Mulvey theory

Sarah Walley

The male gazeLaura Mulvey devised a theory to express the way that women are represented. She came up with the suggestion that women are always seen through a heterosexual males view and can be seen as virginally innocent or as a sexually active female often described as a ‘whore’. It has since become known as the virgin/whore dichotomy because of the way they can be chosen to be represented. Media will always cater to the audiences wants and for most males the objectification women seems to be what the audience wants.

Music videos are a marketing tool to sell the actual product, so by having male attention and exaggerating the beauty of women, it sells the product and becomes a success. However, if this was not present in the videos then they would not sell as well as they would with women. Mulvey also suggests that to gaze at someone gives them power over the subject. So therefore putting the audience in a position of power, which is so attractive.

This will apply to my music video as I am doing a country and western genre. I have decided to represent my female artist as a vaginally innocent character. I have decided this as my target audience is a young one, and the songs that I have been thinking about are not the type of songs that one would associate sexual thoughts, as in all of the songs I have narrowed down; the character is always in a position of vulnerability. This would mean that to expose the artist to that would not suit the lyrics and would not make the music video look very professional.

Examples of the Male Gaze