Male Gaze Theory

The male gaze is the idea of presenting women from a masculine viewpoint therefore objectifying them as merely objects of male pleasure. The theory consists of 3 different perspectives, these are; the person behind the camera, the characters within the film and the audience. The phrase was invented in 1975 by the feminist film critic, Laura Mulvey and the essay it was included in was based of pre 1960’s cinema. Mulvey believes that audience have to perceive characters from the viewpoint of a heterosexual male.

Some of the typical features of the male gaze is the lingering of the camera. The camera often moves slowly and focuses on the curves and attractive features of the female body. Other techniques synonymous with the male gaze are slow motion filming, and long shots showcasing the female body as a whole along with minimal clothing.

There are 2 specific modes of the male gaze; fetishistic and voyeuristic. Voyeuristic male gaze is the idea that women are an image or something to be looked at. Fetishistic male gaze is the idea that women are a response to male ‘castration anxiety’ and show a lack of male genitalia.

An example of a music video which contains the male gaze theory is, The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson. It contains many shots in which the female body is displayed in a tantalising manner and shows the body in full.  It also shows the voyeurism of the men in the video as they are seen to stare at the woman who is being pursued and is shown from the perspective of the men. In addition there are very few shots in which the woman is not present.

Another example of a music video that fits in to the male gaze theory is Miley Cyrus’ Wrecking Ball. The perspective of the video is that of the audience as there is no one else present and she is often looking directly at them. She is wearing a low amount of clothing when she is actually wearing clothes which is showing her as an object of male pleasure. Her full body is also shown in a number of shots and her chest is very visible throughout.