Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey stressed on the representation in media, however in this case we are only addressing gender as it is a more than obvious representation in music videos. Laura Mulvey stated;

‘In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly.’ Which was perceived in my classes own words as; ‘In a world of stereotypical sexism, male and female representation is divided, dominance of males and sexualisation of females. Male fantasies are projected onto female who dress to fit these fantasies.’

A low angle shot from Sisqo's Thong song giving the viewer a clear view of a woman's cleavage.

 A screen grab reinforcing the female dismemberment as the models wear an illuminus bikini to accentuate their bodies.

This notion can be illustrated by viewing Sisqo: Thong Song. The title of the song speaks for itself in terms of visual expectations for the music video. We can note a high number of dismemberment throughout the video specifying heavily on their physiques which only strengthens Laura Mulvey’s theory but also reinstates the stereotype of males being sex driven due to the mass sex appeal in the song. 

in this screen grab we can note that in contrast to Sisqo's thong song the roles have been flipped from female to male, challenging Laura Mulvey's theory

However this theory has somewhat been flipped around as shown in Nicki Minaj: Superbass where we see rapper Nicki take on a male role by using all of the conventions of a male (rap) video including models, cars, pools etc. This can have negative implications as it can be perceived that females have no self dignity and have happily become accustom to being these sex symbols. 

Artists such as Alicia Keys and Adele however maintain the idealistic role models of women, addressing their lyrics to emotionally touch listeners and receive popularity through their songs rather than their physical appearance or what materialistic goods they possess which is often demonstrated as the base tracks of their music videos show them playing a piano which equally shows that they are multi talented.

However it is to be noted that music videos vary entirely on the genre of the music itself which is why I have chosen to use a number of examples from the Rap/Hip-Hop genre as certain genres such as rock and Indie do not focus as heavily on the sex appeal.