The Male Gaze (Music Video Review)

The male gaze is the idea of how men look at women. The song that I have chosen to review is Out of Touch by Uniting Nations. Not only do I like the song, it is a prime example of the male gaze in modern society.

The video involves a man and 5 women playing strip poker. The man is using an earpiece to cheat and therefore throughout the music video, the women gradually take off more clothing.

The video begins with a shot of the CCTV footage of them playing strip poker. It shows shots of the women seductively talking to each other and using flirtatious actions with each other. The women are all wearing very short skirts or shorts and clothing that shows off their skin (which is oiled so that it stands out and attracts the viewer). At 15 seconds, the women enter the room and are seen touching themselves and the man to seduce him. At 28 seconds the brunette woman seems to bite her lip whilst looking at the man and continues to flirt with him during the whole video. When the chorus begins the woman gets on the table and dances in front of all the others whilst cards are being thrown in the air. As she dances she continues to feel herself, put her arms in the air and play with her hair.

As the video progresses, each woman takes off more and more of their clothes and one woman in particular looks at the man in a very suggestive way. The male gaze suggests that it is usually men that look at women in a sexual way however this could be an example of the female gaze, which is usually not noticed or picked up on in music videos like this one. Nevertheless, the male gaze is most definitely shown in this video too as the man is constantly flirting and looking at the women in a seductive way.

At 1:45 in the video, the woman finds the earpiece that he was using to cheat and the women then go to the bar and spray water over each other. The water shows off their bodies and acts as an attractive feature to anyone watching the video. This changes the way that the women are looked at via the male gaze. The way women look at each other is also part of the male gaze according to Laura Mulvey, this is shown as the women still seem to be having a good time without the accompaniment of the male as they continue to flirt and play with each other.

These clips in particular show the most revealing images and show the woman all dancing on the table and flirting with each other. This suggests that the women are out for a good time and sexual attention. At points in the clip, the women are seen holding hands, feeling each other and looking into the others eyes signifying sexual activity between the women.

The music video links perfectly with the male gaze as it addresses the way men look at women and how women look at each other. The actions in the video portray real life which allows the audience to relate to the male gaze.