Here is a little bit of information i researched on the Male Gaze in Madonna's video, 'Open your heart'
Exploring the male gaze of Madonna's video could be of help, as she is also a female artist within the pop genre.
"It was critically acclaimed for portraying a completely opposite perspective of "voyeuristic male gaze and object", and depicting innocence rather than sexual overtones, although the entry of a child in a strip club was negatively criticized. The video was an homage to actresses Liza Minnelli and Marlene Dietrich.
Feminist writer Susan Bordo gave a negative review of the video, saying that the leering and pathetic men in the cubicles and Madonna's escape with the boy is "cynically and mechanically tacked on [as] a way of claiming trendy status for what is just cheesecake - or, perhaps, pornography". MTV also had some reservations initially before airing the video, which was later resolved after a meeting with Warner Officials. However socio-critic Mary Harron in her book McRock: Pop as a commodity said that the underlying message in the video is that though Madonna sells sexuality, she is free. There is no overt representation of anything besides friendship with the boy. Their escape together avoids Madonna the sexual overtones that would have been stronger if she would have escaped with an adult male. This, according to author Richard Dienst, seems to suggest a repudiation of the adult labor of the stage in favor of childhood, androgyny, authenticity and nomadic play. The video is also acclaimed for reviving and re-creating the hard glamor of the studio-era of Hollywood stars and also for representing women as the dominant sex. Author Donn Welton pointed out that the usual power relationship between the "voyeuristic male gaze and object" is destabilized by the portrayal of the male patrons of the peep show as leering and pathetic. At the same time, the portrayal of Madonna as porno queen object is deconstructed by the escape at the end of the video." - http://www.wikipedia.com/
Feminist writer Susan Bordo gave a negative review of the video, saying that the leering and pathetic men in the cubicles and Madonna's escape with the boy is "cynically and mechanically tacked on [as] a way of claiming trendy status for what is just cheesecake - or, perhaps, pornography". MTV also had some reservations initially before airing the video, which was later resolved after a meeting with Warner Officials. However socio-critic Mary Harron in her book McRock: Pop as a commodity said that the underlying message in the video is that though Madonna sells sexuality, she is free. There is no overt representation of anything besides friendship with the boy. Their escape together avoids Madonna the sexual overtones that would have been stronger if she would have escaped with an adult male. This, according to author Richard Dienst, seems to suggest a repudiation of the adult labor of the stage in favor of childhood, androgyny, authenticity and nomadic play. The video is also acclaimed for reviving and re-creating the hard glamor of the studio-era of Hollywood stars and also for representing women as the dominant sex. Author Donn Welton pointed out that the usual power relationship between the "voyeuristic male gaze and object" is destabilized by the portrayal of the male patrons of the peep show as leering and pathetic. At the same time, the portrayal of Madonna as porno queen object is deconstructed by the escape at the end of the video." - http://www.wikipedia.com/
Below... It is clear Madonna is being seen in voyerism by the male characters. She is playing on this by dressing and acting almost like a sexual object. This may be celebrated by post-feminists, however may cause controvosy with pre-feminists.
In relation to our coursework
I almost agree with Susan Bordo's critisim of the video.
However, our video has a more sentimental approach and doesn't really apply to male gaze theory to a huge extent. The woman is fully covered in clothing and so is not demonstrating any sort of sexual provocotive behaviour or mise-en-scene. There is also an absence of voyerism within the video. So in this sense, the video may be slightly successful by way in which it mores likely to avoid critisim from feminimists.
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