The concept of the gaze is one that deals with how an audience views the people presented. The theory suggests that the male gaze denies women human identity, relegating them to the status of objects to be admired for physical appearance - this 'masculines' the audience.
The theory suggests woman can more often than not only watch a film from a secondary perspective and only view themselves from a mans perspective.
For feminists, the gaze can be thought of in 3 ways:
- How men look at women
- How women look at themselves
- How women look at other women
Image Essay: Beyonce - Pretty Hurts
Laura Mulvey’s concept of the gaze can be
thought of in three ways – how men look at women, how women look at themselves
and how women look at other women. The theory suggests that the male gaze
denies women of their human identity, relegating them to the status of objects
to be admired for physical appearance. However, in the video Pretty Hurts by
Beyoncé, she chooses not to conform and instead portrays a very powerful and
relatable message to women and men of all ages.
Opening the video with depth of field soft
focus immediately draws the audience’s attention to how Beyoncé is staring at
her reflection through a mirror. Non-diegetic minor piano cords are playing in
the background setting a mundane tone, which is reinforced by Beyoncé’s facial
expression in the shot: hopeless and unhappy. Within the first few seconds of
the video, it is showing how Beyoncé is looking at herself – picking faults
with her appearance to be left feeling negative with a low self esteem.
Throughout the video Beyoncé is portraying
what goes on ‘behind the scenes’ in beauty pageants. Through the use of a
montage edit, the video exposes how many women have a distorted body image as
they are picking out minor/nonexistent imperfections of themselves.
The negative relationship both women and men have with self-confidence has stemmed from the media – as individuals do not take into consideration postproduction and are constantly comparing themselves to unrealistic role models. This idea is reinforced by the lyrics within one of the verses in the song “Blonder hair, flat chest, TV says, bigger is better. South beach, sugar free. Vogue says thinner is better” – conforming to the idea that women look at other women in the media to shape their own identity. Sadly the lyrics in the song “perfection is a disease of a nation” are accurate in today’s society.
As the video moves on, Beyoncé gets asked a
question during the beauty pageant: “what is your aspiration in life?” A pause
in the music is present as minor non-diegetic piano chords play with a montage
edit. At this point in the video, Beyoncé reflects on what she has put herself
through to get to where she is in the competition. A voiceover of her speaking
reveals the answer “well my aspiration in life is to be happy”. This part of
the video is a powerful message to women and men in society as Beyoncé comes to
the realisation that she isn’t happy with upholding a body image that isn’t
natural to her anymore – demonstrating that anyone can break the conventions of
what the media portrays in order to be happy with oneself.
To conclude, it is evident that Laura
Mulvey’s concept of the male gaze is not present in Beyoncé’s music video, Pretty
Hurts. In fact, Beyoncé goes against the negative idea that Mulvey has towards
women in the media as she represents a role model for all women in society.
During the end of the song Beyoncé directly asks her audience through her
lyrics to stop and think “Are you happy with yourself?” - If not then to change
your ways as it is possible; just like she did.
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