MULVEY'S MALE GAZE

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I have previously studied and carried out research into Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory which argues that the male gaze denies women an identity by reducing their status to that of an object that's only purpose is to be admired by physical appearance. Through my music video analysis I found that the Male Gaze was something evident in most R&B music videos, especially performance. The idea of voyeurism and the Male Gaze is challenged in our music video as we completely ignored this. In R&B music videos, women are often objectified by being presented with little clothing on and through certain camera angles negatively. Our music video in one way challenges this theory because we didn't follow this 'convention' but also because we didn't actually feature any men in our music video. In this was we were presenting women as independent - going against the typical conventions of the R&B music genre in which women are presented as of lower status than men. Men are also often presented negatively in the same way as I discovered in my music video analysis of Chris Brown's music video for 'Turn Up The Music' in which he is presented with little clothing - done to appeal to a female audience. 

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Goodwin also suggested that women in music videos are often represented negatively with certain camera angles emphasizing the women's features. R&B narrative music video which do feature women often present them in a way which is familiar to the audience but in my music video I wanted to show a different perspective through showing the impact of mental health issues and their importance. 

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R&B artists themselves are often presented in a similar way which is challenged through my digipak and my website. I used images that present my artist at confident and relatable which is what I wanted him to come across as so the audience would relate to him and therefore help raise awareness for the issues raised in his songs and music videos. 

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DYER'S STAR THEORY

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I also did research on Richard Dyer's star theory as part of the research stage. His theory stated that celebrities and stars are manufactured by the industry  purely for financial gain. I challenged this through my artist -  despite giving him the name 'The Throne' I wanted to make sure that through all of my products I made him relatable to fans and the audience. To do this on my website, I included an 'About Me' page which contains lots of personal information, much of which was written by the artist himself which shows the audience his journey - ensuring he doesn't come across as a 'Star'. The personal information on the 'About Me' page makes the audience feel connected to the artist making people more likely to support his music. I also achieved this through the music video by costumes and the narrative itself. The narrative is about 2 girls who have fallen out and circumstances have left one of the girls in particular feeling alone and as a result suffering with mental health issues. I really wanted to raise awareness for mental health through the narrative as I know it is something not often spoke about but something that many people struggle with. I think by incorporating this into my narrative it helps to reinforce the relatability of the artist. Costume was also a big part of this - by making the characters costumes normal casual clothes (very similar to that worn by the artist in the digipak) the audience will feel close to the artist making him more relatable. 

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