RESEARCH: Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey on Representation- 1992, Summary

“In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styles accordingly.” – Laura Mulvey, 1992

Laura Mulvey in her studies comments on the representation of gender in music videos. She notes how men are represented as strong, with positive representations and active and women on the other hand represented as objects, who are less powerful and passive. These are called binary oppositions.

In Mulvey’s review due to the differences in power between men and women, the way in which women are represented reflects the male point of view (explaining the male gaze) of how women should look, as many camera men, producers and directors are in fact men.

One example showing Laura Mulvey’s explanation on representation and the male gaze is Wiley- Heatwave

This video is from the male perspective. Here we see dismembering shots of female body parts at various times throughout the video, the mise en scene shows many women to one man, with all the girls in swim suits and bikinis dancing around a pool. With the shots of the women in this way, it reflects on Mulvey’s view on representation.

One example that slightly challenges the male gaze and looks upon the female gaze is Destiny’s Child- Solider

In this video there is less dismemberment of the women in the video, but more close up shots, long shots and mid shots of the group and more cut away shots of the men featured in the video, though not with the same scenes and length of that seen in some male gaze videos.