The male gaze is a concept coined by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey. It refers to the way visual arts are structured around a masculine viewer. It describes the tendency in visual culture to depict the world and women from a masculine point of view and in terms of men's attitudes.
An example of this can be seen in the film 'The Avengers' in the form of Black Widow. She is a character who has clearly been formed in a pleasing way to the male eye. Her superhero outfit is a tight black, leather (PVC) catsuit which clings to all aspects of her body. This means that her image is extremely revealing and therefore stands out to a male audience. This can fit with the feminist view that a woman is merely a mans 'possession' an object which they can desire and chase after. A female is an image of mens adoration, therefore they must fit with the idealised form that men require.
On the other hand, our music video shows women from a completely different perspective. Me and Lauren are shown to be each others desire, we are pleasing to the eye of one another and not to a male audience. We are not wearing any short or revealing clothing, or any other objects that may be pleasing to men because that is not our purpose. In many ways we have fed into the feminist theory that women should be free from all male oppression, we show freedom with one another in a sense that we could not be tied down by anyone else.
Gay relationships are often not accepted in society, however in recent times people have become more aware of their existence. A variety of media platforms have not openly shown gay relationships due to the negative reactions they could get from an audience. The television series, 'Hollyoaks' is one of the only programmes that clearly shows the existence of gay relationships. However, there target audience is teenagers and young adults and therefore they may not have such a negative approach to seeing these images/ storyline as an older audience. Gay relationships are becoming more acceptable to see on TV as many documentaries, especially on channel 4, have been made to highlight gays in modern society. Although, many films do not show gay realtionships as they still follow the concept of a 'fairytale ending' which would consist of a man and a woman. It seems more common to see these types of relationships in soaps as they add to the dramatic effect. Even though the concept is being shown across more media platforms, there is still a long way to go.
