THE MALE GAZE//USES+ GRATIFICATION

LAURA MULVEY: THE MALE GAZE

Laura Mulvey is a British feminist who coined the term 'the male gaze'. Laura Mulvey and other feministst think of the way women are represented in three different ways; the way men look at women, the way women look at themselves and the way women look at each other. The assumption is that the way we both produce and consume media is through the eyes of a heterosexual man. This means that most media draws attention to the female body more often than their personality or character and more often than it focuses on bodies of other genders, things that happen to women are seen in the way they effect men and women are objectified and sexualised for no reason. According to Mulvey the way women are represented in media can be put into different catagories: Voyeuristsic or fetishistic.

Voyeuristic

Voyeuristic representation refers to the way women on screen are shown to be looked at without their knowledge or shows a controlling view from a man. Cliff's Edge by Hayley Kioko is an example of this, the two women are shown and the camera lingers on elements of their bodies. There are also shots of the two of them kissing where objects are in shot as if the viewer is watching them from behind it. Despite clearly being a video made for women and especially gay women, this video uses a voyeuristic type of male gaze.

Fetishistic

Fetishistic representation refers to when sexualisation empowers the women on screen, it is their decision to sexualise themselves and present themselves in a state as sexual empowerment. For example this Roll Deep by Hyuna feat. Il Hoon shows Hyuna in sexually compromising dance routines and skimpy outfits as she sings about how boys can look but cant touch. Arguably, these women are still in a vulnerable position that allows men to use them according to Mulvey.

uses and gratification

Uses and Gratification discusses the reasons we as an audience consume media. Those four reasons are:

surveillance; to learn and be informed by the media.
Personal identity; to see yourself reflected in the media, to relate to it.
personal relationships; using the media for emotional and social interaction
Diversion escape from everyday life and situations.

For example the music video for Hold Your Hand by Lee Hi plays on the idea of personal identity. This is clear from the use of point of view shots showing only the hands of a man holding hers. This allows the viewer to put themself in his place. This is also done by the use of shots where the girls look at the camera as if making eyecontact with the viewer.

Another example is Healing by Seventeen which adheres to social interaction in terms of uses and gratification. Throughout the video you see the 13 members of Seventeen having a good time and as a viewer you really relate to their friendships and live vicariously through them as they have the carefree fun that most people wanted to have as a teenager but often didn't. This is mainly through the use of self camera. It also relates to diversion because it allows the viewer to get away from everyday life and get absorbed into the antics of these 13 boys.