Male Gaze Theory

Male Gaze Theory

(written by Laura Mulvey)

Uses and Gratifications 

Information

To learn about the world we live in.

Personal identity

To IDENTIFY with a star

Personal Relationships

With each other – using the

media as a talking point to build friendships. E.g. “did you see

Eastenders last night?”

With the media – building a ‘relationship’ with a celebrity. E.g. Kim Kardashian – watching her show, following her on twitter, buying her branded products.

Entertainment

To fill time / escape from normal life

People watch music videos for. . . (one of these reasons). . . because. . . 

Set Texts

The Vamps - somebody to you ft. Demi Lovato

Little Mix - Black Magic

You will watch the videos and then RANK them in order of how engaging you found them. Refer to the video techniques we’ve studied

Little Mix - Black magic

The vamps - Somebody to you

Consider if they adhere to Goodwin’s music video rules. Write down why or why not.

In the little mix music video, black magic there is a clear link between the lyrics and the visuals for example they are singing about magic and as they do that it is shown them doing magic. The video makes an intertextual reference to mean girls because the pretty popular bully girl got the karma she deserved. It contains the genre of comedy and pop in it. In this video their outfits are highly sexualised with small and short outfits which adheres to the voyeuristic treatment of the female body. The record label also presents little mix as kind and sympathetic when they stopped the girls laughing at the 'geek'. The video is performance and narrative based.

In The vamps music video, somebody to you, the band is  clearly lip syncing, there are lots of close ups of the lead singer and lead girl which puts all the spotlight on them, the vamps are shown looking directly at the camera in some parts, highlighting them as the most important people in the video. There is also a notion of looking shown when the girls featured are wearing bikinis. This is a performance based music video.

Link ideas to media theories including uses and gratifications and the male gaze

The Little mix video uses both the uses and gratifications and male gaze theory. The male gaze theory is shown with the girls outfits because they are tight short and extremely revealing, this links to the uses and gratifications theory because this could be a way for people to get sexual gratification.

In the vamps music video, the boys are fully covered however the girls are wearing bikinis so the male gaze theory is applied.

Think about why they may get repeat views or be shared / recommended. Write down 5 bullet points for each video

Little Mix- black magic

- many costume changes

- fast editing

- fun upbeat song

- tells a story 

The Vamps- somebody to you 

- women in the video

- scenery