Friday, 21 September 2012

RESEARCH: Laura Mulvey - Theories On Representation


“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”

Laura Mulvey holds some very strong arguments towards the way gender is represented throughout media texts. She explains, by what is called the “Male Gaze” in which men take an active role in media texts such as; looking at females whom are “Styled Accordingly”. By this Mulvey suggests that women are portrayed to suit a male fantasy; dressed to please the male eye, in which usually consists of lack of clothing and dismembering.

Mulvey argues that many media texts presume a male audience rather than a female one, in which suggests females are passive.

In addition Mulvey also discusses the idea of “Dismembering” in which is portrayed in many media texts, that not only focuses on women as a whole, but rather parts of their body such as legs, bum, breasts etc. Below are some examples of dismembering from the music video, “Dizzee Rascal – Holiday” in which women are dismembered and men are seen as a whole. In addition various eye line matches have been used to portray men looking at women in which suggests men take the active role.



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