Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory argues that films and videos are often made from the perspective of heterosexual men to objectify and appeal to male audiences. It looks at how men view women, how women see themselves, and how women see other women in media images. Evidence for this includes the emphasis on women's bodies and portrayal as objects in many popular music videos. Richard Dyer's Star Theory also examines how institutions construct celebrity personas through various media to embody certain ideologies and target audiences for financial gain.

1. Media Theory

2. Representation Theory

3. Laura Mulvey’s – Male Gaze Theory
‘Male Gaze’ refers to how videos and films are made to appeal to
a male audience. The theory was originally based on
representations in films, with camera shot types and movement
used to objectify women, focusing the camera on their curves
and chest as it is meant to be seen through the eyes of a
heterosexual male.
Mulvey looks a how men look at women from those images, how
women look at themselves from those images and how women
look at other women from those images.

4. Evidence/Relevance of the Theory
Looking at current popular video we can see how true Mulvey’s Theory
is. In all five pop videos we watched there was:
• Emphasis on women’s curves
• Objectifying of women
• Targeted to a male audience
• Images for heterosexual men’s pleasure
• Women viewing video through eyes of men and their ‘gaze’
A downfall to Mulvey’s Theory would be that some people may want
to be seen in this way by men.
The media portrays women in this way because of the ideology it
creates to idolise beautiful women.

5. Richard Dyer – Star Theory
Star Theory refers to how Icons and Celebrities are made and
constructed by institutions in order to idolise them for financial
reasons. They are made to target specific audience and are
represented across a range of media and mediums.
‘Stars represent and embody certain ideologies’
The star is a built up persona that is and not a real person.
Making them iconic and stand out from other stars. They are an
Exadurated personality made to promote certain ideologies for
the institution.
‘A star is an image not a real person, that is constructed (as any
other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (e.g.
advertising magazines etc. as well as films and music)’

6. Evidence of Star Theory

7. Tess Perkin’s - Stereotypes
A stereotype is a ‘typical’ person of a certain group, that is based from
the actions and way the others dress. Based on which, we make
preconceived ideas and judgements about that person.
Perkins:
We usually stereotype groups that we have little to no contact with.
But not always minority or less powerful, MPs or even whole
nationalities are constantly stereotyped, forming racism. They can be
held about ones on group, the best example of this is celebrities or
dancers which are known for being very competitive between each
other.
However stereotypes can always change, for example the typical
stereotype of a Father has changed while a lot over the past half a
century becoming more inline with the mother figure, and finally
stereotypes are not always negative. For example Germans are
stereotyped to be good engineers and Koreans are stereotyped to be
good at video games, which people would see as quite a positive thing.

8. Audience Theory

9. Use and Gratification Theory
Use and Gratification model represented a change in thinking, as
researchers began to describe the effects of the media from the point
of view of the audiences. The model looks at the motive of the viewers
of media texts and why they choose to watch, read, or listen to the
media.
The theory makes the audience into an active group as they chose
what they want to consume rather than passively absorbing it. The
theory argued that audience needs to have social and psychological
needs which generate certain expectations about the mass media and
what they are exposed to.
The underlying idea behind the model is that people are motivated by
a desire to fulfil, or gratify certain needs. So rather than asking how
the media uses us, the model asks how we use the media.

10. Use and Grat. – Needs of the Audience
Surveillance – Based on the idea that people feel better having
the feeling that they know what is going on in the world, the
news giving them security and awareness about what is
happening around them.
Personal Identity – Allows us to confirm the identity and
positioning of ourselves within society using people in the media
as role models.
Personal Relationships - We build connections and relationships
with the characters we see, and want to keep watching them in
the TV show.
Diversion - We use the media as a form of escapism to forget
about or distract us from everyday issues.

11. Hypodermic Needle Theory
The media injects information into us to influence us. The theory
was developed in the 1920-30s. It is based of the idea of the
audience being passive and absorbing information given. This
information can be direct or subliminal or misleading headlines.
Implied that mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful
effect on its audiences.
Factors that contribute to this ‘strong effect’:
• Rise in Radio and TV popularity
• Strong flow of info from sender to receiver.
• The passive audience absorbs the message from the sender.
• We are ‘brain washed’ into believing media messages

12. Examples and Problems
The best example of this is the 1938 War of the World
Broadcast. When a radio play of ‘The War of the
Worlds’ had people in shock as it was presented in a
news broadcast type, and the ‘passive audience’
believed it to be read.
Problems with the theory are:
• Out of Date
• Not all consume media in same way
• Media is presented in different ways
• More recent theories overwrite this.

13. Stuart Hall - Reception Theory
The reception theory states that media texts are encoded by their
producers. Meaning that whoever produces the text fills the product
with their ideological messages and values. The reader then ‘decodes’
the text and accepts, understands or rejects the message/meaning.
Hall called this the Dominant, Negotiated and Oppositional
• Dominant is when the values and ideology of the text are agreed
with and the text is viewed as the producer intended
• Oppositional is when the viewer disagrees with the message this
maybe because they dislike the genre or cannot relate to the
product. Or they believe it does no reflect society.
• Negotiated is a middle ground between Dominant and
Oppositional, when the audience might not fully understand the
message or understands the message and why it is there but does
not necessarily agree with it.