Wednesday, 19 October 2011

Goodwin and Mulvey's theory of voyeurism

The idea of voyeurism comes from Freud and has been used in media particularly to explain gendered pleasures in cinema. He argues that the male viewers gaze at the screen is a powerful controlling gaze at the objectified female, gearing towards the notions of voyeurism.
Goodwin argues the female performer will often be objectified, through a combination of camerawork and editing with fragmented body shots, emphasising a sexualised treatment of the star. For example, in many of 50 Cent's videos, such as 'P.I.M.P.' and 'Candy Shop' are full of women wearing very little, using close-ups and camera tilts up the womens body to portray the males gaze at them. The idea of voyeuristic treatment of the femaile body is often apparent with the use of dancers as adornments, flattering the stars ego.
Laura Mulvey argues that men have control between the camera and characters, characters on the screen and the audience watching. The music video for 'Eric Prydz - Call On Me' the women are objectified as sex symbols due to them wearing skimpy leotards and the camera work. The camera tilts and uses lots of close-ups on the women to portray sexual meaning. However, the idea becomes more complex when the male body is on display, the female audience might start to raise questions about how they're invited to respond to it.