The idealogy of the genre affects all aspects of its representation. Music magazines will reflect the idealogy of their genres in visual style and language. The theorist Laura Mulvey argues that media reflects the 'MALE GAZE'. Laura Mulvey set out to explore the male gaze and expose the power structure at play in cinema. In 1975 she wrote an essay called, “Visual Pleasure in Narrative Cinema”, She identifies the influence of a patriarchal society in relation to film, also exploring how the camera acts as a 'male' eye where women are looked, and men being the 'lookers'. She points out that feminists need a variety of ways and methods to understand the unseen workings of the patriarchal system which objectify women.
Use of the Male Gaze in magazines
Features of the Male Gaze The camera lingers on the curves of the female body, and events which occur to women are presented largely to react the mans gaze.This relegates women to the status of objects. Some theorists also have noted the sexualizing of the female body even in situations where female sexiness has nothing to do with the product being advertised. For example music magazines such as Rolling Stone reflects this idea of the 'male gaze' as celebrities are photographed from a upwards angle showing off their curves and body having nothing to do with the music side of there career. Here the camera is acting like the Mans eyes and what the man wants to see. I feel that this is a reassurance to men and their sexual power and at the same moment deny any sexuality of women other than the male construction.
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