Feminist and Sterotype Theory

Feminist Theory

In 1975, Laura Mulvey argued that the dominant point of view is masculine and the female body is displayed for the 'Male Gaze' in order to provide erotic pleasure for the male - which is known as 'Voyeurism'. The 'Male Gaze' is defined as - the objectification of women's bodies in the media, which has now become a constant theme. On top of that, in 1972, John Berger made a variety of comments on the 'Ways Of Seeing'. He stated that "Men act and women appear", "Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at" and "Women are aware of being seen by a male spectator". This presents that women know they are being objectified, but there was nothing they were able to do about it at the time.

Women are continuously being objectified in different ways these days and are doing it just to please men or in some cases, to get attention. This links in with Commercial Exhibitionist because women are using their appearance to get the attention of men. The majority of music videos these days will express this view and you will see many men objectifying women and watching them do things for their pleasure. In different types of media you will be able to see that women are often objectified by the camera lens and whatever gender the audience is positioned to accept the masculine point of view. Although most music videos these days will present the 'Male Gaze' you may sometimes see the 'Female Gaze' which is where you will see men dressing down to get the attention of women. Below I have generated some ideas and found some music videos which present the 'Male and Female Gaze' and how certain artists use this theory to appeal to their audience or to attract people to like their products.

Male Gaze  

As previously said, the 'Male Gaze' is when women are generally objectified in different forms of media - usually to appeal to men and for their pleasure. In the 1970s, women often hated being objectified and would want to show that they could be less feminine and are able to (eg. cutting their hair short, wearing no make up or wearing baggy clothes) and would like to express that they should be equal to men. However, nowadays most women like to wear make up, have long hair and show off their feminine side which can be presented in some of these music videos. In parts of these videos, the women where not wanting to do the things they were made to do, which still shows they are being objectified, but some where willing to do it to show off their appearance and to attract men. Here are some of those music videos;

Miley Cyrus - Wrecking Ball

Katy Perry - California Gurls

Nicki Minaj - Anaconda 

Here is a short presentation to show how each of these music videos relate to the 'Male Gaze';

Music Video Explanations - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Female Gaze

The 'Female Gaze' is very similar to the 'Male Gaze', but it is just objectifying men rather than women. The 'Female Gaze' isn't as popular as the 'Male Gaze' as men were always seen as superior to women, so would not be objectified as much. Nonetheless, you will occasionally see a music video where the male has been made to take their clothes off or have to do something so women will enjoy it and will want to see more. Here are some music videos to help represent the 'Female Gaze';

Carly Rae Jepsen - Call Me Maybe

Jennifer Lopez - I Luh Ya Papi

Marina And The Diamonds - How To Be A Heartbreaker 

Here is a quick presentation to demonstrate how each of these music videos relate to the 'Female Gaze';

Stereotype Theory

In 1998, O'Sullivan et al stated that a stereotype is a label that involves a process of categorisation and evaluation. We will often call stereotypes 'shorthand to narratives' because such simplistic representations define our understanding of media texts. For example, if someone was watching a video with a protagonist and antagonist, then you would know who the good guy and the bad guy is. Below are some examples of music videos that are stereotypical of a certain genre;

G-Easy

This song was released in 2015 and in the music video you can see a variety of stereotypical features that often appear in a rap music video. In this video, you can see the singer with a large group of people and the main artist is regularly doing hand gestures, which is stereotypical of rap singers as the lyrics go along with a fast beat and the rappers often need to keep with the beat, so they will do these gestures. On top of that, the clothes all the people are wearing and all the cars that appear in the video reinforce the fact that this is a rap music video because they are mainly the types of props that appear in most videos of this genre.

Blink-182

This song was released in 2011 and we are able to see that it is stereotypical of a Punk/Rock music video because of the dark lighting that has been used and the type of camera angles. Throughout this video you can see that the camera is generally quite shaky which reinforces the fact that this is Punk/Rock because the shaky cameras will highlight that a lot is going on at once and that there is rebellion occurring. Also, another thing that is stereotypical for this genre of music is the fact that the band are featuring in the video and are playing their own instruments - they are also surrounded by fire to present the darkness and danger of the genre of this band. In addition, you are able to see the amount of rebellion in this music video which is again very stereotypical of this genre of music.