Laura Mulveys Male Gaze Theory

Laura Mulvey has a theory on how women are represented in media, she states that the camera portrays them as sexual objects through shot types and movement. She also states that the female gaze is the same as the male gaze because women look at themselves through the eyes of men.

As a way to test this theory we watched the music videos for the current top five songs in the U.K charts, and has to make notes of whether they:

• Emphasise the curves of the female body
• Show women as objects
• Display women as a way to please men
• Would make women see it through the eyes of a man
• Are sexualised based on sexual desire from the way they look

The music video we studied were Calvin harris - Blame, Lilt Wood - Prayer, Sam Smith - I'm not the only one, Taylor Swift - Shake it off, and Iggy Azalea/Rhianna - Black Widow. At least 4 of the 5 areas were included in every one of these videos which is significant proof that Laura Mulveys theory is correct.

In recent videos such as "Black Widow", both Rita Ora and Iggy Azalea have had their curves emphasised through the use of camera angles and wardrobe, their outfits are tight body suits that leave little to the imagination, this is a great example of Mulveys theory.

Another well known video that was criticised for the way women are represented within it is "Blurred lines" by Robin Thicke. The video above is actually the cleaner version as in the original the women are almost fully naked. This video is a perfect example to support Laura's theory as women are clearly represented as a way to please men, shown as objects, and are sexualised from the way they look. They are represented this way throughout the majority of the video.

To further prove the theory we also looked at some film trailers for recent or upcoming movies which also all show the majority of these areas, if anything it was shown more in the trailers than the music videos. The trailers we looked at were for Lucy, Sex Tape, Before I Go To Sleep, The Inbetweeners 2 and Let's Be Cops. In movies there are often scenes where a women is shown in little clothing for no actual reason, this gives the idea that men would not be interested in watching a movie without a good looking woman who gets half naked included within in.