What is the Male Gaze

 The concept of 'gaze' refers to how an audience views the people presented. Laura Mulvey coined the term 'Male Gaze' in 1975 in an essay called ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’, which suggests that film audiences have to views characters from the perspective of a heterosexual male.Men watch; women are watched.

From a feminist perspective , the ‘Male Gaze’ can be reduced to:

• How men look at women
• How women look at themselves
• How women look at other women.

Features of the ’ Male Gaze’

• Voyeuristic – pleasure in ‘watching’. The camera lingers on the curves of the female body. Events which occur to women are presented largely in the context of a man's reaction to these events.
• Relegates women to the status of objects.
• Male active / female passive: the female viewer experiences the narrative secondarily, by identification with the male.

Marjorie Ferguson explored four female looks:

Chocolate Box: This is a look where a female model shows a slight smile, showing as minimal amount of teeth as possible, the lips tend to be closed and the face is not shown full on face forward. This gives the impression that they female is warm and friendly, as her features are subtle and kind.

Taylor Swift - Love Story

Invitational : This look which focuses mainly upon the eyes, and mouth which will be closed although the model will be smiling with her head to one side, as if to be looking down upon the invitee. This creates a sense of mystery, to intrigue the male.

Tame Impala - Mind Mischief

Super Smiler: When a model is showing this look she will show her full face with a full teeth smile with either her head tilted forwards or backwards. This shows that the female wants to attract the male and gives off a friendly and approachable vibe.

Iggy Azalea - Bounce

Romantic or Sexual: This look includes both a female and a male in the picture, it will seem as if it is a dream and will represent desire and sexuality.

 Justin Timberlake - Cry Me A River

 All of these looks are used largely in music videos. They are usually used in male artist's videos which will feature attractive women whom they desire. They are also used a lot in female artist's videos in order to appeal to a male audience