The Male Gaze - Laura Mulvey

What is the "Male Gaze"?

The male gaze is a theory first introduced by Laura Mulvey. The expression refers to how the audience of a film is forced to ‘view’ characters through the eyes of a hetrosexual male. Features of the male gaze include a cameras focus on the shape or curves of a woman, imitating the wondering eyes of a captivated hetrosexual man, women being presented as objects of desire and either through narrative or camera shots in terms of angles etc being portrayed as inferior. Although Mulvey's theory was based on films, the idea of the male gaze and voyeurism can also be found in many music videos, particularly within the Hip-Hop/R&B genre where women are seen as sexual objects. An example of how the male gaze is evident within female rap artists Nicki Minaj“Anaconda.”

           







Here is a prime example of the "Male Gaze" at large. This is Nicki Minaj's single cover for her latest song "Anaconda."


















The videos narrative completely supports the male gaze and the notion of looking. Despite Nicki Minaj being the main artist in the video, she is has been sexually objectified through the camera angles. Although the entire video echoes Laura Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’, there are some moments that really highlight the idea of the audience having to view the video through the eyes of a hetrosexual male, which I have screen-grabbed and displayed below.

This screenshot shows the main artist, as well as a group of female back up dancers, doing provocative moves, to appeal to the yes of heterosexual men. Nicki Minaj's objective for this song and video was to empower curvy women through the lyrics and by "shaking her moneymaker."

The positioning of Nicki Minaj is quite animalistic, moreover her chosen stance highlights her assets. Due to her chosen position she is setting herself up for sexual objectification created through the male gaze.

Male gaze through camerawork

When it comes to “gaze” there is certain relationship with the camerawork. There are different kinds of shots that could be used to show the gaze. The examples are shown below with where the shots are mainly used in Nicki Minaj's 'Anaconda' video  Medium shots (Nicki on the floor sticking her bum in the air) Close-ups (body parts in particular) Long shots (loads of female dancers, dancing provocatively) Tilting from legs to head (showing the female body)

Below is a collage of different album covers that conform to Laura Mulvey's theory of "The Male Gaze."