The male gaze and the contemporary representation of women in media

In this essay I am going to be analysing the extent that Mulvey’s male gaze theory and Schroeder’s theory can be applied to contemporary media texts.

Mulvey’s theory can be applied to the music video of blurred lines to the extent that the camera work and overall mise en scène is focused on showing off the females body including close ups of her body and figure which is set up for the pleasure of males and so that the gazer is going to be objectifying the women as sexual objects to the extent that they lose aspects of their identity as a human being due to being hyper sexualised to be seen in a degrading way that will be seen by the audience who are put into the perspective of a heterosexual male. Within the video for Blurred Lines we see women in the male gaze as they are shown to be wearing short clothing, which is designed to show off their bodies once again this is done to gain the attention and see the males perspective of these women. It is also significant that these women in the music video are shown to be wearing white; the same colour as the background of the video which could be viewed in the sense that these women are not meant to stand out against the patriarchal males, who in contrast to these women’s absence of clothing are fully clothed in business suits which indicates their power and dominance whilst at the same time wearing black which contrasts with the white background making the males significant as they stand out and presenting to audiences the clear hierarchy between male and female in this music video.

The mise-en-scène can also be linked to the idea of the male gaze in the sense that these women are using makeup to look pretty for the males so that they will be visually appealing to the audience and also to the extent that they will be presentable and attractive to a males eye. The lyrics of this song also conform the male gaze and Schroeder’s theory as there are examples that say “I know you want it” which is connoted with the idea of rape this can be linked to Schroeder’s theory as it is portraying the message that men are so superior to women that they are able to tell them when they wish to come across as being sexualised which is throughout this video. This will also portray to audiences since this message is repeated throughout the song that this act is acceptable and it is ok to dehumanise women and only see them as sexual objects put in place for the pleasure of men. Another example of lyrics, which can relate to Schroeder’s theory and the idea that women are becoming victims of fetishistic scopophilia is the lyric “tried to domesticate ya, but you’re an animal baby it’s in your nature.” This can primarily be linked to Schroeder’s theory as women, in this context are described as animals or pets that need to be domesticated which implies that women are dependant on men and view them as superior as they would be seen as having the ability to control these women due to the fact that they are

stereotypically expected to be strong and have control over these women which will ensure the female gender role of being submissive to males.

Another contemporary media text in which we can apply Mulvey’s male gaze is the car scene in the Transformers in which the camera work is done in such a way so that the audience who becomes the superior gazer in this situation is focusing on the sexualised body of the female, the audience is then further submerged into being part of the male gaze as they are being shown the reaction of the male towards the sexualisation of an everyday situation that has been created in this media text with the aim of pleasing male audience members.

However on the other hand it can be argued that whilst the male gaze is still present within contemporary media texts but since Mulvey’s theory was written more than 20 years ago we have seen social changes that show women as becoming more empowered within media texts. For example in the film Charlie’s angels we see these women saying that they “work for themselves” this connotes that women are gaining independence from men and are able to do things on their own and do not need the support of a male in order to be important within a media text . Furthermore within the mise en scene we see more camera angles that show that women have power such as full body shots as opposed to medium close ups which may only draw attention to for example the torso and breasts of a women. In contemporary films e.g. since the millennium audiences have seen an increase in female protagonists and representation within the media as females are carrying out roles which before would have stereotypically been

carried out by men such as Katniss in the Hunger Games Trilogy who is shown as being violent and overthrowing male authority, which is completely against the traditional female role of being dainty and relying on men in violent situations.

In conclusion I believe that the male gaze is still present within contemporary media texts however we are moving slowly towards a more equal representation within media texts however since we currently live in a patriarchal society we are more likely to be seeing the male gaze dominating media texts and the general fetishizing of females within popular culture.