how voyeurism is used in music videos

1. CASE STUDY ABOUT VOYEURISM
By Neha Saleem

2. WHAT IS VOYEURISM?
Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on
people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as
undressing, sexual activity, or other actions usually
considered to be of a private nature.The voyeur does not
normally interact directly with the subject of his/her interest,
who is often unaware of being observed.The term comes from
the French voyeur which means "one who looks".

3. VOYEURISM IN MUSIC VIDEOS
Voyeurism is used in music videos in order to gain pleasure
from activities that the audience is not suppose to see. The
audience is kind of a “peeping tom” in the music video. The
characters dont know that they are being watched while they
dance, undress or do anything that gives pleasure to the
audience. However, sometimes the characters break the
fourth wall and have direct eye contact with the camera and
perform for the audience. The concept of voyeurism is usually
about a man’s controlling gaze and objectifying the female’s
body as a sexual object solely for pleasure. The female
character has no human identity and her sole purpose is to
give pleasure to the man.

4. TECHNIQUES USED FOR VOYEURISM
There are many different techniques through which voyeurism can be
shown in a music video. The females are sexually objectifies through
fragmented body shots, focusing only on specific body parts. This is
known as the male gaze. It can also be done through different
camera angles and camera movements emphasising a sexualised
treatment of the performer.
This is usually done to attract the audience and develop their interest
in the music video more. There is a specific audience who specially
want such voyeurism in videos. This helps the produce get a higher
revenue through the music video by selling it using the artist’s sex
appeal.

5. BANG BANG
This is a music video that has a lot of voyeurism in it. In this video there is
no narrative and all the female stars are used as an object of pleasure.
Laura Mulvey’s theory can be applied here as whatever she said is
appropriate for such a video. The female characters in the video have n o
role except to expose herself and perform for the men and the audience
to give them pleasure.
Like in this picture, the clothes that the ladies are wearing are exposing
them a lot and they wear such clothes only to attract the male audiences.
We can also see a lot of female dancers behind them and not even one
male dancer. This shows how
women are objectified and are
used not as humans but as
sexual objects.

6. In this screenshot we can clearly see that
the character is not aware of the fact that
she is being looked at by the audience.
This is known as the spectator’s gaze.
However, here Ariana Grande, the star
image in the video breaks the fourth wall
between her and the audence and looks
directly at them. Here, her face is being
focused and the audience can clearly see her
features and her beauty. She is perform ing
for the audience and the audience is the
voyeurer here. This is known as the extra-
diegetic gaze. In the last screenshot, she is
putting on make up and doesnt know that
we are looking at her, this is the male gaze
but as it is not focusing her body in an
inappropriate way, we can assume that she is
not being looked at in a sexual manner.
However, in the last screenshot the woman’s
back is being focused and here the male gaze
is used in a sexual manner.

7. Here we can say that there is a female gaze fcusing
on the shirtless male in the video in a sexual
manner.. This doesn’t happen very often the the
men are objectified as sexual objects but this is one
of the videos where the man is also objectified
although this clip was of only 2 seconds unlike the
ladies who were objectified for male pleasure in
the entire video. This can also be called an inta-
diegetic gaze, because the man is looking at the
women in the video.
The lyrics of this video are also all about attracting men and how they
want the girls for pleausre. The clothes they wear, the accessories, their
dance and performance, everything is done to impress the men. This
video is also about how women enjoy when men look at them and it
also shows how women portray themselves. Laura Mulvey says that
women are only used in music videos for two purposes;
•As an erotic object for the characters within the narrative to view.
•As an erotic object for the spectators within the cinema to view.
This is true in this video. There is no such purpose of the females in the
video. Men in the video have no major role either but they are still
shown as a whole person and not as an object to the spectators.