Voyeurism

Voyeurism is based around the concept of viewing to gain pleasure and is usually considered under the idea of the male glaze. Under this theory Goodwin says women are portrayed in music videos as sex objects with the use of fragmented body shots, use of camera (e.g. angles), editing and costume (i.e. little to no clothes).

An obvious example of this would be Satisfaction by Benny Benassi which shows sweaty women wearing provocative clothing and operating power tools. The video includes a lot of fragmented body shots of the females bums, chests, legs etc. There are frequent close ups of their mouths singing the lyrics and also licking their lips in a sexual manor. Also there are a lot of low angle shots to emphasise their bums and there is a tracking shot which scans up the females body as if it were a eyes looking her up and down. Also as the women are using drills and other power tools it makes their bodies shake further showing them as sex objects. It has been suggested that the overly sexual, almost pornographic and voyeuristic nature of the video could actually be recognizing the theory and poking fun at it. This is furthermore supported by the captions which explain how to use and operate the machinery as it is clear that men watching the video would not be reading the captions and therefore it is a little humorous.



Women are also commonly used as adornments in many videos to help flatter the male ego. An excellent example of this is Blurred lines by Robin Thicke, in which the women are wearing revealing clothes (and in the uncensored version are seen topless) dancing around the 3 male artists provocatively. The video is completely voyeuristic as the only thing holding the audiences attention at all is the sexualised images of the women and the misogynistic behaviour of the men.




Voyeurism is evident in most music videos, even if it is not as obvious as the previous examples. An example of subtle voyeurism would be Burn by Ellie Goulding, the video is not at all commonly voyeuristic, however there are a few subtle techniques used to help keep the attention of the male viewer and to sell the artist. The video shows occasional fragmented body shots of females, which help to maintain the viewers gaze. Also although the artist is shown to be a strong woman she is still shown sexually as she is wearing subtly provocative clothing which reveals her stomach and cleavage area. Furthermore, the use of occasional slightly high angled close ups help to flatter the artist, it could also

be argued that the slight high angle could give the audience more of a powerful controlling gaze on the artist especially in this shot where the artist appears vulnerable. Also the way the camera moves closer into her face is as if it is inviting us to look at her and admire her.

Some music videos portray the less frequent notion of the female gaze, in which the idea is reversed and so it is the females who are viewing the video and gaining some sort of sexual pleasure from it. In the video for Rock DJ by Robbie Williams it does contain some fragmented shots of the females to please the male viewer, however it primarily features the artist in the center of all of the woman, dancing provocatively and trying to get there attention and admiration. As dancing does not work he begins removing all of his clothes, as they still show no interest he begins to rip off his own flesh in order to please them, the video is meant to portray the message that being a sex symbol can sometimes go too far.

The video for How to be a heart breaker by Marina and The Diamonds is probably the best example of the female gaze and voyeurism, in which it shows the males wearing next to nothing, being used as adornments, fragmented body shots (including a crotch shot), and camera work and editing to objectify the men. Throughout the entire video we are shown many shots of the men's bodies frequently in slow motion to emphasise their physique and to help create a lingering view of them as if we are watching
something intimate. The fragmented shots help to sexualise the men and show them as purely objects. The shot in which the artist is shown holding a served head helps to amplify the meaning of the entire video, in that she is in control and that the men are her play things and that we are being urged to join her in her games. Although the video is seemingly all about the sexualisation of the men, the video still sells the artist as it is showing the men as her adornments and that they constantly have their attention on her and so she is seen as the object to be desired. The video is all about how she is playing the men and so it shows her as being the most important person in the video. This idea is further supported by her being the prominent image in all on the shots she is in, e.g she is show in the foreground of most the scenes, she is generally in the center of the shots, she is seen on top of the man when they are laying down and also in the scene by the car she is dancing around and so your attention is on her.



Voyeurism also refers to the idea of screens within screens and is captivated by the idea of people within the textual world of also being viewers. A good example of this is I Wanna by The All-American Rejects in which the video tells the entire narrative through phone screens.



Another example which shows the idea of people in the fictional world being the viewers is Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls in which it shows the artist looking through a number of different telescopes and portrays him as a voyeur of the world from a secluded building top.