Laura Mulvey's theory on Representation

Gender is one of the more obvious areas of representation in music video. The image of an artist in a music video will have been carefully planned from the choice of clothes and style of hair to the situation or 'narrative' that the artist is placed within. As an audience we will deconstruct this representation and interpret it.

 -"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)

For example looking at the video 'Holiday' by Dizzee Rascal we see how the 'female figure' is 'styled accordingly' to suit a male's 'fantasy'. The audience for this video are blatent males.
   

In this shot we see the back of a female
entering this party in a bikini. However the male next standing next to her looks very provocative and obviously checking out the female. As the female is dressed in a bikini in this video it is inevitable that it is going to attract some male attention.            

In this shot we see Dizzee Rascal the singer sitting down surrounded by more females in bikinis, however he is seen dressed in full clothing and bling. The fact that there are more females in this shot  with bikinis shows us that they have been put there and styled accordingly to suit the male's fantasy.

In this shot we see a clear view of a female once again in a bikini showing her figure. This highlights the idea that women are dismembered which means it doesn't focus on women as a whole but focuses and obsessed with specific body parts such as the legs, chest, bums etc.





However looking at the music video by Missy Elliot called 'All N My Grill', we see the females being represented quite differently to the Dizzee Rascal video' Holiday'.

In this music video as you can see a female police officer- this highlights the bold dominant role of females. We see Missy Elliot in full clothing, theres hardly any flesh on the scene and finally a male with hardly any clothes. This video is the total opposite to the Dizzee Rascals 'Holiday' video, the females are portrayed more positively and strongly in this one.