Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Music Video analysis

Laura Mulvey developed the theory of the male gaze, this describes that the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual male. The audience sees female characters in a way that said male would. Although Mulvey agrees that women should enjoy attracting the male gaze but it does pose the problem that the male gaze is a form of males showing domination in an situation that that might not necessarily be true.

 In this music video Mulvey's theory of the male gaze is paramount. The artist (Kylie Minogue) is clearly provoking the attention of the male characters. She uses her sexuality to draw in a male audience although the song itself isn't entirely aimed at males. By wearing very little clothing and dancing provocatively, she compels the male proportion of the audience to continue watching. Further more in her doing this she appears weaker than the male characters in the video as she is executing all this just to get their attention. In this video there is clearly aimed at what men think of women, it has made to be seen from the perspective of a man. This is clear as many of the camera shots are focused on the features of the female physique, for example the camera lingers on her hips and bum. This not only draws the attention of men but also could be seen as making other women watching the video envious of her sexuality and how much attention from men she draws.

The audience can see from her facial expressions that she is enjoying the attention she is gaining, this further creates for the female audience a sense of envy. Further more the video is not so much to advertise the song but to advertise herself. Having this satisfaction for her ego and confidence to portray herself gains further attention from men. This video conforms completely with Mulvey's theory as the female character is purely using her sexuality to gain the male gaze rather than using other means.

In this video the male gaze is used in a slightly different way. The female character is not only gaining the gaze off the male characters but also this shows her using her sexuality do dominate the males. This conforms and subverts with the male gaze. There are many shots that conform with the male gaze for example one of the very first shots of the female character is of her legs, there's another shot that lingers on her bum. This immediately gains the attention of the male audience. Now she has gained the attention she uses it to dominate over the male characters. Although the video is focused on her, its narrative is the conflict between the lead singer and the boyfriend of the main female character attempting to gain the likes of the female. This almost turns the female character into an object to be won by one of the male characters. This once again shows the dominance the male characters exert over the female character.

The lyrics to the song are somewhat complementary to the woman but at certain points the audience can hear that he is simply judging her by her looks rather than getting to know her. This once more turns her into an object as often an object is chosen by looks rather than other aspects. Once more the female character's beauty and ability to gain the male gaze compels the female proportion of the audience to envy her.

This video totally flips the theory. The main female character, although she does wear provocative clothing, she barely appears dancing with men and is shown to be served by a woman. This immediately shows dominance over the male characters. At no point does the audience see a male reaction to the female characters sexuality. On the other hand the main male character is seen often with a large group of females wearing very little and dancing provocatively around him, showing his control. In the eyes of the female audience the sense of envy has been replaced by inspiration to be as independent as she is. Furthermore she does wear quite provocative clothing like a Lycra, skin tight suit but she does not appear near any male characters wearing this clothing. This shows that she doesn't want to be associated with the common convention of women wearing little clothing, the reason being to attract male attention. She subverts from Mulvey's theory as she has chosen to wear this clothing for her own personal satisfaction.

In all three videos Mulveys theory is shown. Although in some instances the video subverts from the theory, the majority of the time music videos conform with the theory. This is very common in mainstream music videos as not only does it draw male attention but it also widens the audience for the song itself to people who would not necessarily listen to it without seeing the music video.