Laura Mulvey Essay

How does Laura Mulvey's theory apply to "Dirty" and "Do It Like a Dude"?

Discuss: The camera, The audience, The actors, The target audience of these artists and why you think they choose to present themselves in this way.


Laura Mulvey's theory applies to music videos "Dirty" and "Do It Like a Dude" because both videos invite the audience to view the artists as objects of desire. This is done through the camera shots and angles used, the fact the video is presented in a voyeuristic way to the audience, and the way the artist interacts with others in the video.


1.) In Christina Aguilera's video of "Dirty" the use of camera invites sexual gaze by...
The use of camera invites sexual gaze by aiming the camera at Aguilera's bum and breasts. Therefore many older and young men will look at her video in a voyeuristic way, for example the first scene of the music video is aimed at Christina Aguilera's bum where her jeans are cut out where her bum is, therefore Laura Mulvey's theory seems to be true because she will be seen as an object of desire because the camera is focused on Christina Aguilera and her bum and breasts.

2.) The audience views this video in a voyeuristic way because...
The audience will view this in a voyeuristic way because the artist is very seductive in the way she dances and the clothes that she wears are very revealing. This is seen in the shower scene because she is dancing in water meaning she gets very wet which is very sexual. Also she is in very small clothes and therefore many people will get sexual pleasure by just watching the video Dirty because it is very sexual and also can be seen as pornographic.

3.) The actors interact in way that results in the female being looked at as an object of desire. This occurs when...
The actors who are all men are watching the girls whilst they dance very sexily in the boxing ring due to their looks and how they reveal their selves. For example within the first minute all the men are viewing Christina and the dancers as objects as desires because they are being viewed by many men and towards the end they are grinding with her this shows that the men can not resist her and use the voyeuristic views into sexual actions. This also shows that Laura Mulvey's theory that all the girls in music videos are seen in an voyeuristic way and it is also seen in movies and other types of media.

4.) In Jesse J's video of "Do it Like a Dude" the use of the camera invites sexual gaze by...
The use of the camera invites sexual gaze in Jesse J's music video "Do It Like a Dude" because as Laura Mulvey says the women are tied to desire. For example sometimes the camera is zooming at Jesse J's breasts when she is bending over, also she is wearing clothes that would attract men, for example hot pants and crop tops. However, some people may not get sexual gaze by this video because Jesse J is trying to break the stereotype because many of the girls are doing very masculine things for example a girl is smoking a cigar. Also Jesse J's li[ps are very gothic and have spikes on them, she is trying to say that she is not going to be an object of desire but she is trying to get men to reject her and not look at her in a voyeuristic way.

5.) The audience views this in a voyeuristic way because...
The audience may view this in a voyeuristic way because the audience may not just be men. The audience could be female who love women rather than men. This could be to do with Jesse J's sexuality therefore the female audience may like how she is dancing and how Jesse J represents herself. Furthermore, a male may see this in a voyeuristic because the video is very gothic and therefore a goth male may see the video in a voyeuristic way.

6.) The actors interact in a way that results in the female being looked at as an object of desire. This occurs when...
This does not occur because many of the actors a challenging the stereotype, therefore many of the women do not look good and wear good clothes to attract men, therefore they do not surround Jesse J as an object of desire. Moreover, this means that Jesse J is correctly challenging the stereotype and contradicts Laura Mulvey's theory that women are tied to objects of desire in some scenarios in the video. However the actors in the video are not objects of desire nor do they look interact with Jesse J as she is an object of desire.

7.) The target audience for these two artists in young females. However, the way they represent themselves as sexual objects does not appeal to young girls, it appeals to men. I believe Christine Aguilera and Jesse J choose to represent themselves like this because...
In my oppinion Christine Aguilera's video 'Dirty' appeals more to men compared to Jesse J's 'Do It Like a Dude' because Christine Aguilera's video is more sexual and represents the female actors more clearly as objects of desire compared to 'Do It Like a Dude'. Christine Aguilera may do this because she wants the attention or more sales because in the modern era sex sells. However Jesse J's video may be different because she wants to challenge the stereotype which is rarely done therefore she is trying to be original or she is doing it like this due to her sexuality. This means it may attract more girls compared to men.

8.) In summary, Laura Mulvey's theory applies to these music videos because...
It applies to BOTH music videos because however hard Jesse J tries to break the stereotype the cinematography and miss-en-scene still agree with Mulvey's theory that however hard women try that women are tied to objects of desire where in some scenes Jesse J is revealing her body and wearing very small clothes that may not be seen in public. Also Christine Aguilera is clearly being sexual and wants to be an object of desire.