Laura Mulvey created the theory of the male gaze, which says that music videos must be viewed from the perspective of a heterosexual male. Videos that attract the male gaze usually feature female artists portrayed in seductive ways to attract male attention. However, this reduces women to objects and influences how girls see themselves. Mulvey also notes that women can be portrayed as innocent in some music videos. The document discusses applying these theories to analyze portrayals of gender in music videos.

1. Laura Mulvey’s Theory

2. Laura Mulvey’s theory over music videos
Laura Mulvey created the theory known as the male gaze and this can
be applied to music videos as she says you must watch them from a
heterosexual male’s perspective. For videos which attract ‘the male
gaze’, are usually made for female artists. Take Beyonce’s ‘Crazy In Love’.
The camera lingers on her curves and this will attract the males gaze as
Beyonce is being seductive. Yet, this creates a social status for
women, and that the can be seen as just objects. However, some
girls, like Beyonce and a lot of other female artists or females in a
band, enjoy being looked at. In addition, the ‘gaze’ can also be applied
for females. As some women, mostly teenage girls, aspire to look as
attractive as their role model, who may be a female singer. It is said that
the gaze is more than just looking, it is also a psychological power. On
the other hand, in some music, Mulvey explains that women can be
seen as innocent. To summarise there are two different forms of girls
which can be portrayed in music videos. For my Folk music video, if I
intend to use a girl, I will want make her look innocent and sweet.

3. Andrew Goodwin
Andrew Goodwin has several theories about music videos. The title of these theories are: Thought Beats (Seeing
the sound), Narrative and Performance, The Star Image, Relation of visuals to song and Technical aspects of the
music video.
Thought Beats – The first step of thinking beats is to analyse the song itself, the structure of it, the verse and the
chorus. The second step is get to know the artists voice. Their voice is a powerful when it comes to the music video.
They generate feelings for the protagonist in the music video. For example, when the singer sings loudly and
powerful, the character in the video will be doing something great and extravagant and this is usually a climax or a
turning point in the video. An example of this is the Lostprophets’ video for ‘Rooftops’. The part where the singer
sings loudly ‘Scream your heart out’ the characters in the video scream out in anger at the situation they’re in.
Finally, the artist can be the story teller. He can narrate the video. Metallica's video for ‘One’ is a good example for
this. As the singer James Hetfield explains what is happening in the video, and narrates the main characters feelings.
‘I can’t remember anything, can’t tell if this is true or dream’. These are the thoughts of the protagonist in this
video.
Narrative and Performance – Goodwin explains that a good music video will usually combine performance and
narrative. By showing just the story of a video, the viewer could lose interest and the same if they just see a
performance by the artist. Combining the two together retains the viewers attention and Korn’s video for ‘Freak on
a Leash’ is a good example of how this can be achieved. When I make my music video, I am looking to combine
performance and narrative.
The Star Image – Goodwin believes that a star developing over time will help to increase the music videos
popularity. It also helps when the star plays the protagonist or performs in the video themselves. Michael Jackson
has done this in many of his videos.
Relation of visuals to song – There are three ways music videos do this. Illustration – This is where the video has a
set of images what identify the songs meaning. Amplify – technical effects or used to illustrate meanings and they
are drummed into our vision. Disjuncture – This is where the video has nothing to do with the songs meaning, and
the meaning of the song is completely disregarded.
Technical Aspects – This is where the video uses a lot of camera work and Mise en scene to bring forward the sound
of the music video. For example, cuts might be used to go with the beat of the song.