Several of you have mentioned 'The Gaze' in your analysis. Here's a reminder of theories
The Gaze
Extra-diegetic gaze, where the person depicted in the text looks at the spectator, such as an aside, or an acknowledgement of the “fourth wall”.
The camera's gaze which is the gaze of the camera, and is often equated to the director's gaze.
Intra-intra-diegetic gaze, such as Lady Gaga watching herself on TV screen in a music video
It has been proposed (principally by Laura Mulvey, 1975) that, because filmmakers are predominately male, the presence of women in film is often solely for the purposes of display (rather than for narrative purposes)
The purpose of this display, it is argued, is to facilitate a voyeuristic response in the spectators: which presumes a ‘male gaze’ (regardless of gender of spectator)
This ‘male gaze’ is one that, or may feel like, a powerful controlling gaze at the female on display
This female is effectively objectified and passive
Despite many subsequent detractions and revisions of ‘gaze theory,’ in its simplest form, is thought-provoking in the context of representation* in music videos
Andrew Goodwin argues that the female performer is frequently objectified in this fashion…
...often through a combination of camerawork and editing w fragmented body shots emphasising a sexualised treatment of the star.
The idea becomes more complex when we see the male body on display – the post-feminist ‘female gaze’ where women are no longer just objects of the look but exercise some power by looking at men as objects too.
The idea of voyeurism is also frequently evident in music video through a system of screens within screens – characters watching performers or others on television, via webcams, as images on video camera screen or CCTV within the world of the narrative.
The proliferation of such motifs has
reached a point where it has become almost an obsession in music promos
George Michael: Outside
Lady Gaga, Telephone
Machimima is the ‘homemade’ version: an example of one individual’s dedication to Gaga AND animation
In male performance videos too, the voyeuristic treatment of the female body is often apparent, with the use of dancers as adornments to the male star ego
50Cent/Snoop Dogg: P.I.M.P
