2. THE MALE GAZE THEORY –
LAURA MULVEY
Laura Mulvey was a feminist who came up with the theory of ‘the male gaze’. This
was developed to highlight the imbalance between both genders, in which it analysed the
way women were represented within the media. The theory suggests that the audience
view the media source through the eyes of a man. In which the camera often ‘lingers’ on
the curves of a female body and events which occur to women are presented often in the
context of a man’s reaction to the event. The theory also found that there is a large
amount of encouragement to ‘gaze’ at women in advertising that sexualizes a woman’s
body, even when her body is completely unrelated to the advertised product. This shows
how women are largely objectified across all media platforms.
3. LAURA MULVEY DESCRIBES
THE MALE GAZE AS:
Looking at women for visual pleasure and narrative cinemas
Active male and a Passive female in shot
Women as images and men as the observer
How men look at women as sexual objects (voyeuristic)
Fetishistic
4. MARJORIE FERGUSON’S
THEORIES
Marjorie Ferguson (1980) has a theory that there are four main looks in which women are
represented by in the media. These include:
The chocolate box: the female shows a slight smile, showing minimal amount of
teeth, lips usually close and face is not shown face forward.
Invitational: this look’s focus is on the eyes, and mouth which will be closed although
the model will be smiling with her head to one side, looking down on the invitee.
Super Smiler: model will show her full face with a full teeth smile, head tilted forward
or backwards.
Romantic or Sexual: includes both female and male in the picture, look very ‘dream
like’ and look sexualised.
5. TREVOR MILLUM’S THEORY
Trevor Millum has a theory of men’s looks, these are:
Seductive: confident look, eyes slightly closed, small expressions
Carefree: carefree look, often linked to sport: active and healthy
Practical: model will be concentrating, eyes focused, mouth closed
Comic: model will seem stupid, comical or funny and will be exaggerated.
Catalogue: eyes wide open, big smile, doesn't’t look in any way intellectual.
6. MY IDEAS
These theories support my ideas in the post below featuring
Dj’s Nervo and Porter Robinson. Nervo are overly-sexualized
in their representation, whereas Porter Robinson is thought of
as a respected musician.
In my music magazine, I would like to slightly challenge the
stereotype, and focus on my female artist’s music more than
her appearance.
