Laura Mulvey - The male gaze

Laura Mulvey created the term 'male gaze' in 1975. She believes that in film, audiences have to view characters from the perspective of a hetrosexual male. It is almost as if females are being viewed as objects. Also noted is the sexualising of the female body.

The 'male gaze' is a feminist theory that highlights the power imbalance between men and women. It explores how men see women, how women see other women, and how women see themselves.

An example of the 'male gaze' can be see in Scouting For Girls' video 'She's So Lovely'. Although there is a game of bowling taking place in the music video, the audience pay little if not no attention to this as they are watching the girl.

This collection of screenshots from the video of 'She's So Lovely' show the extent of the male gaze in just one music video! Not only is the gaze present, but it is used by around 7 men, all lusting after the same woman. I am a fan of Scouting For Girls and regularly listen to their music, and watch the videos. I'm familiar with this song, however with all the times I have viewed this video I have never been aware of how omnipresent the male gaze was in it, and I am stunned I never noticed it before looking into it for research.

This shot introduces the audience to the beautiful woman that all the men are watching throughout the video.











This shot on the other hand is quite sexual and shows she is aware of the attention she is getting and is essentially teasing all the men around her.

This shot is of no relevance to the narrative of the video, which most of the audience are not aware of as they are distracted. The narrative follows a game of bowling. Thus it shows this shot was put in there for the sole purpose of objectifying the woman.