Research - Laura Mulvey On Representation

Laura Mulvey

“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 style accordingly.”
In other words, we live in a world with sexual imbalances as there is a divide between active males and passive females.

Women are represented in a very sexual and passive way in music videos. A particular genre that women are represented sexually in is often hip hop and RnB music videos. Mulvey’s opinion is 100% still relevant to today’s society. Women are still represented in a sexual way and most videos that involve passive women are targeted towards men. 

The image of an artist in a music video is carefully planned. From the choice of clothes, hair and make-up to the ‘narrative’ and it is up to the audience to interpret the representation based on our cultural references and understandings.

The Saturdays - Just Cant Get Enough 

In this music video with The Saturdays, the women are represented sexually through their mise en scene and performance predominately. The women are wearing revealing attire such as netted tights, bralets, short skirts and shorts. Therefore it will trigger a male gaze. 

Beyonce - Dance For You 

Similarly, in this music video, Beyonce is represented in a sexually passive way. Again, she is wearing “seductive” clothing and her performance also has sexual references and ultimately, will trigger a male gaze.

Despite there being many music videos that represent women in a passively sexual way, there are also some videos that represent men in a passively sexual way, for example the music video for Bad Boys with Alexandra Burke. 

In this music video, Alexandra Burke is wearing a black leather jacket and black wet look leggings. In some shots she is in a silver short dress but that compared to many other videos makes her represented less sexually. However, some of the men in the video are topless and are very toned and greased up making it somewhat a female gaze.