Resarch - Laura Mulvey

A2 Media Studies

Blogging task on Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey; “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”.

My interpretation of this was; our world consists of sexual imbalance, both genders like to take pleasure from looking at one another. The dominant ideology is projected by the dominant class, middle aged white males, so their view styles society accordingly.

Mulvey has the idea that women are ‘dismembered’ in all forms of  media – that there is a focus, not on women as a whole, but a focus on parts of their body (i.e. their body is being dismembered).

She argues that this is responsible for some women’s focus and obsession with specific parts of their bodies (bum, legs ect). Men, she argues are shown as a whole.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANE9A5osUes

in the first 2 seconds of this clip (Dizzee rascal - Holiday) Laura Mulvey’s theory of female dismemberment is shown, and this carries on throughout the entire video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JipHEz53sU#

In Nicki Minaj’s “Superbass” the same thing is shown, however it is the opposite of Mulvey’s thesis, having the female as the dominant character whilst the males are being deconstructed.