Laura Mulvey's Theory and Analysis of Rihanna's Music Video

Laura Mulvey's Theory

Laura Mulvey was a feminine theorist who developed logical theories about modern films and cinema and the way that she saw films. When she watching films, she noticed that modern cinema reflects society and a patriarchal society. She thinks that cinema films are reminiscent of real life society. 

How is patriarchal society reflected in cinema?

One theory that Laura Mulvey has is the way that men and women are viewed within films. Her theory was that she believed that in most films, men are the dominant figures and women are usually the damsel in distress. She believed that men have the agency in films, which means that they have the ability to move the film and make the storyline advance. In most Hollywood films, this is very much the case.


In most Hollywood films, women are seen as being objects of erotic desire. One of Mulvey's theories is that she thinks that women have only two roles in films. These are:

1. An object of erotic desire for characters. 
2. An object of erotic desire for audiences. 

This could be argued as being true in the film Transformers. As seen by the picture, Megan Fox's role in this particular scene is to be a car mechanic. However, with the clothes that she is wearing and the way that she is positioning her body, makes her seem like an object of erotic desire. 

The Gaze

One of the main theories that Laura Mulvey has is about "The Gaze". She believes that The Gaze is from a male point of view, which means that the camera films the storyline from a male point of view and with what a male would like to see. The idea that women are made out to be objects of erotic desire, is evident with the male gaze as it is something that the majority of males would like to see. The male characters often direct their gaze towards female characters. Male audiences would usually like the idea of this, whereas the female audience may feel uncomfortable watching it. The male gaze is active, and the female gaze is passive. The audience of the film is made to identify with the male gaze because of the way that the storyline is set out, and what the camera films. There is 3 levels of the cinematic gaze. The first one is when the male character looking at the female character. The second gaze is when the camera shows that the male character is looking at the female character. The third gaze is when us as an audience, re looking through the camera at the male character looking at the female character. 

Using Laura Mulvey's theory in a Music Video

If we use Laura Mulvey's theory for this music video, we can see that this theory is definitely true because of the way that Rihanna presents herself and the other people in the video. Also, with the lyrics that she sings also presents herself as an object of erotic desire. The Mise-En-Scene of this music video definitely conforms with this idea, as Rihanna herself is wearing skin tight clothing whereas others are wearing very little clothing. This agrees with the idea of The Male Gaze as male audiences would find this more appealing to watch and therefore the male gaze would definitely be active. Rihanna also uses her body and bends over cars and makes her body a sexual object and the object of erotic desire. All women in the video make themselves objects of erotic desires because of the clothes that they wear. The audience is made to identify with the male gaze because of the way that the camera is positioned within the video.