Male Gaze Theory
Male Gaze Theory
- Written by Laura Mulvey in 1975
- ALL media products are made for heterosexual (straight) males. Women costumes are often tighter,
shorter and more revealing.
- Women are highly sexualised in the media, in order for media industries to make money and for
men to gain sexual pleasure.
Uses and Gratifications Theory
Information
- To learn about the world we live in
Personal Identity
- To IDENTIFY with a star
Personal Relationship
- With each other- using the media as a talking point to build friendships
E.g "did you see eastenders last night?"
- With the media- building 'relationship' with a celebrity e.g Kim kardashion- watching her show
following her twitter, buying her branded products.
Entertainment
- To fill time/ escape from a normal life
Set music texts!
The vamps- Somebody To You ft. Demi Lovato
Little Mix- Black Magic
Watch the videos and then RANK them in order of how engaging you found them. Refer to video techniques we've studied.
1. Little Mix - Black Magic
1. Little Mix - Black Magic
2. The Vamps - Somebody To You ft. Demi Lovato
Concider if they adhere to Goodwin's music video rules. Write down why or why not.
In the little mix music video- black magic it has a strong link between the lyrics and the videos, for example they are singing about magic and the video is edited to make in seem as tho there is magic happening. The girls are also lip syncing through the whole video and the video makes an intertextual reference to mean girls in a sense that the 'bully's' of the school get the bad karma that they deserve. It also contains the genre of comedy and pop in it. The video has notations of looking after little mix change from the stereotypical geek into the stereotypical popular girls, their outfits are highly sexualised with small and short outfits. The record label also presents little mix as kind and caring when they see the 'geek' being laughed out and they help him. The video is performance and narrative based.
In the vamps music video- somebody to you, the band is lip syncing in some scenes of the video, it also has notations of looking when the girls featured in the video are in bikinis and swimwear and the vamps and seen to be looking and staring at them, in the scene where the band are playing on the beach they are looking directly into the camera and the band are presented as popular and highlighted as the most important part in the video, it is performance based video.
Link ideas to the male gaze theory and uses and gratifications theory
The little mix video uses both the male gaze theory and the uses and gratifications thoery. The male gaze theory applies to the girl groups small and tight costumes that are extremely revealing, this also links into the uses and gratifications theory as it can be seen as a way for people to gain sexual gratification.
However in the vamps video the male group are covered and dressed properly but the girls who feature are wearing bikinis and shorts which also means that the uses and gratifications theory applies- sexual gratification and so does the male gaze theory.
Concider if they adhere to Goodwin's music video rules. Write down why or why not.
In the little mix music video- black magic it has a strong link between the lyrics and the videos, for example they are singing about magic and the video is edited to make in seem as tho there is magic happening. The girls are also lip syncing through the whole video and the video makes an intertextual reference to mean girls in a sense that the 'bully's' of the school get the bad karma that they deserve. It also contains the genre of comedy and pop in it. The video has notations of looking after little mix change from the stereotypical geek into the stereotypical popular girls, their outfits are highly sexualised with small and short outfits. The record label also presents little mix as kind and caring when they see the 'geek' being laughed out and they help him. The video is performance and narrative based.
In the vamps music video- somebody to you, the band is lip syncing in some scenes of the video, it also has notations of looking when the girls featured in the video are in bikinis and swimwear and the vamps and seen to be looking and staring at them, in the scene where the band are playing on the beach they are looking directly into the camera and the band are presented as popular and highlighted as the most important part in the video, it is performance based video.
Link ideas to the male gaze theory and uses and gratifications theory
The little mix video uses both the male gaze theory and the uses and gratifications thoery. The male gaze theory applies to the girl groups small and tight costumes that are extremely revealing, this also links into the uses and gratifications theory as it can be seen as a way for people to gain sexual gratification.
However in the vamps video the male group are covered and dressed properly but the girls who feature are wearing bikinis and shorts which also means that the uses and gratifications theory applies- sexual gratification and so does the male gaze theory.
Think about why they may get repeat views or be shared / recommended. Write down 5 bullet points for each video
Little mix- black magic
- a topic of conversation
- different editing style (magic)
- many costume changes
- fast editing
- scenes
The vamps- Somebody to you
- Costumes
- How the band look
- the women in the video
- Editing style
- Scenery
A brilliant blog post.
ReplyDeleteYour link to Goodwin's theory is very clear. Try and push yourself further and thing about the effect - e.g. what is the effect of notions of looking?