Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory

   She believes that in television audiences have to “view” characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.  

T This is the concept of the gaze is one that deals with how people an audience views the people presented

      For feminists it can be thought of in  3 ways:

•       How men look at women
•        How women look at themselves
•        How women look at each other

    Features:

·         The camera lingers on the curves of the female body, and an event which occurs to women are presented largely in the context of a man’s reaction to these events. Relegates woman to the status of objects. The female viewer must experience the narrative secondarily, by identification with the male.

   Also some theorists also have noticed the sexualising of the female body even in situations where females sexiness has nothing to do with product being advertise

   Criticisms:

        

•       Some women enjoy being looked at, for example beauty pageants
•          The gaze can also be directed toward members of the same gender for several reasons, not all of which are sexual, such as in comparison of body image or in clothing.
•      Marjorie Ferguson (1980) categorised facial expressions for women:
•          Chocolate box

Here is an example of a music video that shows Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory:

Kylie Minogue - Spinning Around

This video shows a lot of the conventions of Laura Mulvey's theory, however, there are some small part which go against the theory.

Within the first shot of the video, we can see Kylie's feet. She is wearing kitten heels that are gold. This type of footwear suggests to the audience that Kylie is a confident character and that she is out going. The colour of the shoes implies that Kylie is some sort of prize possession - relating to the male gaze theory. Kylie then spins around (following the lyrics of the song). The movement within the shots is slow motion, this allows the audience to concentrate on the characters. This also follows Mulvey's theory as she suggested that women were presented in a way to give men pleasure. The slow motion effect of the shot allows the audience to see Kylie in a more detailed way.

The next shot is again another close-up which also gives more pleasure to the audience. The close-up is of Kylie's bum, therefore giving off sexual connotations. She still continues to wear the colour gold symbolising that she is some sort of prize. 

In the next few shots, Kylie is laid upon the table in front of the bar. The bartenders are men who are serving alcohol. This could be the reason that Kylie is dancing in such a provocative way. The men are also watching the character her when she is laying on the bar. This is like she is performing a dance act for them. Her facial expression is happy, implying that she is happy with what she is doing. When Kylie is laying

on the table she is wearing a bikini top and in the other shots she is wearing shorts and a halter neck top which reveals her shoulders and arms. The character is presented in a way that exposes her body suggesting that the male gaze relates to this video due to the female being shown on screen in a form that gives pleasure towards the audience. The audience are suggested to be men due to the way the main character is presented.