Audience behaviour: Dyer, Goodwin & Mulvey

Richard Dyers Utopian Solutions Theory

• This solution gives people a choice of compensation for the inadequacies in their own lives
• An example of this solution being put to use would be if we tried using an Anti-smoking campaign: there would be clear motives that we could offer based on Dyers solution. e.g. gain money, understanding the facts, gain energy, join a quiet club

Andrew Goodwin's Theory of music videos

Andrew Goodwin writing in 'Dancing in the distraction factory' ( Rousledge 1992)

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics

• e.g. Stage performance in mental videos, dance routine for boy/girl band (as seen below with the 'The Backstreet boys'), aspiration in hip hop 

Backstreet boys- All I have to give

2. There is a relationship between lyrics & visuals. The lyrics are represented with images ( either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting)

e.g. The lyrics 'Baby your a firework, come on let your colours burst' followed by an image of fireworks bursting out of her body 

3. There is a relationship between music & visuals. The tone & atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music

           ( either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting )

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist & the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work

      These include:

• Close ups (CUs) of the stars face
• iconography of the band image
• visual trademarks & motifs

           For instance in all of Madonnas videos theres a close up of her face and her signature look

Dress you up 

Like a virgin



Papa don't preach

5. There is frequently reference to notion of looking

            

           ( screens within screens, mirrors, stages, telescopes etc.)

e.g. Katy Perry's California girls shows voyeuristic treatment of the female body

6. There are often intertextuality reference to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc..

       e.g. UB40 'Cant help falling in love' it was the soundtrack for the film 'Sliver'

                            Audience & Audience Theory: Feminist Film Theory & Audiences

Laura Mulvey: Visual pleasure & Narrative Cinema (1975)

1. Cinema reflects society
2. Therefore cinema reflects a patriarchal society
3. How does a patriarchal society manifest itself in cinema?

Erotic desire

Mulvey argues that women have two roles in film:

1. As an object of erotic desire for the characters
2. As an object of erotic desire for the audience

The virgin / whore dichotomy

Women are only portrayed as one of two possibilities.

1. A virginal innocent character
2. A sexy "whore" 

The Male Gaze  

• The 'gaze' of the camera is the male 'gaze'
• The male gaze is active, the female passive









• Within the narrative, male characters direct their gaze towards the female characters
• The spectator is made to identify with the male gaze, because the camera films from the optical as well as the libidinal point of view of the male character
• Thus three levels of the cinematic gaze- camera, character & spectator- that objectify the female character ( the triple gaze)