Laura Mulvey on representation

Laura Mulvey's believes that we are 'in a world ordered by sexual imbalance,'' In which females are always 'gazed upon' by males for a projection of fantasy about the female's body. In relation to music videos, you find that most have the focus and camera on the female, whilst the male seemingly 'chases' after her. Having looked at this theory, I can now relate that to music videos, and see exactly what Mulvey was trying to point out.

Females in music videos are presented as the 'eye candy' to the guys in the video or whoever happens to be watching the video. Whether it's a short skirt showing off the long legs of the female, to the toned slim female in a bikini, it attracts the same male gaze and attention, therefore leading to this representation of females being the 'projection of fantasy.'

A few examples are:

In this summer hit by Dizzee Rascal, throughout the whole video we get woman after woman being slowly focused on, whilst they party in their bikini's. Seemingly outnumbered, the males are just enjoying their surroundings and giving the 'gaze.' Another example of the female being used as 'eye candy,' is the shot of the woman walking, whilst the camera being aimed at her bottom, as the picture beside shows.


Another music video example is Hit Me Baby One More Time by Britney Spears. This represents perhaps everything Laura Mulvey is trying to point out. Within the first 10 seconds you can spot Mulvey's theory. For example, all of the school girls outfit are quite outrageous for what is meant to be a school environment. This not only proves Mulvey's theory, but it also fulfils the 'naughty school girl' stereotype. How could a male not gaze at women dressed so provocatively? There could be no male's in the actual video but the target audience would more or less be men, therefore still creating the 'male gaze.'