The Laura Mulvey Theory

The Male Gaze Theory - Laura Mulvey

The first important part of the theory would parent concept: the gaze. According to Wikipedia, the gaze is a concept used for analysing visual culture which deals with how an audience views the people presented. The types of gaze are usually categorized by who is doing the looking.

Laura Mulvey is a feminist film theorist, who studied psychoanalytically and supports the theory of the ‘male gaze’. Traditional films present men as active, controlling subjects and treat women as passive objects of desire for men. Such films objectify women in relation to the ‘controlling male gaze’, denoting women as an image for me to look at. Her theory also states that women were shown on screen in order to provide men with visual pleasure and have an erotic impact. This theory can be clearly presented in the modern music industry, which employs a ‘sex cell’ attitude which is done through their music videos and promotion.

If you look at the image to the top right, you can see that the image being sold to men is of an attractive woman, the audience are encouraged to look at her in the same way the men on the curb are; while the image being sold to women is that if they buy the product that they too, can receive male attention.

My Genre Conventions

Genre Convention

The breakthrough of rap music came about in the early 1960’s, as it began to challenge a lot of music boundaries that other music genre had already set. With the genre firstly growing in Washington, Philadelphia and New York, the popularity of rap music was mostly influential to black teenagers and soon began to grow to entertain wider audience.  

The typical conventions of rap music differ widely from today’s par videos

·         Casual clothing, nothing too characteristic but more subtle and loose.

·         Sections of direct contact with the camera- the artists usually spends a lot of time looking straight into the camera as if to talk or have a conversation with the audience

·         Props regarding costume tend to be sued for example, jewellery

·         Show a clear display of emotions- if the tone of the songs is angry, the artist is likely to present this through their gesture and facial expressions

However nowadays today, a lot a rap artists have another artists featuring in their track- usually if it were a male rapper, they may decide to employ a female signer to vocalise the chorus.

The target audience that rap artists try to attract are not too specific but actually quite broad. It is claimed that they try to appeal to those of as similar age to themselves so this varies between each artists. However I did find that when looking at merchandise and blogs of artists such as Lil Wayne and Kanye West, the target audience was based and 14 to 25.

Music Video Analysis #3

Music Videos Analysis #2

Analysis #2 ~A$AP Rocky

Although Rocky’s song has no true meaning, his clothing is something that stands out greatly. The stereotypical clothing that male Hip Hop artists generally wear is basketball shirts or other sporting attire. As seen from the screenshots A$AP Rocky is seen wearing a black baggy jumper with his expensive jewelry and shoes, this signifies strength along with wealth which is also supposed by Rihanna who was seen featuring in the music video and lyrics but not the actually song. This also connotes what money can get you, not even through actually buying their featurette but just having connections.

A$AP Rocky has been known for his fashion sense as well as his global sell out albums. In this music video along with the warm greyscale lighting, this allows all the bright colors that A$AP and Rihanna are wearing to stand out more, keeping the audience interested in the song as well as the cloths they are wearing. What makes this music video even more interesting is that it’s almost as if nothing has been planned, like a reality TV show for A$AP Rocky’s fans, as him and Rihanna are filmed walking into a convenient store and looking at some cloths to try on. It almost portrays a type of simple life that he lives on top of all the money he has. When the music video first starts A$AP Rocky is filmed sitting on a sofas with an iPad. However he is completely covered in wealth, from jewelry to chains and rings.

From watching this music video is giving me the idea to film my artist walking around, probably talking to her friends or family members in some shots, as the song I have chosen isn’t going to be too upbeat but connect with the audience on a real level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgi0_fr2hUY

Music Video Analysis #1

Music Video Conventions

The Music Video Industry