Male gaze theory

Male gaze theory

The 'gaze' is a term which shows how viewers interact with the visual media, including adverts, television and film.


The male gaze is the way in which the visual arts and literature depict the world and women from a masculine point of view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure. The phrase and definition was created by feminist, Laura Mulvey 1975.


Mulvey argued that traditional Hollywood films respond to a deep-seated drive known as “scopophilia”: the sexual pleasure involved in looking. Mulvey argued that most popular movies are filmed in ways that satisfy masculine scopophilia.





Main features of the male gaze theory :

-The representation of women as a sexual fantasy and from a heterosexual male point of view

-Scopophilia- the pleasure involved in looking at other peoples bodies

-Objectification of female characters

-Patriarchal society

-Objectification of female characters

-Active male and passive female

-Men – controlling subjects

-Women as an image

-Men do the looking and the women are there to be looked at

-It feeds the needs of the male ego 

Timeflies

Timeflies

Timeflies is an American pop band which was created in 2010 and consists of two people: Rob Resnick and Cal Shapiro. The band is well known for their popular music and their YouTube covers. 
Following indie breakout 2011’s The Scotch Tape, their 2014 first major label offering, After Hours, debuted at number 8 on the BillboardTop 200, went to number 1 on iTunes Top Pop Albums chart, and yielded the hit “All The Way” which soared to number 2 on Billboard’s Top Digital Songs chart and has earned over 50 million Spotify streams.

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Look what you made me do

Look what you made me do

Taylor Swift recently changed her image by releasing a new music video for Look what you made me do, which showed the old Taylor getting rid of her old self. The video can be seen below.

 

The video starts off in a graveyard where we see Zombie Taylor and a tombstone with the words Here Lies Taylor Swift Reputation. This signifies that the old Taylor Swift is dead as she has changed her image.



The next shot is a high angle mid shot of Taylor in a bath full of diamonds. In this bath there is a single dollar bill, which is all she got from the sexual assault charges against a DJ who groped her back in 2013.



After this we get a long shot of Taylor sat on a throne surrounded by snakes. She has been called a snake in sheeps clothing multiple times by different people, but repeatedly by Kim Kardashian. She tweeted multiple times calling Taylor a snake, so she has embraced this and used it to create a new image. The chair also has the words 'Et Tu Brute' calved into it which is a quote from Shakespeare's Caeser, when he is being assassinated by his friend Brutus. This shows that even her closest friends are out to get her and ruin her career.



Next she crashes her car and shows off her grammy in this slow motion shot. This is because she wants to show that she doesn't care about anything anymore, and she knows that she is a good singer and that's all that matters.



The next shot shows her and some cats robbing a music industry. This is because she disagrees with how much Spotify and Apple music pay the artists to use their music, so she has decided to get her own back by robbing them. She disagrees with the Apple three month free trial, as this means that the artists get paid even less than usual, as people aren't paying for their subscription.



The next long shot shows Taylor surrounded by dancers wearing 'I heart TS' t-shirts, which was also worn by one of her ex-boyfriends. This is because there is a stereotype that surrounds her which suggests that she only surrounds herself by people who are massive fans of her, who idol her.



The final shot shows Taylor with all of her previous and new personas. They talk a bit and hint at previous experiences in Swifts past, but ultimately they are showing that Taylor Swift has changed.

Media Regulation

Media Regulation

Who actually regulates music videos?

The BBFC are helping to regulate online music videos by working together with Vevo and YouTube to regulate music videos. They are currently working on a project which they hope to age rate all music videos by artists signed to Sony Music UK, Universal Music UK and Warner Music UK that are unsuitable for younger children (under 12s).

The rating will appear on both the mobile app, and websites for Vevo and YouTube. 

The record labels submit to the BBFC any music video by their artists for release online in the UK which they would expect to receive at least a 12 rating.  The BBFC then classifies each video, watching it through in its entirety and then assigning an age rating and bespoke content advice (BBFCinsight, for example, strong language, sex references or sexualised nudity) on the basis of the BBFC's published Classification Guidelines.  The sort of issues the BBFC considers in classifying music videos include:

• drug misuse 
• dangerous behaviour presented as safe
• bad language
• sexual behaviour and nudity
• threatening behaviour and violence 

However, the problem with this is that everyone has different opinions, and as times change, so does societies opinion of what is acceptable. So a video may get classified with a rating of 15, but then a similar video a couple of years later may only get classified as a 12. 

Also, sometimes this deterrent can actually be seen as a good thing. Children want to buy these Cd's or watch these music videos because it's exciting and rebellious.