Laura Mulvey theory of the ‘male gaze’
Laura Mulvey’s feminist theory of the ‘male gaze’ has a
variety of pro’s and con’s. Mulvey says that women are made to look desirable
as they are seen as passive objects and as submissive to the more dominant male
in media texts today. However it isn’t only the males who have this viewpoint
but everyone whether you are homosexual or heterosexual male or female, you are
still looking at the females as desiring heterosexual pleasures. This theory
was first proposed in 1975 and so some people would argue that this theory is
out of date as it can’t strictly be true in today’s media. However women are
still portrayed sexually to catch the attention of and appeal to a wider target
audience because the media industry believes that the women cannot spread a
message without the use of their feminine features. It is said that the males
go through the notions of scopophilia and project their fantasy onto the female
figure, whilst the females imagine these characters as superior reflections of
themselves.
There are some videos which do actually show Laura
Mulvey’s theory being acted out For example in this music video of Lady Gaga’s
‘Bad Romance’ we see the men gazing at the women who are acting submissive. The
girls at the front are very provocative and revealing as they are using sexual
appeal by wearing these white leotards while in the mise-en-scene the men are
standing whilst the women are entertaining giving the message that women are
merely objects. The women are wearing white and the men are wearing black which
shows the innocence of the women and that they are being submissive whilst the
black clothes show the dominance of the males.
This is effective because it shows Mulvey’s gaze theory
to be correct. Also there are still many icons in industry’s such as music
videos, who are looked at as sexual objects. Rihanna and Nicki Minaj are not
only just two women who have a big impact on the music industry but they are
two women who have done so using sexual appeal and the males do ‘gaze’
at them, making their intention successful in building a larger fan base. The
male gaze theory is true for both artists as they both have videos which are
revealing and activate the notion of the three types of looking; looking as the
camera, as the audience and also as the actual character in the video. In Nicki
Minaj’s song High School, right from the beginning we get an image of her
standing next to a swimming pool with the camera looking up at Nicki Minaj
showing her assets. Also we see provocative images of Nicki in the pool which
suggests the women being submissive to men and allowing the men gaze at her
through the screen. Also in Rihanna’s videos, e.g. Rude Boy where she wear
shorts, low cut tops and also the
massive connotations of lips and the mouth are effective as they are also used
in attracting people using sexual nature and it as if she is trying to coax the
men in with her mouth. The was also many colours of red which suggests immense
passion and the men which stand around are all watching her as she dances In
these two prime 
However, as said previously,
the ‘gaze’ theory isn’t actually practical for the media of today as there are
changes to society and not everything is the same as what it was before. There
are now female gazes as men are made to look desirable for women to gaze and there
are also gay gazes. There are boy bands such as JLS who dress provocatively to
reach a wide target audience. As we can see in the image the males are wearing
vests and are standing out from the crowd. The low shot is very effective as it
looks as though they are looking down at their audience and it encourages the
audience to actually look at the four figures standing before them. This is
effective as it gives the group a bigger fan base as people are made to look at
them as fanatical sexual objects and not as normal human beings
Also there are some criticisms against the theory.
According to research, some people enjoy being looked at and so they’re not
being submissive but are merely showing the world themselves because that’s
what they enjoy doing. Also the ‘gaze’ can be directed at members of the same
gender but not as a sexual reference but in comparison of body image, clothing
etc. Also in the theory it is stated that the gaze is for use of viewpoint from
dominant males however now there are also many dominant females in the world.
In my opinion Laura Mulvey’s theory is true and there are
many icons whom use the ‘male gaze’ in their favour, however for it to fully
apply to today’s society there would be some changes needed to be made to the
definition of the ‘male gaze.’
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