The History of the Music Video

Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody (1975) is commonly regarded as the first "music video" ever produced, and although there were older films of groups/people performing they were not made for the same purpose, that being a video composed to music that blends narrative and peformance - rather than simply filming a live performance itself. After the success of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' it became regular practice for record companies to produce 'pop promos' for their artist's single releases. This is why I deem Bohemian Rhapsody as the first official music video for the purpose of blending narrative and performance in conjunction with pop promotion.

Queen is a British rock band formed in London in 1970. The band consists of 4 members, Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), John Deacon (bass guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals). During the 1970's politics was not at there strongest, where it is stated that "British politics in the 70s is known for its lacklustre governments clinging to the remnants of the Post War Consensus, causing disillusionment of the electorate to the point of counterrevolution by 1979" 

http://newhistories.group.shef.ac.uk/wordpress/wordpress/?p=4051

Queen have worked with various record labels including Captiol, Parlophone, EMI, Holywood, Island and Elektra.

Throughout the music video itself it cuts between the live performance of the song itself and all four band members set in a particular way in a dark room lit from below (to give them a particularly mysterious and eerie look). This further confirms the purpose of the pop promotional music video, blending both narrative and performance into one video. 

'Ways of Seeing' and 'The Male Gaze'

What is the Gaze?

The concept of gaze is one that analyses how an audience views, or is intended to view, the people presented. The types of gaze are primarily categorised by who is doing the looking and who controls the gaze (eg. director, camera, lead actor - historically male).

To look; to stare; to gaze - Looking and 'the gaze': Johnathan Schroeder (1998), "to gaze implies more than to look at - it signifies a psychological relatioship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze."

Johnathan Schroeder notes, ' Film has been called an instrument of the male gaze, producing representations of women, the good life, and sexual fantasy from a male point of view' (Schroeder 1998, 208)

TASK:

Q: How many different types of 'gaze' can there be in a media text?

The spectator's gaze: the gaze of the viewer at an image of a person (or animal, or object) in the text

The intra-diegetic gaze: a gaze of one depicted person at another (or at an animal or an object) within the world of the text (typically depicted in filmic and televisual media by a subjective ‘point-of-view shot’);

The direct (or extra-diegetic) address to the viewer: the gaze of a person (or quasi-human being) depicted in the text looking ‘out of the frame’ as if at the viewer, with associated gestures and postures (in some genres, direct address is studiously avoided);

The look of the camera: the way that the camera itself appears to look at the people (or animals or objects) depicted; less metaphorically, the gaze of the film-maker or photographer.

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze02.html

Q: Who controls the 'gaze' in each case?

In each case the 'gaze' would be controlled by the viewer, as with one of the four looks posed by Ferguson (1983) 'romantic and sexual' the female model presented in the music video poses as a sexual fantasy figure for the audience, which would greatly (and stereotypically) consist of males. 

Q: What other power relationships can be defined by the 'gaze' - or who is looking at whom? 

Other power relationships could consist of 'gaze' within the parameter of the video itself. For example if a woman/women in the scene are infatuated by a male model within the music video. The gaze that is presented via the models could also translate to the gaze by the audience, which affects the way in which the audience view the characters presented in the video. 

Q: How is this expressed in the music videos you have been analysing. 

In Carly Rae Jepsen's video 'Call Me Maybe' gaze is presented through Jepsen herself. Her character is head over heels for a male character/model presented. The way in which both characters exchange gaze throughout the duration of the music video creates a sense of fantasy, (not necessarily sexual) mainly being felt by Jepsen herself. When the male character makes eye contact with Jepsen (the 'gazer') she looks away shyly, which you could say subverts Schroeder's 'Gaze theory' giving the male model as 'the gaze' more power. When it is uncovered that the male character is in fact gay the gaze, and the way we as an audience view the character is completely turned on its head - and any superiority felt by the 'gazer' fades away, as does her fantasy to be with the male character.

Media Studies Homework - Questions/Sheet D - Gaze and Feminist theory

Ferguson's (1983) 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.

Invitational : This look which focuses maily 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 invintee.

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.

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.

TASK: Does this translate from magazines to music videos?

Typically in R&B/Hip Hop videos women are sexualised and are a sex symbol for men (or even other women). The reason for this is due down to the songs subject material, as is often referring to sex, drugs and alcohol use respectively. The 'romantic and sexual' female look is very much displayed frequently throughout many videos of this musical genre. You could say in men's magazines such as FHM etc, females are exploited in similar ways in the magazine types, as well as music videos of the R&B genre.

 Such an example can be seen through 50 Cent's music video for his single 'Candy Shop' where it is clear that women are objects of sexual desire, adhering to the fantasy element of the 'romantic and sexual' archetype.

A contrasting look (you could say) is of a female who adheres towards more of the 'chocolate box' and 'invitational' looks rather than the sexual side of the female looks. Such 'girl next door' imagery is in keeping with the audience the artist is aiming towards, that being the ages of 8-16 years. The look in her music video is typical of the girl next door image which would frequently appear in many a teen magazine aiming towards a younger and more impressionable audience, with less sexual desires and motives in mind. So much so that such forms of over sexualised advertising would not be necessary when targeting a younger audience, and a more natural and friendly look would appear as much more attractive to that specific target audience. With non-sexually explicit lyrics, a catchy radio hit with a non offensive cute look about her, Carly Rae Jepsen, specifically in her music video for single 'Call Me Maybe', is a perfect example.