Voyeur: The peeping tom
- Mar 18, 2024
- 2 min read
Voyeurism, by definition, refers to the act of gaining sexual pleasure from viewing others engage in sensual acts or disrobing. In Media, it ties in with the notion of looking for visual pleasure as theorised in “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” by Laura Mulvey as she states, “The woman’s function is to be an erotic object for the characters in the diegetic world and the audience members.” Mulvey thus believed that women in media are viewed as objects of male desires as there is no control over how they are perceived and do not have control over the viewers. Goodwin’s ‘Notion of Looking’ develops upon the term voyeurism in the context of Music videos showing women as whole but as fragmented body parts. Thus, Close-ups of the female body in MV, along with slow-motion shots of them performing sensual acts to appeal to the viewer’s erotic desires, are used for the sexual gratification of the male voyeuristic fantasy.
This fetish has become a tool to ensure monetary returns using multiple female artists to sell their bodies to thrive in the music industry, as we can expect all the ‘peeping toms’ to view it. An example of this is Cardi B’s “Like What” music video featuring the female artist wearing revealing clothing as she strides through a mansion. She performs sexual acts, which are slowed down, making her look appealing from the perspective of a heterosexual male audience.
Rap and pop music video codes and conventions include many women surrounding the artists wearing revealing clothing. As the artist continues to perform, they are in the background and by their side to feed the male gaze. An example is Popstar by DJ Khalid ft Drake, featuring Justin Beiber surrounded by girls partying and wearing revealing clothes as they are spread out near his bed, with few guys around in the background, thus creating a man’s erotic fantasy that they can fulfil themselves with.
In today’s age, however, the notion of the male gaze is challenged by the growing progressive audience and large audiences that support intersectional feminism for women’s empowerment. Thus, with a rise in feministic ideology, music videos have started to shift to an approach. Sabrina Carpenters’ ‘Feather’ MV employs humour as she faces objectification from the men around her who are met with an untimely death. On the other hand, men have also been featured voyeuristically in recent music videos such as the Marina and The Diamonds’ How to be a Heartbreaker MV.
Despite this recent shift, the use of voyeurism in MV is unlikely to diminish anytime soon as it stems from Freud’s theory, which bases itself on human psychology for using media as a form of sexual pleasure, a part of human tendency and thus will always be employable in MV to make sure it is a success.
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