoted in this video, which although does not abide by the heterosexual view of the theory, but does catch the male gaze in the same way that Laura Mulvey explains. When beyonce is introduced, her chest is revealed. Near the end where Lady Gagas performance is in the kitchen, she is the only female present with roughly six men, automatically indicating the sexual imbalance between genders. The reaction that a male would have to this video would be rather diffeent to the reaction of a heterosexual female, showing the sexual imbalance in the way the women are presented and the different ways men and women view and react to these types of female appearances.