Voyeurism

Voyeurism is the notion of being almost forced to look upon somebody with a sexualised eye. Provocative behaviour like for example, frugal dancing, undressing, intercourse, revealing costume choice and so on are posed within the music video in order to create a sense of pleasure for a male or female spectator as you are forced to enter into the gaze of another, viewing the shots from their angle (a sexualised one). In music video it is most commonly the man's controlling gaze with dominates, and thus sexual objectifies women in quite a derogatory way (as the women is often unaware). This effect is usually created by fragmented shots of body parts, camera angles and movement, and expressive editing, which all sexualise the treatment of the performer (A theorem which Goodwin stated). It effect is aiming to boost product sales and increase an audiences engagement in the song by pulling on a different source of interest. 

The Girls - Calvin Harris

I think this particular video really expresses the notions of voyeurism. Though the costume and mis en scene of the women incorporated in the video aren’t overtly provocative or sexualised, there aren’t any generic close up shots zooming in or overly exposing, or any sense of an obvious push to sell these girls ‘sex’ stars for men viewing. It does however express a very clear derogative message onto females. The artist seemingly expresses that he owns these women – firstly through the lyrics claiming he “get’s all the girls”, but also through the physical positioning of these women with in the video & their choreography & the use of fragmented shots of their body parts in order to control the audience eyes and force them to view these women for sexual pleasure (in particular the shots of their legs). The sheer number of them (as if he rules over them and they follow him like some form of god), suggests that he feels he is extremely superior, and that he is many times more worthy then all of them - being a man. The women move in unison as well, representing that to him they are all one body and all have one meaning. Though he sings about the fact he likes all different types of girls, it is also clear that rather than this being an expression of his appreciation of women, it is merely a shallow remark on the fact he believes that he is in control and can pick and choose, as well as being basically purely looks based, and not sharing his love for all different women’s inner qualities. The costume choice as well helps to form this sense of voyeurism – they are all dressed identically, all in block colours, all wearing wigs – this uniform appearances reinforces the idea that he is some form of ‘player’ who never really get’s to know a women, or look beyond the surface. The shots of the women’s legs opening in synchronised motion puts across the idea that he can snap his fingers & they will sexually please him, that they have no boundaries to what they would do just to be with him, and that they are ‘easy’ and disposable. The rainbow of women dancing round him again connotes almost a ritualistic dance as if he is of some sort of un human status and should be worshiped. The most powerful part for me however would be the end when the women become a pitiful pile of coloured tops upon the floor, as if they mean nothing more to him than ‘sex’ or a one night stand – he can just walk all over them, also the sheer amount of tops on the floor also makes you feel as if girls are always coming back to him and leaving their clothes behind – eager to return to him. The use of colour throughout is very symbolic; the bright rainbow variety of coloured costume and pure white backdrop, creates the idea that he is a liberal and down to earth sort of man - honest and reliable.  However the averting gaze he holds over the women, the camera angles, fragmented body shots, use of close up and suggestive angles, reveals that perhaps he is hiding behind this 'good guy' image, and that beneath the surface a fake, derogatory persona lurks. 

However delving into the roots of his indie electro-pop style this video could easily be seen as an ironic pos-modern expression of archaic exploitation of women. The overtly subversive choreography and dated costumes help to undermine the women's status throughout. This hyperbolic style parodies one primarily used in the 1980's (in seriousness). His work almost mocks the flaunting 'cheese'of these prehistoric media texts to create a intetextual level of entertainment for the audience. 

When the genre of 'synthpop' emerged in the 1980's it was criticised for it's lack of emotion and musicianship  
and the "gender bending" image that was projected by popular artists of the time. The new romantic movement which helped to invent 'snythpop' employed counter dressing, anti-sexual, androgynous (Partly male and partly female in appearance) clothing and cosmetics in order to bend gender stereotype and representation in the mist of a period of liberation.  Gender bending is often used as a a response to mainstream assumptions or over-generalisations about genders and set characteristics assigned to each. Harris -as a later development of this genre of music, has cleverly bestowed these features in order to comically express both typical electro-pop expression and an ironic slant on the counter genres voyueristic manipulation of women (from the time of emergence) - Thus in a way he is sarcastically representing an image which entirely opposes his viewpoint.