Feminist Theory Music Videos 20/9/13

Feminist Theory The Male Gaze The function of women in particular genres Feminist criticism in general

The Male Gaze Film constructs a “view” for us of the events, like looking through a keyhole The film-maker, the film system, ultimately society itself, conspires to construct that “view” or GAZE

The Male Gaze Laura Mulvey, ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ (1975)

The Male Gaze scopophilia - the pleasure involved in looking at other people’s bodies as (particularly, erotic) objects. Cf. Big Brother “Traditional films present men as active, controlling subjects and treat women as passive objects of desire for men in both the story and in the audience, and do not allow women to be desiring sexual subjects in their own right.” (Notes on 'The Gaze‘, Daniel Chandler) Cf. Hip-hop/dance videos

The Male Gaze ‘As the spectator identifies with the main male protagonist, he projects his look onto that of his like, his screen surrogate, so that the power of the male protagonist as he controls events coincides with the active power of the erotic look, both giving a satisfying sense of omnipotence’ Cf. identification with singer in hip-hop/RnB videos

The Male Gaze Shot Reverse Shot: 1. We see the face of the (male) actor look at something. 2. We see the object s/he are looking at 3. We go back to the face of the actor to see his/her reaction

The Function of Women The villain The donor The helper The Princess (or sought-for person) The dispatcher The hero/victim The false hero Vladimir Propp, The Morphology of the Folk Tale

The Function of Women in music video The object of desire Or The embodiment of power and control?

Roles in music video genres Rock Hip-hop R’n’B Indie Garage/Dance Reality Pop

Women’s roles Video makers – directors, producers Singers/bands Extras

Feminist criticism Looks at the film from the perspective of women e.g. Babe A film about a woman (the farmer’s wife)’s attempts to break free from male dominated industry (she tries to have the pig killed) but is thwarted by his sentimentality.