Reflection on Laura Mulvey's theory

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT LAURA MULVEY’S IDEAS ON
REPRESENTATION?

“In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly”.  

(Laura Mulvey 1992)

Mulvey’s ideas are based around the fact that woman are presented in a stereotypical manner to accustom the male fantasy. Representation in music videos and in real life consists of the dissection of many parts like gender, which is challenged in the music video of Nikki Minage where men are dissected in a sexual representation. Age like Justin Bieber, where emphases are shown through his looks and hairstyles and ethnicity and place. The epitome for representation of women that you expect to find in most music videos that show great emphasis on their attractiveness is artists like Nicole Scherzinger in “Wet”. 

The immediate genre that I can think of that fits into this representation of women is Pop/RnB. The genre that I think that fits for the representation of men is in Pop like JLS. Artists that challenge this stereotypical representation are artists like Lady Gaga who chooses a unique style that both hinders in attractiveness and challenges it at the same time, also Adele. I think that Mulvey’s opinion doesn’t remain relevant in today’s society because time has move on from 1992 when she wrote it. Women have more say in what goes in the music video and what feels comfortable for them like again Lady Gaga.