Film and Music Video Theories Media Studies lesson 3/10/12

The Three Main Theories Feminist Theory Marxist Theory Psychoanalytic Theory

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.

Marxism Karl Marx, “Das Kapital” (1867) Throughout history, there has been a struggle between a ruling class and an oppressed class via modes of production (machines, working conditions) The proletariat should own the means of production

Marxist Film Theory The film system, in particular Hollywood, not only promotes but reinforces the struggle: Film equipment Film studios Financing Images Therefore, if the makers of the music make their own videos, that satisfies Marxist theory

Marxist Film Theory Shot Reverse Shot – seen by Marxists as promoting capitalist ideology/Hollywood ideal (a sort of Boss Gaze) Institutional Mode of Representation Sergei Eisenstein – “Battleship Potempkin” Cf The Untouchables

Marxist Film Theory Hegelian Dialectic 1. Thesis – initial idea 2. Antithesis - opposing Idea 3. Synthesis – final outcome based on an understanding of both thesis

Marxist Film Theory Lev KuleshovLev Kuleshov was an early Russian filmmaker who believed that juxtaposing two unrelated images could convey a separate meaning. In his experiment he filmed Mozhukhin, a famous Russian actor, and shots of a bowl of soup, a girl, a teddy bear, and a child's coffin. He then cut the shot of the actor into the other shot; each time it was the same shot of the actor. Viewers felt that the shots of the actor conveyed different emotions, though each time it was in fact the same shot.Russianfilmmakerexperimentactor Cf. montage in music video

Marxist Film Theory Remove the protagonist Let the images tell the story

Marxist Theory Marxist literary theory: How does the author's social and economic class show through in the work? Does the work support the economic and social status quo, or does it advocate change? (Particularly appropriate for dystopian/utopian novels.) What role does the class system play in the work?

Psychoanalytic Theory Sigmund Freud – psychoanalyst Much of our behaviour is characterised by suppressed sexual desires from our childhood Dreams analysis Symbolism e.g. phallic objects Cf surrealism

Psychoanalytic Theory The Id The Id (Latin, = "it" = "es" in the original German) represented primary process thinking -- our most primitive need gratification type thoughts. The Id, Freud stated, constitutes part of one's unconscious mind. It acts on primitive instinctual urges (sex, hunger, anger etc).

The Superego The Superego represented our conscience and counteracted the Id with moral and ethical thoughts. The Superego, Freud stated, is the moral agent that links both our conscious and unconscious minds. The Superego stands in opposition to the desires of the Id. The Superego is itself part of the unconscious mind; it is the internalization of the world view and norms and mores a child absorbs from parents and peers. As the conscience, it is knowledge of right and wrong; as world view it is knowledge of what is real. conscience moralethicalconscious normsmores real

Psychoanalytic Theory The Ego The Ego stands in between both to balance our primitive needs and our moral/ethical beliefs. ("Ego" means "I" in Latin). Freud stated that the Ego resides almost entirely in our conscious mind. Latin In Freud's view the Ego stands in between both to balance our primitive needs and our moral/ethical beliefs. Relying on experience, a healthy Ego provides the ability to adapt to reality and interact with the outside world in a way that accommodates both Id and Superego.

Psychoanalytic Theory Like Levi-Strauss’ theory of binary oppositions, a character’s motivation could be the ego’s attempts to mediate between the id and the super-ego

Psychoanalytic Theory Jacques Lacan Laura Mulvey Shot Reverse Shot