Learning about voyeurism

During our lessons so far we’ve been learning how to understand ‘voyeurism’, the idea that we look to get sexual pleaser out of looking. Voyeurism has brought up many different arguments such as the male viewers gaze is different for that of a women’s; male viewers are geared to the notion of voyeurism, and that their gaze is a powerful controlling gaze that objectifies females on display. Whereas it could be said that a woman’s gaze is effectively the same however it doesn’t hold the same power that the man’s gaze does. Goodwin’s interpretation of Voyeurism is that women are frequently objectified, if not all the time. This is done through the use of camerawork and editing with fragmented body shots emphasising a sexualised treatment of the female star.  Nonetheless, in male performances voyeuristic treatment of women are used as adjournments to the male stars ego. However, as the years have passed powerful female acts such as Madonna and in recent years Lady Gaga, have added the complexity of the gaze by being at once sexually provocative and apparently in control. To continue, I learnt about Laura Mulvey’s theory of the ‘four active looks’, the relationship between men as they do the active looking, the relationship between the cameras looking at stars, relationship between the audience looking at the screen and the relationship between the characters and the screen. Taking in everything that I have learnt into consideration, I now hold a firmer grip on understand why things happen in music videos and what their effect are on the audience.