To what extent can Goodwin and Mulvey theory of voyeurism be applied to music videos?

The idea of voyeurism comes from Freud. It broadly refers to the idea of looking in order to gain sexual pleasure. It is argued that the male viewers gaze at the screen is geared to notions of voyeurism in that it is a powerful controlling gaze at the objectified female on display. For example in Keri Hilson’s music viedo for ‘The way you love me’ Hilson is seen wide-leg with steamy moves. This type of music videos mainly attract the male attention over the female. Furthermore in music promos the female on display has been a staple element just like Keri Hilson is in her music video.

Goodwin argues that the female performer will frequently be objectified in this fashion, often through a combination of camera work and editing techniques with fragmented by shots emphasising a sexualised treatments of the star. This is shown in Beyonce’s ‘Halo’ music video, this video is a very suttle version of all this. Throughout the music video she appears wearing lingerie and is very seductive towards her malepartner in the. The idea of voyeurism is apparent in male performances too. The treatment of the femals body is often apparent through the use of dancers as this flatters the male ego. This can be looked at in 50 Cent’s ‘Candy shop’ music viedo, In this music video women are also walking around in lingerie and at a certain part in the music video the ladies start to dance in a very seducive manner. Goodwin would say that women have been learned to be looked at.

Music has been called an instrument of male gaze, producing representations of women, the good life, and sexual fantasy from the male point of view. Voyeuristic looking involves a controlling gazes and Mulvey argues that this has associations with sadism; ‘pleasure lies in ascertaining guilt- asserting control and subjecting the guilty person through punishment of forgiveness’. One of Katy Perry’s new music video ‘Thank God Its Friday’ her image is not racy at all, in fact  she is a complete geek with braces and big glasses- something that avoids the attention of the ‘male gaze’. However in her big hit song ‘California Girls’ her image is the total opposite, she is very lustful in this music video and this attracts the ‘male gaze’.

The idea of seeing the male body in a music video becomes more complex when we see it on display. Women tend to have more control over being sexually appealing  and being proactive. For this you could use Lady Gaga as an example. In all her music videos she appears in minimal clothing, yet you can see her rage and control over everything, you can see that she has the power over others. In the her music video to ‘Telephone’ she is not wearing much clothing, she alos goes on to escape from prison and poison a man. This shows how much control she has, whereas if this was a male body being on display for example JLS (they always lift their shirts up to show their abs) they dont show the power they have over anyone else. They just stand there, lift their shirts up and sing. This shows the difference between how women know how to control such aspects and how men dont.