This video was clearly made with men in mind, as it focuses mainly on the women being the 'image', and the men being the 'bearer of the look', much as Laura Mulvey stated in her essay, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'.
Despite this fact, however, there are as many shots of Chris Brown being portrayed in a sexual way as there are of the girls, as he is singer and the real focus of the video.
Paul Messaris says that 'female models in ads addressed to women, treat the lens as a subsititute for the eye of an imaginary male onlooker... It could be argued that when women look at this, they are actually seeing themselves as a man might see them ... implying a male point of view, even though the intended viewer is a woman. So the women who look at these ads are being invited to identify both with the person being viewed and with an implicit, opposite-sex viewer.'
I think that this is the case for the male watcher of this video at some stages, as they will see as much of Chris as they do the girls, and vice versa when it comes to the female watcher.
Paul Messaris says that 'female models in ads addressed to women, treat the lens as a subsititute for the eye of an imaginary male onlooker... It could be argued that when women look at this, they are actually seeing themselves as a man might see them ... implying a male point of view, even though the intended viewer is a woman. So the women who look at these ads are being invited to identify both with the person being viewed and with an implicit, opposite-sex viewer.'
I think that this is the case for the male watcher of this video at some stages, as they will see as much of Chris as they do the girls, and vice versa when it comes to the female watcher.
The first few seconds of the video show Chris, on his own, displaying a number of different looks.
He switches between 'practical', 'seductive', 'comic', 'invitational' and 'super-smiler', all in this short space of time.
His opening look is something between Marjorie Ferguson's 'practical' and 'seductive', as he seems as if his mind is fixed on something whilst he stares at the ground, his mouth is closed, and he is almost frowning, but then he looks to the side and gazes out into the distance, and we see that he is no longer focusing on anything, but that he is just very self-sufficient and confident; his eyes being almost shadowed, too.
He seems to warm up to the imaginary audience seconds later, as he touches his nose in a reserved way and plays around with his hat. Then he shoots us a 'comic' look and nods at us in his slightly insolent way.
His next look is something between Trevor Millum's 'invitational' and 'super-smiler', as we can now only see half of his face, his head's thrown back, and he's smiling to himself, about something we do not know.
At this point he is suggesting mischief and mystery, but also demanding a sort of 'look-at-me' stance.
His final gaze before the song starts is a definite 'super-smiler', but we only see this for a split second and the emphasis is on his teeth.
Throughout the rest of this clip, he gazes at the girls and towards the audience very much in the same ways again, but exchanges the 'practical' look for a few of Trevor Millum's 'romantic' looks and a few of Marjorie Ferguson's 'catalogue' looks, as he is effectively in full swing of his fun, now.
His expression alters almost as soon as it is established, but overall, we get the impression that he is extremely arrogant, aggressive and available.
He switches between 'practical', 'seductive', 'comic', 'invitational' and 'super-smiler', all in this short space of time.
His opening look is something between Marjorie Ferguson's 'practical' and 'seductive', as he seems as if his mind is fixed on something whilst he stares at the ground, his mouth is closed, and he is almost frowning, but then he looks to the side and gazes out into the distance, and we see that he is no longer focusing on anything, but that he is just very self-sufficient and confident; his eyes being almost shadowed, too.
He seems to warm up to the imaginary audience seconds later, as he touches his nose in a reserved way and plays around with his hat. Then he shoots us a 'comic' look and nods at us in his slightly insolent way.
His next look is something between Trevor Millum's 'invitational' and 'super-smiler', as we can now only see half of his face, his head's thrown back, and he's smiling to himself, about something we do not know.
At this point he is suggesting mischief and mystery, but also demanding a sort of 'look-at-me' stance.
His final gaze before the song starts is a definite 'super-smiler', but we only see this for a split second and the emphasis is on his teeth.
Throughout the rest of this clip, he gazes at the girls and towards the audience very much in the same ways again, but exchanges the 'practical' look for a few of Trevor Millum's 'romantic' looks and a few of Marjorie Ferguson's 'catalogue' looks, as he is effectively in full swing of his fun, now.
His expression alters almost as soon as it is established, but overall, we get the impression that he is extremely arrogant, aggressive and available.
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