REPRESENTATION THEORY

In this post, I will be breaking down the representation theories I have studied and how I intent to apply them to my products. 

MALE GAZE (MULVEY)

What is the Male Gaze?:

The Oxford Dictionary defines the male gaze as: 

"the perspective of a notionally typical heterosexual man considered as embodied in the audience or intended audience for films and other visual media, characterised by a tendency to objectify or sexualise women." 

The male gaze is a feminist theory, coined by Laura Mulvey in her 1975 essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema".  It refers to the act of depicting women in film, from a heteronormative masculine perspective, objectifying women for their visual pleasure. Mulvey claims the male gaze to have three perspectives: 

- the man behind the camera

- the male character 

- the male spectator

In this post I will discuss; background, psychology of the theory, spectatorship/voyeurism, and rejection of the theory.

Background: 

The first documentation of "the gaze" or "le regard" was introduced by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in 1943. He described it as "the act of gazing at another human creates a power difference, felt by the gazer viewing the gazed as an object rather than a human being." 

The first use in cinema was by John Berger in 1972's "Ways of Seeing", where his theory stated that "men act and women appear", with women being aware of their obligation of performance towards the male viewer.

It most notably appears in Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema".  In this essay, she states, "In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active male and passive female.", relating the representations of women and men in cinema to the patriarchal structure of society. These representations deny the post-feminist theory of agency (Paglia), or a woman's control over her actions and body, dehumanising her and being viewed as a body rather than a person. 

Psychology of the theory: 

Mulvey based her essay on several Freudian psychoanalytical concepts: 

Male Castration Anxiety: Upon viewing the woman, her lack of phallus poses the threat of castration to the male, and therefore displeasure. This unconscious anxiety of the male in turn leads to the over sexualisation and passive role of women onscreen, through voyeurism and fetishisation. 

Voyeurism: The behaviour of looking as a sexual pleasure . Mulvey states it is about "asserting control and subjecting the guilty person through punishment or forgiveness." By viewing and fragmenting the female body, the anxiety of castration is reduced. 

Scopophilia: The receiving of pleasure from looking, relating to the effects of the male gaze on both men and women. When the pleasure is derived from sexual attraction, it falls under the voyeuristic pleasure. However, when women view film from the male perspective, their pleasure is derived from self-identification and narcissism. 

Narcissism: Receiving pleasure from the contemplation of one's self, in this case women identifying with their onscreen objectification. 

Spectatorship: 

When viewing a film, the viewer assumes the role of the active male or the passive female. Mulvey states that the male gaze consists of "three different looks"; the camera, the audience, and the characters. They all share the perspective of the active male viewer, relating to the concept of scopophilia or pleasure from viewing. This is in turn separated into two categories; voyeurism, where the subject is viewed from a distance and the viewer projects onto them, or narcissism, where the subject is recognised within it's viewer.

Due to this system of viewing, Mulvey believed women must identify with male characters and their perspective in order to enjoy films. 

Onscreen, the male perspective is physically distinguishable in the camera's sight line and women are objectified to appeal to the male character, or male viewer. This is reinforced by the patriarchal hegemony (Gramsci), as well as other forms of media. 

Rejection of the gaze:

Camille Paglia, a feminist academic writer, rejected the theory of the male gaze, by prioritising the post-feminist theory of agency. She says "I've been very vocal about my opposition to the simplistic theory of the male gaze... (it is) the victim model of feminism applied to the works of culture."

The female gaze was idealised later, with the idea consisting of a female assuming the position of the dominant male, and viewing through this perspective, removing the objectification of women. 

Queering the gaze, consists of a same sex viewer and object, therefore queering the passive and active or male and female roles. However, this is also criticised by many feminist theorists, specifically regarding the lesbian gaze, referring to the fetishisation occurring from the heterosexual male. 

