essay notes

Notes for essay




The gaze in general :

The gaze is a term used to describe how the viewer observes and understands the person who is in front of them.

Important to define gaze in general first

Throughout this essay – understanding of a male gaze and investigation into the existance of a female gaze.

Initially looking at key theorists views on the existing and well established male gaze.

Main theorists that are being considered are John Berger ‘Ways of seeing’ and Laura Mulvey ‘visual and other pleaseures’, amongst others.



MALE GAZE :

‘gaze’ was used as a concept prior to 1975, the term ‘male gaze’ leeds back to L.mulvey in her essay ‘visual pleasure and narrative cinema’ published that year. This term has now become something of a femenist cliche for refering to the voyeristic way in which men look at women.

- Women are objectified to both a male audience in a sexual context and to a female audience in an envious context.

- Women especially in modeern day society are used to seduce a male audience.

BERGER

John berger – ‘ways of seeing’ – investigates the way in which people view art and the affects of this on contemporary visual culture and society. Bergers key concept is that ‘Men act and women appear. Meaning that men look at women and women watch themselves being looked at.’ (berger, 1972, p.47). – Women are aware of the objectification they are receiving from the male.

Berger quote – ‘a woman must continually watch herself. She is almost continually accompanied by her own image of herself. Whilst she is walking across a room or whilst she is weeping at the death of her father, she can scarecly aviod envisaging herself walking or weeping. ‘

‘From her earliest childhood she has been taught and persuaded to survey herself continually.’ (Berger, 1972, p.46)

Berger saying that from birth woman are aware of their role to satisfyt the opposite sex.

Not saying that women enjoy being a spectacle of pleasure, but mearly accepts the role that she has been forced to partake.

‘but in them all there remains the implication that the subject is aware of being seen by the spectator’ (berger,1972,p.49) – expressing the point that women are aware of their portrayal to the opposite sex, even though they dont necessarilly condone it.

Berger expresses how adament he is that women are ‘depicted in a quite different way to men.’ (berger, 1972, p64). His reasoning behind this theory is that ‘the spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him’ (berger, 1972, p.64). Where he uses the word assumed, expresses doubt that berger believes the spectator to always be male.

Berger says – men look at women, women watch themselves being looked at

-determines relations between men and women but also women to themselves

‘The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into anobject’(berger, 1972,p.47)

-here berger suggesting that not only are women an object for a man to admire, they are also an object to themselves, for their own admiration.

-suggests that women see themselves through the eyes of a man .



MULVEY

MULVEY- similar ideas to berger ‘in a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly. In their tranditional exhibitionist role women are simultaniously looked at and displayed, with their appearence coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness...’ (mulvey, 1989, p.19)

-mulvey is expressing the point that women are gazed at while men being the gazers

- women are objectified to fulfill the males’ ultimate fantasy.

-unlike berger who states that women are aware of themselves being used as objects

‘According to the prinicples of the ruling ideology and the physical structures that back it up, the male figure cannot bear the burden of sexual objectification. Man is reluctant to gaze at his exhibitionist like. ‘

- Mulvey is saying that the male could not stand to be objectified to anyone and therefore has complete power, taking on the ‘active’ role.

- She goes on to say that he takes on complete control

BOTH theorists outline the point that women are being displayed in front of men





OTHER THEORISTS

Jib Fowles

Book – advertising and popular culture

-agrees with berger but develops his theory into advertising where the women is used to sell a product to a man adn to grab the potential male consumers

-releant because context of advertising is relevant to magazine covers

‘In advertising, the gender depiction of the sexes begins early. Males gaze, and females are gazed at.’ (fowles, 1996, p.204)

Fowles.J (1996) Advertising and Polular Culture, London, Sage Publications





P. Messaris



Book – visual persuasions : the role of images in advertising

-females in adverts are possibly aimed at a female audience

‘treat the lense as a subtitute for the eye for an imaginary onlooker.’ (messaris, 1997, p.41)

- Unlike berger whos suggests that men are looking but women are aware of it, Messaris is implying that females are both the spectator and the objects, concluding that the objectified women can be seen to be aimed at women and not just men.

Messaris, P (1997) visual persuasions : the role of images in advertising. London. Sage publications.



COWARD, R. – SOURCE MORE QUOTES......

Coward, R. (1999) Was feminism Wrong about the Family? In Dench, G. Rewriting the sexual contract. London. Transaction Publishers.

- Reference ‘the look’ and ‘female gaze’ chapter in this way ?





CONCLUDING POINTS ON MALE GAZE

-Cant be dismissed due to theorists such as berger and mulvey maiking many valid points, confirming its existance

-however, an obvious understanding is that women are not only gazed at by men, but also admired by women. –conclusion?

-women are objectifide towards the male, a point not to be disputed, but in order to understand this theorisation of the ‘male gaze’ a detailed investigation into the existance of a ‘female gaze’ is needed. – end of para 1, intro to para 2





FEAMLE GAZE :



-after mulveys introduction of the ‘male gaze’ in 1975, the ‘female gaze’ theory arrose.

-possible existance of female gaze?

- is it fair to still portray women as the objects for men to admire?

- todays modern society, it is not just men what look at women, but also women who look at women, not just in a sexual way.

- they aspire to look like that person, or want to follow that fashion, while children looking at these women apsire to belike them when they are older

‘Feminism had given the woman the confidence to move into masculine areas, combining work and motherhood, seeing new oppertunities in new work patterns. Men, by contrast, were experienceing their work changes, this so-called feminization of labor, more like a smack in the eye’ (coward, r. 1999, p.66)

- Not just a change in the way maes were perceived, but the peoples perception of women was also changed

- Male grafter at work, women stayed at home

- Recent years- huge change can be seen, due to women having careers and increase in ‘male market’

- -men become more self conscious

- Following fasion

- Care of appearence

- By the end of 1998 male market worth £560 million a year – rise from what figure? – biggest growth in sales for the european cosmetic industry during the 1990’s.

‘in film, on television and in most popular narratives men are shown to be in control of the gaze, women are controlled by it. Men act: women are acted upon. This is patriarchy’ (mulvey? 1988, p.48-the female gaze?)

- How can i use this?