Laura Mulvey expresses her idea on the different gender roles in music videos and their representations which is split into two categories - The male gaze and the passive women. Her theory consists of the idea on contrasting genders, with the male domination compared to the objectification of women seen as 'objects'. The concept of the gaze consists of the way which the women are seen by the audience, particularly the men. Features of the male involves the camera focusing on the womens' curves, sexualizing the females body image. The male gaze denies women human agency, relegating them to the status of objects. Therefore the female viewers experience the text narrative secondarily.
This is mainly indicated in R&B music videos along with the idea of explicit sexual content in terms of lyrics and image of the song. These video's usually portray female nudity, creating a source of pleasure towards men, making them appear as as the dominant sex. Despite this, many female artists take on the dominant role in music videos but still tend to express their sexuality through their clothes and the way they act, which contradicts Mulroney's theory whereas artists such as Adele oppose to this theory.
Here are a few video's which represent Laura Mulvey's theory.
KANYE WEST - GOLD DIGGER
The video for 'Gold Digger' consists of the lead singer, Kanye West taking on the main role, gazing upon a various amount of women who appear to feature on "men's magazine" frames. The women are dressed in minimum 'sexy' lingerie outfits and the video focuses on the females' body and flirtatious dancing. This supports Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze.
CIARA - GOODIES
Although artists such as Ciara tend to take on the dominant role, Mulvey's theory on the passive woman still applies to Ciaras 'Goodies'. The introduction of herself in the video is by a group of men, supporting 'the male gaze'. The choice of clothes for Ciaras outfits consist of revealing clothes such as a bikini, followed by the highly sexualized dancing, which makes the video fall into this category.
VIDEOS WHICH GO AGAINST THIS THEORY
ADELE - SOMEONE LIKE YOU
Adele is seen as the biggest selling artist of 2012. She has won 6 Grammy's in one rounding and is largely influenced by many due to her extreme talent. This conflicts Mulvey's theory as the majority of her video's are pretty simple and do not portray the 'typical pop' video'. The video displays Adele dressed in casual smart clothes, walking down a road for the entire video. Her image is portrayed in non-sexual way which causes the audience to focus on the song and lyrics rather relying on the video for attention to the song.
VIDEO'S THAT CONTRADICT THIS THEORY
BEYONCE - RUN THE WORLD (GIRLS)
JESSIE J - DO IT LIKE A DUDE
These video contradict this theory. Similarly to the Ciara video, Beyonce and Jessie J both take on the domiant role which promote the female image in the mainstream music industry, although the portrayal of both of the acts are still sexualized in terms of their dancing and clothes.
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