In 1975, Laura Mulvey said that females are used “As erotic
objects of desire for the characters within the story, and as erotic objects of
desire for the spectator.” This theory is relevant to this video and probably
doesn’t break it considering and I will be analyzing how it does this with
regards to the cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene and sound.
The clip starts with a close up in a bird’s eye angle of the feet of two
characters, seemingly of a male and a female, in a position where it looks like
the two characters are lying down together and the male has his legs over the
female’s legs. The man seems to be well dressed and female looks like she isn’t
wearing much clothing. This follows Mulvey’s male gaze theory by indication
that this woman is being used as an erotic object for the fully dressed male.
This becomes clearer when a jump cut is used to go into a bird’s eye, close up
of the top half a their bodies which shows that the male is fully dressed and
the female has no clothes on at all. At this point some non-diegetic music
plays and acts as a sound bridge throughout the remainder of the video. The
music is very upbeat and happy which connotes that the contents of the extract
will be positive and this supports Mulvey’s theory because it shows that the
way these men look at these women is a positive thing, using them as objects of
erotic desire. It is also clear at this point that the video is made in
continuity editing, used to make the video feel comfortable to the viewer and
also normalize this kind of behavior towards women. In terms of CGI, “#THICKE”
is displayed on the screen at the start, as it is several times throughout the
video which both connotes that the video is stupid and also that the makers
want the video to be seen by people across social media, which supports Mulvey’s
theory through the desire for other women to see how the women in the video are
being treated as erotic objects. The other words that are displayed throughout
the video are “#BLURREDLINES” which works the same way as “#THICKE.” Further to
this, the colour of these CGI words is red which connotes desire which agrees
with Mulvey’s theory of females being objects of desire. This is the same with
the colour of the props used throughout the video eg the car, the bike, and the
red and white dice.
Through the next part of the video, the mise-en-scene is very important
when it comes to Laura Mulvey’s theory because all of the female characters are
wearing very little clothing and are wearing a lot of make-up and this remains
constant for the remainder of the video. Furthermore, the males in the video
are nearly always looking at either the females or the camera, and when they
are looking at the females it is clear that their eye line goes down from the
eye and back up, indicating that they ‘want’ the women in a sexual nature. At
one part of the video, a male is smoking a cigarette and then blows the smoke
into a female’s face. This follows Mulvey’s theory because it degrades the
female and lot, and you can tell from her facial expression at this point that
she in uncomfortable. The theory works not only in the way the camera works to
sexualize females but also to see how the males look at the females and how
other females see this happen. So, for all the females watching the video, it
is clear that the male is using this female and thus it conforms to the
theory.
In terms of camera work, for the most part of the video, after the first
few seconds, it is very simple, mostly just consisting of medium, medium close,
close and full shots. The angle of the camera is mainly just at eye level and
the camera doesn’t move very much although it seems like it is handheld,
possibly to show the excitement of the males characters and it occasionally
zooms in and out, tilts up and down and tracks the movement of a character. In
terms of Mulvey’s theory, there are only certain specific bits that really
conform to it because in nearly all of the camera shots there isn’t a specific
focus on the female body apart from shoulders up. However, in the second half
of the video there is a clear close up of a female’s genital region which very
clearer conforms to Mulvey’s theory by showing an obvious desire for sex.
As for the sound, the upbeat music continues for the whole video, but the
dialogue, in the form of song lyrics, comes in a little later. The lyrics for
the song are very complementary to the visuals of the video, saying things like
“I know you want it,” “you’re a good girl,” and “you the hottest bitch in this
place” which all conform to Mulvey’s theory of using females as objects of
sexual desire because all of the lyrics are meant in a sexual way. Furthermore,
all of the dialogue comes from the three males and none of the females,
indicating that they are the ones using the females.
Towards the end of the video, balloons are used as a prop to spell out a
sentence on the wall that says “Robin Thicke has a big d,” furthering the
clarity of the video being about sexual desire. Furthermore, it is shown that
the males start drinking alcohol, and in conjunction with the lyrics and the
other visuals, this has connotations of drunken sexual desire where the men
would force themselves onto the females in a drunken state. Also, one of the
males starts handling money which gives connotations of prostitution. These
last two points give very negative views of sex and with regards to Mulvey’s
theory it indicates that the females being used as erotic objects for sexual
desire is a very negative thing and this relates to the theory even more.
In conclusion, this video conforms to Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory by
showing the women as erotic object for sexual desire throughout the video,
often with negative connotations, and therefore it is clear for the audience
viewing the video as well.
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