Laura Mulvey - Male Gaze theory

Looks at how the audience view women who are presented in the media. She states that women are there to be seen and that the use of camera work portrays them as sexual objects, through shot types etc.

The male gaze typically focuses on:

• Emphasizing curves of the female body.
• Referring to women as objects rather than people.
• Display of women is how men think they should be perceived.
• Female viewers view content through the eyes of a man.
• Women are often sexualised and seen as objects and viewed based on sexual desire and the way they look.
• The Male Gaze describes how the audience or viewer is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man.

Laura Mulvey's theory can be applied to many videos today:

Anaconda - Nicki Minaj

Both this song and video are very sexual and based on how women should look to attract a male. The song obviously says that a man would not want a women if she doesn't have a big bottom. In the video the camera work and choreography focuses on the female body and emphasising the curves of the female body. The way that the girls provocatively dance is targeted at getting male attention; this also proves the male gaze theory as women will view this video as a male and think that this is how they should look to get male attention.

I'm not the only one - Sam Smith

Even though this song has quite a sincere meaning and the video follows a narrative of a man cheating on his wife, it still fits with Laura Mulvey's male gaze theory. At one point in the video a woman's back is seen in a very sexual way. This shows that even when the song isn't particularly sexual, the video usually still includes some sort of sexual connotations.