Laura Mulvey: In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split

between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy

onto the female figure which is styled accordingly.

I think in Mulvey’s theory she is trying to convey that in this world there is a great amount of inequality between the sexes and males and females have always played particular roles; males play more dominant roles females passive.

In relation to music videos, women are often largely objectified through skimpy clothing or particular shots focusing on body parts, this contrasts the perception of the male this are deemed as a powerful figure which women are surrounding. One

genre which does this a lot is hip-hop there is often a male which gold teeth, expensive cars ,flashy clothes and he is surrounded by half naked girls.

MULVEY’S THEORY

A video which is a prime example of Mulvey’s theory is Jason Derulo’s video for his song ”Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle”. This video shows Jason Derulo throughout the video Jason Derulo is the centre focus the first shot shows him surrounded by a large group of women like a king. Then throughout the video there are a range of close ups to women's body parts and them dancing in a proactive manor wearing clothing which shows there figure.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiP14ED28CA

EXAMPLE

Another video which is an example of Mulvey’s theory is in J Spades “Twerk”.

In this video it also features women dancing in little clothing and surround the

males in the videos. Close ups to there body parts and shots of them

bouncing on the trampoline are used to objectify them. I wanted to use this

video as an example as well as the Jason Derulo video to show that Mulvey’s

theory relates to small independent artists as well as ones signed to major

labels. The males in J spades “Twerk” are all in expensive clothing while the

women are sat like they are trophies.

Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf6gp0cbsbA

EXAMPLE 2