The 'Male Gaze Theory' applied to Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke

1. Blurred Lines- ‘The Male Gaze
Theory’
Sam Carter

2. Blurred Lines- Male Gaze Theory
• I will be applying Laura Mulvey’s ‘The Male Gaze Theory’ to the
music video Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke.
• The 9 points of ‘The Male Gaze Theory’ are:
1. The representation of women as a sexual fantasy and from a
heterosexual point of view
2. Scopophilia- the pleasure involved in looking at other peoples
bodies
3. Objectification of female characters
4. Patriarchal society
5. Active male and passive female
6. Men as controlling subjects
7. Women as an image
8. Men do the looking and the women are there to be looked at
9. Needs of the male ego

3. The first shots of the video are of the artist laying next to a woman with his arms around her and his name across the
screen. This implies that he’s an imposing and confident figure, the camera movement and editing moves up their legs
wrapped around each other and then there is a cut to their upper bodies showing they’re next to each other. The part of
the theory saying ‘needs of the male ego’ could be applied in this shot as the showing of the artists name across the screen
could infer he has a big ego, and the shot could imply that he needs that woman or women in general to fulfil the need of
his ego.
These shots could use the theory
of women are there to be looked
at. It shows the male artists
looking at the women in an
inappropriate way and the
women have no problem with it.
This goes with this part of the
theory as the women have no
problem with this and are acting
like they know they are there to
be looked at. This could also
apply to the point about
scopophilia as the men are
getting pleasure from looking at
the women.

4. Men as controlling subjects can be seen in
the video, in the picture above the women
are stood still around the man and the man
shouts ‘hey girl come here.’ This indicates an
empowering and controlling attitude taken
by the man which links with the theory. Also
in a lot of the video the women are dancing
and following the men around indicating
that the men are controlling them.
Throughout most of the video women
are represented as a sexual fantasy.
This is one example as the close up of
the woman showing her looking into
the camera seductively complies with
the fantasy theory. Also with the
majority of the background being red
this has connotations of a sexual
nature.
This video complies with theory of society being a
patriarchal society as the male artists are the dominant
figures in the video while the women walk and dance
around them. This screenshot however, can be seen
either way as the male artist looks like he is trying to
dominate the female with the lyrics ‘tried to
domesticate you’. However, the facial expression of the
woman shows that she is not interested and could
show that she isn’t being dominated by the male, going
against the patriarchal society theory.

5. This screenshot shows the theory of objectification of
female characters. It does this by showing the female
as a source of entertainment for the male characters
as the women stand there and dance while the male
characters just look at them. This complies with the
theory as it looks like the males do not take into
account how the women feel about this and just use
them for their entertainment.
This can also be used for the theory of women as an
image as the mise-en-scene shows the women in little
clothing, looking like they are performing for the men.
This complies with the theory as it goes with the
stereotype and the scopophilia theory of women are
there to be looked at which is why they are dancing
and performing for the men.
This picture shows that the video goes against the theory of
active male and passive female. This is due to the male
being shown as the passive character in this wide angled
shot and the females being the active characters. The
females are the active characters as they are dancing for
the men and walking provocatively for the male character
as he just watches them. This demonstrates that this video
has contrasting scenes where the male is dominant,
showing in the explanation of men as controlling subjects,
and that females are dominant in this explanation.