Voyeurism is when a person receives sexual gratification from seeing or witnessing someones sexual behavior or from seeing their body/genitalia. For example if someone is watching a tv programme there may be a shot of someone's body/body part or perhaps a shot of them behaiving in a sexual way on screen, when someone is watching this and recieving pleasure that is voyeurism. Goodwin states that female performers are sexually objectified by camera work with fragmented editing, and usually it's the male controlling the gaze. Voyeurism is also used to promote many female artists.
Why is it used in music video's and other media texts?
This is from the music video Sak Noel- Local people. These are perfect examples of voyeurism, as there are shots of women in the night club being sexually objectified. The women in the music video have hardly any clothes on, they are practically naked, also in this music video the women are dancing about in a sexual way, all for the male gratification.
The act
of voyeurism is the observation of an unsuspecting person who is naked, in the
process of disrobing, or engaging in sexual activity that provides sexual
arousal. To be clinically diagnosed, the symptoms must include the following
elements:
- recurrent, intense or sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors
- fantasies, urges, or behaviors that cause significant distress to an individual or are disruptive of his or her everyday functioning.
Voyeurism
and the notion of looking are both very broad themes that almost every single
music video contains. Voyeurism can be used to sell the artist's music through
sex appeal, like in the video for Beyonce's Single Ladies, to
make a statement, in Miley Cyrus's Can't Be Tamed, for instance,
when the video shows crowds looking in on her as a caged animal, parodying the
public's voyeurism of her as a famous person, or to enhance the message of the
lyrics, like in Robbie Williams' Rock DJ, where he uses a
shocking and controversial video to amplify the message of his lyrics - that
being a sex symbol can go too far.
Voyeurism
can also be present through watching something happen from the point of view of
an observer. This isn't very common, as most music videos will have the singer
directly facing the camera and addressing the viewer, but it can be used - such
as in Pink's Who Knew, where we watch a story unfold between the
two characters without feeling like we are involved in it.
The
notion of looking can include many techniques and is something that is present
in almost every music video. The most common use of it is through direct or
indirect address. The characters or band members will often purposefully look
into the camera a lot (direct address), and sing to the audience, or not look
at the camera (indirect address) to create a feeling of distance and voyeurism.
However,
the notion of looking can also be demonstrated using props. Shots of the artist
or character reflected in a mirror, for example, are part of the notion of
looking. Screens, such as televisions, are also a commonly used prop that
indicates the notion of looking. REM's Bad Day is made to look
like the whole video is being watched through a television screen, for
instance. Props like cameras, telescopes, binoculars or magnifying glasses all
also show this idea. It can even be included through the use of any prop or
scene where the viewer is looking through something at the artist, like in The
Red Hot Chili Peppers' Can't Stop, when we see the singer's head
through a long pipe.
