Voyeruism

"There is frequently reference to the notion of looking (mirrors, screens within screens, stages etc..) and particularly voyerusitic treatment of the female body" - Andrew Goodwin - Dancing in the Distraction Factory (1992).

In class we were discussing the idea of voyeruism and watching examples of music videos. We looked at one music video, Wiley - Heatwave

 

This video has clear voyeurisitic techniques such as through the camera shots, angles and camera movements as the camera seems to be like a point of view from a man, therefore seeing these females in bikinis at a pool party.

 

Here are some of the opinions and ideas we came up with as a class about this music video:

 

 

We came up with some good thoughts about this music video such as the representation of women, how they're all slim and beautiful wearing bikinis and giving this idea that this is the only way to look beautiful for women. We also said that we noticed how there is no other race of women, just 'white' but we then realised this related to the lyrics "light-skinned girl".

 

After looks at the quote from Andrew Goodwin, we were asked to discuss the idea of voyeruism and where it came from, the meaning and how it applies today. The idea of voyeurism has this definition (taken from Wikipedia)

"Voyeurism is the sexual interest in or practice of spying on people engaged in intimate behaviors, such as undressing, sexual activity, or other actions usually considered to be of a private nature"

this still applies today in the media world, especially music videos, usually by a male artist who tends to spy on the females but can be used by females.

Voyeurism has developed into contempary media e.g reality TV such as Big Brother.