Laura Mulveys Theory
“In
a world ordered by sexual imbalance, Pleasure in looking has been split between
active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy
onto the female figure which is styled accordingly”
The
Main Points in Laura Mulveys Theory
Mulvey states that there is a sexual
imbalance, which means one gender has an advantage sexually.
Mulvey suggest that we live in a world ordered by
sexual imbalance, which means there is a lot of importance in
sexual balance as the world is ordered by it.
Mulvey describes males as active
whilst females are passive
which are polar opposites.
Mulvey suggest that the male gaze
has enough power to make females style
accordingly to the male fantasy.
My
interpretation of Mulveys theory
As
men have the sexual advantage to women they are able to use their power to make
their ‘fantasy’ reality, which makes them active, whilst women don’t have the
power to do that so they are passive with their desires.
Examples
of Laura Mulveys Theory
Throughout this music video there is continuous dismembering of women, in contrast the men are fully clothed. In addition the ratio of women to men in the video implies there will be multiple women per man as seen at the start of the video, which reinforces this idea of a sexual imbalance as we can see the women are there for the pleasure of men. There is also an ice sculptor made imitating the female figure which everybody is playing with whilst we don’t see any sexual desires being acted out on the men.
The Nicki Minaj video is interesting as its being shown from a
female perspective however she is still demonstrating the sexual imbalance. Apart from the continuous dismembering, close
ups, high angle shots and cut away which show provocative body language in the
video. She also has a short clip at the end where she features a fellow
record label artist who is a male, however what is interesting is, instead of
using him to promote her video by him just being in the video, she goes the
extra mile by dancing for him which shows how she conforms to his desires.
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