Laura Mulvey's Theory

Laura Mulvey's Theory

(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." - 1992

In other words: In a world ordered by gender inequalities, men search for pleasure in women, while women are simply for the male gaze. Therefore, whatever image the man has of the female, is then projected onto her, whether she agrees with the representation or not.

In Laura Mulvey's analysis of music videos, she discusses that women are 'dismembered' in all forms of the media. There is a central focus, not on women but a focus on parts of their body. She argues that this is responsible for some women's focus and obsession with specific parts of their bodies (bums, legs, stomach, etc). She argues that men, however, are shown as a whole.

Example 1:



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Example 2:



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