Possible Influences:

In music videos it is very conventional for the artist's bodies to be objectified in order to appeal to a secondary audience, and as I am planning on making an electro pop video they tend to objectify the female body so I would appeal to elements of the male gaze. 

AGENCY (PAGLIA)

Camille Paglia, a feminist academic writer, rejected the theory of the male gaze (Mulvey), by prioritising the post-feminist theory of agency. She says "I've been very vocal about my opposition to the simplistic theory of the male gaze... (it is) the victim model of feminism applied to the works of culture."

Agency is a post-feminist film theory that describes: "the capacity of women to take purposeful action and pursue goals with their own free will". While a feminist theory such as Mulvey's male gaze suggests women are subjected to their actions by male pleasure and objectification, the agency theory argues that women make conscious choices and have authority separate from male objectification. 

Possible influences:

The artist will have elements of male gaze appeal so I want them to be in control rather than being passive and objectified, so they would have agency.

BINARY OPPOSITION (LEVI-STRAUSS)

Binary opposites are "a pair of related concepts which are opposite in meaning". They are opposing forces within a media text that move the narrative along, such as good and evil, male and female, black and white, etc...

Levi-Strauss stated that they were the "basic structure of all human cultures", and that binary opposites are needed in "human signifying structures". 

Possible influences: 

Creating binary opposition either visually or with characters could create a narrative as well as allow for more personal identification (UGT) for the viewer. 

GENDER PERFORMATIVITY (BUTLER)

Gender performativity is a queer theory stemming from Judith Butler's 1990 book "Gender Trouble". She describes the theory as “gender proves to be performance— that is, constituting the identity it is purported to be. In this sense, gender is always a doing, though not a doing by a subject who might be said to pre-exist the deed”. 

Her theory states that hegemonic (Gramsci) representations of gender are learnt, and performed, rather than being something that exists naturally. 

Possible influences: 

In my video, I am representing the artist and can either stereotypically perform my gender, or reject my gender's performance in order to appeal to the primary and secondary audiences.

HEGEMONY (GRAMSCI)

The definition of hegemony is "the political, economic, and military predominance of one state", and "a group or refine which exerts undue influence within a society."

According to his Marxist philosophy, Antonio Gramsci defines cultural hegemony as "the ruling class's domination of the value system and mores of a society, so that the ruling class's perspective is imposed". This means that an imposed idea is maintained in order to control society, examples being; heterosexuality, traditional male and female gender roles, the existence of class, etc...

A counter-hegemonic representation in the media would be; a homosexual relationship, a female killer, etc...

Possible influences: 

The hegemonic gender roles of the characters can be subverted if I'm making a narrative video, and I can include counter-hegemonic elements for the artist's persona.

STAR THEORY (DYER)

Star theory is the idea that "celebrities are commodities manufactured by institutions." According to Richard Dyer, celebrities are: "constructed to represent real people in order to relate to audiences and sell a media product." He also says that individual stars have specific selling points, for example reality TV star/businesswoman Kylie Jenner's lips, or A-List actor Morgan Freedman's voice. 

Dyre also coined the idea of "paradox of the star": a star has two simultaneous representations, "ordinary and extraordinary". The ordinary is the representation of regular people, but the extraordinary is certain qualities that place them above the average person. Following this, he also believed that a star is also "present and absent": they are present in daily life (consumption), but absent as they are inaccessible to the average person. This idea also ties with Baudrillards hyper-reality, or simulacrum. 

Star power is in reference to the power a star has in engaging or attracting an audience for a media text or product. For example Taylor Swift can easily attract attention or promotion for a product she values and continues to sell out arenas. 

Star vehicle is when a star is the driving marketing aspect of a media text or product. For example, the TV show "Euphoria" was led by the singer Zendaya, who centered most of the marketing and promotions. 

Possible influences: 
The artist is the star of the video and the vehicle for the song and its promotion so it is important that I create a clear brand image and artist style to be easily recognisable and marketable.