Laura Mulvey is a British film theorist famous for her essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, which introduced her theory of the ‘male gaze’
The concept of gaze is one that deals with how audience views the people presented. She made the claim that film audience has to ‘view’ characters from the perspective of a heterosexual man. She also explained how cinematography is used and how the camera is used to show the curves of a women’s body. This relegates women to the status of ‘an object’.
‘How could Mulvey’s theory link to your project?’
In our music video we plan to show relationships. This means we have to represent a man and a woman and represent them in a way which is recognisable to the audience. We now have to choose how to depict our characters and give them their own personalities within a relationship.
The image above is a classic example of how the camera lingers on the curves of an actress who is told to act this way. She's also been put with a stereotypically male job of fixing a car which some men may find attracting as the women is wearing tight clothes, loop earrings and has her hair down. Not exactly your common overalls....
The image above is a classic example of how the camera lingers on the curves of an actress who is told to act this way. She's also been put with a stereotypically male job of fixing a car which some men may find attracting as the women is wearing tight clothes, loop earrings and has her hair down. Not exactly your common overalls....
A nice write up of some of Mulvey's ideas here. If the issue arises, another potential blog post could be on whether or not you chose to utilise, modify or challenge the 'male gaze' during your filming! - Mr Thorogood
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