In 2013 “Blurred Lines” by Robin
Thicke and “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus provoked a world wide controversy. With semi or completely nude, submissive women objectified and viewed as sexual objects for the male gaze in their videos, audiences prompted the question;
Are pop videos sexist?
The following music videos are analysed to see if this statement is true.
Laura Mulvey's theory suggests that the male gaze denies women human identity, relegating them to the status of objects to be admired for physical appearance.
The following music videos are analysed to see if this statement is true.
Laura Mulvey's theory suggests that the male gaze denies women human identity, relegating them to the status of objects to be admired for physical appearance.
The theory suggests woman can more often than
not only watch a film from a secondary perspective and only view themselves
from a man’s perspective.
However the presence of a woman in mainstream
film texts is something that is vital.
Often a female character has no real importance
herself, it is how she makes the male feel or act that is the importance (the female only exist in relation to the male).
The male gaze leads to Hegemonic
ideologies within our society:
Hegemonic = ruling or dominant in a
political or social context.
Mulvey states that the role of a female
character in a narrative has two functions:
- As
an erotic object for the characters within the narrative to view
- As
an erotic object for the spectators within the cinema to view
The characters that look at others are seen as
the active role (male).
The characters that are to be looked at are
passive (female). They are under control of the males gaze and only exist for
visual pleasure.
Females often slow the narrative down, they act
as inspiration for men to act.
Males on the other hand, push the narrative
forwards and make things happen and are seen as active.
Female Objectification
Objectification is related to the gaze
The people gazed at are objectified, treated
as an object whose sole value is to be enjoyed or possessed by the voyeur.
Objectified characters are devalued and their
humanity removed.
Patriarchal society = Men dictate the rules
Mulvey argued we live in a patriarchal society
in which men set the majority of the rules and construct and represent the
ideal visions, roles and male dominance over woman.
The worry is a passive audience will be
influenced by this representation of reality and copy it and it will actually
become reality…if it hasn’t all ready.
Laura Mulvey’s theory relates to
classical Hollywood cinema. However, we can apply some of her ideas to our work
on the pop video.
How many of these characteristics
apply to Music Videos?
The male gaze =
•
Women viewed as the objects of male erotic
desire – in film and audience
•
Men active / women passive.
•
Women do not
have agency – they do not move the plot forward.
•
The audience is forced to identify with male
gaze.
•
Cinema reflects patriarchal (male dominated)
society
•
Patriarchy and phallocentrism linked – phallus
(penis) a symbol of power – e.g. in cinema guns = phallus = power.
“Wrecking Ball”
This video is a sharp constrast to Miley's previous image of Hannah Montana. It illustrates the loss of purity and innocence. The video was created probably as a statement that Miley is a woman now, instead of the child Hannah was.
According to statements from Miley, her reason for her nudity in her video was to illustrae the vulnerability she felt in the song. Yet, couldn't have there been other ways for her to express this?
In my opinion, I believe Miley was being exploited in her video and was convinced she was making a statment, basing her self worth on what she looked like to the male population.
“Hard out Here”
•
Is this a ‘feminist’ pop video?
•
Is it a parody or is Allen sexualising women
too?
•
Does this pop video objectify women and defeat
Allen’s objective?
Lily Allen’s “Hard out Here” video parodied black music videos that reduce black women’s bodies to lurid props. The video was a statement on how women were being treated in music videos, however, Lily did not portray this image in the correct way. Due to the way the video was filmed, the male audience will not be drawn to the message but rather the dancers used as sarcastic points.
A music video that seems to diverge from Laura Mulvey's theory is Hit and Run by LOLO
In here, the female character is active, not passive.
The video seems to take a reversed view on sexism, where all men are the same: voyeuristic crooks. However, there are elements of male voyeurism in the video. Passive female characters such as the exotic dancers, the female victim on the street and the lead character's sister seem to symbolise an acknowledgement of patriarchy, and yet the video challenges this notion overall (the lead female shows up in most female inferior environments).
In one particular scene (where the lead character's sister gets attacked), she bites the hand over her mouth. This is an interesting clip as it may symbolise the struggle for female equality, and yet, she is thrown the the ground for being defiant, this symbolises man's dismissal of woman's outburst.
In addition to the pro-femminism air within the video, with a strong, lead female character, the video was also directed, surprisingly, by Whitey McConnaughy, the writer of Jackass: The Movie.
