Mulvey, Visual pleasure and narrative cinema

In the reading “Visual pleasure and narrative cinema” by Laura Mulvey, she describes narrative cinema as containing many elements of phallocentrism that affects the representation and role of women in film and society. Mulvey describes that the cinema acts as an “advanced representation system” that offers its viewers many possible pleasures. (Mulvey) The first pleasure is defined by the term Scopophillia, which allows the simple act of looking onto a film screen and being looked at to be sources of pleasure. The second source of pleasure occurs through reflection and self-identification. For instance, she explains that recognizing oneself through a mirror image can lead to misrecognition because an acknowledgment of a mirror image is more perfect and complete than one’s own experience. Finally, the third source of pleasure occurs through “a love affair/ despair relationship” with an image and self-recognition. (Mulvey) For this reason, women are put on display in films, as objects that function only to serve the needs of men. As Mulvey states, women “act as signifiers for male desire”. (Mulvey) I believe that this interpretation of narrative cinema is similar to women’s role in music videos. Women are often represented in a male singer’s video as being sexualized objects for the singer’s enjoyment and pleasure. The male singer is often surrounded by many women, usually one on each arm and they are shown as being hyper sexualized individuals and their primarily role is to stand next to him and look pretty for his enjoyment and the viewer’s enjoyment as well.