Voyeurism is the act of watching someone who is performing sexual behaviours such as dancing, undressing or intercourse in order to gain pleasure. The person being watched is often unaware of their audience and in the terms of music videos it is usually a men’s controlling gaze towards women that have been sexually objectified.
Goodwin states that female performers are sexually objectified by camera work and editing with fragmented body shots emphasising a sexualised treatment of the performer.
Voyeurism is
often used to help sell a product and create audience interest; there are many
apparent uses of voyeurism in many music videos, such as my following example.
Case Study: Toxic - Britney Spears
How voyeurism is shown in this music video:
The main star in this music video is obviously Britney Spears, as he appears in nearly every single frame of the music, despite her music appealing to a mainly female audience, this video is directly aimed at the male market. This is expressed by her wearing revealing clothing and seducing several different men within the duration of the music video, the fact that the men used in the music video are vastly different in looks will entice all kinds of men to the music video. Britney Spears also wears 3 different hair colours in the music video (red, blonde, black) this could have also been done to appeal to a wide audience of men with different preferences. The repetitional usage of the blank white background whilst Britney Spears is singing gives full focus to the main star of the music video, the fact that there are no distractions may also make the male viewer feel like they are in the same place as Britney Spears.
Britney Spears could be perceived as a sex object in this music video, but certain aspects of the music video contradict this idea, for example the low angle camera shots used throughout the video show that she is in power, whilst these types of camera angles are obviously appealing to a male audience they also express Britney Spears being in control. This is also shown at the beginning of the video whilst Britney Spears is being an air hostess, the fact that she is standing up and several men she is serving are sitting down creates different levels in the music video, Britney Spears is looking down on the men showing she is a powerful and strong character, this music video emphasises a stereotype of a dominating female figure. Editing in the music video gives Britney Spears near inhuman superpowers, such as the ability to fly, this once again shows she is a strong character and she obtains abilities beyond an ordinary human being.
Synopsis of 'Toxic' by Britney Spears
Toxic"
is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears from her fourth album, In
the Zone. It was released on January 12, 2004, by Jive Records as the second single
from the album
The music
video begins with an open shot of an airplane flying surrounded by many doves,
referencing the works of Hong Kong director John Woo. Spears appears with blond
hair dressed as a flight attendant, receiving a phone call. After serving some
of the passengers, she leads a bald overweight man to the bathroom and seduces
him. She takes off the man's mask to reveal an attractive man (Matthew Felker)
and steals a black pass from his pocket. Spears is then dropped into the back
of a Ducati 999, driven by a shirtless male (Tyson Beckford) in a futuristic
Paris, that was compared to the 1982 film Blade Runner. She wears a tight black
cat suit and sports red hair, inspired by the character of Sydney Bristow from
television series Alias. They pass a woman and lift up her dress, a homage to
the iconic Marilyn Monroe scene in the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch. They also
pass two women frolicking in a store window.
Throughout the video, there are scenes of
Spears naked covered in diamonds. The look was compared to that of Kate Bush in
the music video for her 1978 single, "The Man with the Child in His
Eyes". Britney Spears then enters Toxic Industries, and gains access to a
vault from which she steals a vial of green poison. She accidentally triggers a
laser trap when she leaves that she evades with elaborate dance moves,
including a back handspring. This is followed by scenes of Spears wearing a
black super heroine outfit and black hair. She scales a building and enters an
apartment, where her unfaithful boyfriend (Henderson) is waiting. She kisses
him just before pouring the poison into his mouth, killing him. Britney Spears
kisses him again and jumps out of the window. She lands back on the plane
sporting her flight attendant outfit, and winks at the camera. The video closes
with a shot of the airplane flying surrounded by doves like the beginning
