Research - Laura Mulvey about representation

Laura Mulvey's theory on representation of gender states that the male figure in music videos is the dominant figure, whereas women are only seen through the male point of view as objects of desire. Women in music videos seem to accept this sexualised passive position, and some pop singers like Madonna or Britney Spears present themselves this way deliberately in order to attract male audiences. However, they directly look at the camera being imposing and confident, which does not necessarily portray them as passive, but still presents them as objects of male gaze. This representation of male/active and female/passive often occurs in music videos from genres such as hip-hop and heavy metal.

In the following presentation of pictures you can see a series of screen shots I took from different music videos with male artists (most of them from the hip-hop genre). Women are clearly presented as mere sexual objects whereas the artist is the one powerful who can get all those sexy girls. The representation of women is sexual and they often use women that have an appearance to be considered pretty and sexy, like for example girls with athletic bodies, a lot of breast and faces that look attractive. This is all for the male gaze, and it might create some kind of 'ideal model' for women, for example, women watching those music videos might think that they can only be desired by men if they have such 'perfect' bodies. 

Mulvey also suggests that women are 'dismembered'. The total focus is on specific parts of their bodies that are considered desirable by men (such as legs, breast, bum) instead of focusing on the woman as a whole and as an individual, while men are shown as a whole. The following screen shots are taken from the same music videos of the screen shots above. The music videos are clearly selling the women's body rather than their personalities or figure. It is as if the woman identity is completely irrelevant in the music video, because what men want to consume is only the body. 

Missy Elliot is an artist that challenges this theory. In her music videos she doesn't present herself as an object of male desire neither she is sexualised or passive. She is dominant and the viewers can focus on her as an individual and as a whole. Not only she breaks the concept of women being products of male gaze, as she also often portrays male and female as equals.