Intentions Behind the Stare

          Humans classify and objectifies the different things they see in order to differentiate the dissimilarities between them.  And a gaze is a signal of action of one's desires upon the targeted object; the male gaze is an engendered form of the gaze that views from a phallocentric perspective that objectives women as a "sight" (Berger) pertaining to the "primal scene" (Mulvey).  I believe not only the male gaze has become pervasive in popular culture, but any intent look at women from a man as well, due to how the mass media has portrayed the male perspective when viewing women.

          In order to understand the reason behind the shared circumstance between a general gaze and the male gaze in popular culture, it is necessary to comprehend the constituent elements that defines a gaze.  A gaze is intrusive because of its power of conveying a desire is placed upon the stared object, but the desire itself is not what makes the surveyed anxious, it is the intention behind the desire.  Humans fear uncertainties and the unknowns, and when the intention of the stare is obscured, the one being inspected becomes indeterminate of the proper response to follow.  The severity of intrusiveness of a gaze is determined by the "promise of power" that the gazer "embodies", hence the difference between the degree of offensiveness when gazed by a child and an adult (Berger).  The credibility of a child fulfilling the intention behind the gaze is low compared to an adult.

          The male gaze has become pervasive in popular culture because it has become the prevalent perspective for viewers in the mass media originated from a patriarchal society.  In order for men to classify and accept women in a patriarchal society, they must "confront" the differences in the female sex or establish a "fetish" for them; in which the popular culture has proceeded with the latter (Mulvey).  This enables agencies to take advantage and further their own agendas through the usage of the media by appealing to the fetish with the male gaze.  Despite the differences between an indiscriminate gaze and the male gaze, the effect on women has become the same when the male gaze became cognizant in the mass media.  With the male gaze becoming the normalcy in movies, games, magazines, etc, it has also become the base case for men's gaze on women.  With the intention of the gaze unclear, women subconsciously interpret the intention behind the stare the same as of the male gaze because of the amount of exposure they are surrounded with it.

          The oppositional gaze is another form of a gaze but with the intention made clear: "resistance, challenges to authority" (Hooks).  The oppositional gaze was developed due to "racial negation" and "cinema negation" of African American women in the media (Hooks).  Oppressed by white supremacy, African Americans dared not to stare back at white people for they were punished for showing signs of defiance towards the ruling class.  However, with the access to cinemas, African Americans had the privilege of staring at white people without the fear of penalty.  Although changes began to occur in racial power structures, the absence of representation and connectivity of black women in the media stirred public awareness.  Awareness that eventually led to the oppositional gaze of black women by viewing the media, but refusing to "identify" with the women being portrayed with neither a victimized or perpetrator's perspective.  Doing so undermines the power constructs of the media has over black women since the media's sphere of influence only affects those that identify with whatever the media illustrates.

          With new methods of exhibiting power for women such as the oppositional gaze arise, the power distribution between genders changes.  The property of the male gaze is no longer engendered, which females also have the privilege of becoming the "active" instead of remaining the "passive" (Mulvey).  Men are also objectified as an object of sight in today's society and these growth of social constructs also expands the boundaries in which the mass media can take advantage and exercise their influence.  It is imperative to view the media created by agencies critically lest we become subservient to manipulations that only conforms to their designs.

Beer ad?

" The Gaze Power"

Ive always thought that men do not have to verbally or psychically make you feel uncomfortable in order to actually make you feel uncomfortable. Its called sexual harassment. The male gaze produces most of the time an un inviting effect on women. Women live under a pedestal. They have to walk a certain way , look , speak , appeal etc. And that is because of society structure. However we are all to blame for it because even knowing this. We have one way or another accepted this structure. Women are brought up to live up to these expectations.

The male gaze has only magnified anger for women. There is pressure giving to women even when they do not expected it. Just walking down the street I there seems to be problem with what ever direction my head is positioned. When my head is down a man says “put a smile on ma” and when its up “ Hey god bless you, let me talk to you”.

I have developed a negative reflex with a face expression of disgust that appears in my face after I am being looked at. I remember a few days ago a man in maybe his late 50s gazed me for what seems to be a long time. He gazed from afar while I was approaching close to pass his way . His gaze stood all the way to when I passed him.

This is where the Oppositional Gaze is challenge by race. Bell Hooks speaks about the struggles of identification in blacks on screen. Bell brings an interesting point with indicating that the “gaze” is actually a form of domination. Her example of being yelled at as a child “ Look at me “ by parents was spot on. When some one is asking you to look that them, usually the one thats is being asked to look are the ones that are suborns. “critical, interrogating black looks were mainly concerned with issues of race and racism, the way racial domination of blacks and white over determined representation”( Hooks,118) .

I think education today can help us change or mold a bit this situation. Now that we have all this history about whats going on we can try to take a stand. We already know how the media want us to make us feel. They have a huge part for which women can feel insecure. With this knowledge I think that us as individuals have to take a stand and say no to these advertisements that are constantly telling us who we should look.

http://deadwildroses.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/oh-were-totally-post-feminism/

this link also gives us proof that women have some faults in the way the world is structured because I argue that if women have knowledge about the true intentions of the media, than why participant in modeling or posing a certain way. Everyone should take a stand for this matter because equality is what we deserve.

Fruity Pebbles

Who am I is probably one of the questions I ask my self constantly . My theater professor asked the class last week if we believe that we know who we are? She asked if we believe that our personalities are consistent. Truthfully, I am still trying to figure out who I am. Very often I am led by the media but sometimes it's too obvious to ignore the media's truth intentions. I am 22 years old with not much of experience but I do like to look good. I believe that many people such as my self want to be liked by others.

That is where media comes it. Media has some how become our guide to fit in. I myself can sometimes identify myself as a media “slave”. I serve the latest advertisements that involve fashion. Back in middle school, It was hard for me to fit in because of the way I dressed. My mom never bought me the best updated clothes. I remember when I was called “ fruity pebbles” just because there came the trend of matching up colors when dressed and I never matched.Popular girls would have a pink shirt with matching pink shoes. I, on the other and would have a purple shirt with maybe yellow shoes. At that point it really bothers me being different in that sense. But now that I am older I have gathered that it doesn't matter. I like being myself. As long as I stay true to my self that is all that matters. Showing kindness is more important to me than the way I dress.

Who's perspective?

John Berger in his article, “Ways of Seeing” he scrutinizes the history of male gaze the context within European nude paintings. Interestingly, he also suggests the similarity of the principal of the paintings and today’s portrait of women in photograph.  He argues, “One might simplify this by saying: men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at (47).” Thus women (or their bodies) become objects within painting.  Berger also points out “But in them all there remains the implication that the subject (a woman) is aware of being seen by a spectator (49).” I found many of commercial photographs correspond to Berger’s argument. Let’s look at those pictures;   

All the women in the photos are looking at spectators that exist outside of pictures; meanwhile each man in the photo is looking at women.  When I see a familiar magazine photograph that juxtaposed with the historical nude paintings, I was amazed by the fact that the root of male gaze/dominate “spectator-ownership” hasn’t changed much throughout time; as Berger asserts it has became more pervasive today via our diffused (mass) media.

Moreover, Berger argues “Women are depicted in a quite different way from men- not because the feminine is different from the masculine- but because the ‘ideal’ spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him (Berger, 64).” I can’t agree with him more, the paintings and images are portrait for male spectators, even if they are targeting women spectator for today; they are selling women product but still please men.  We as a society has been to are under the practice of male gaze so long, that we take male gaze for granted.

As an extension of the Berger’s idea, Laura Mulvey argues “active/male and passive/female” looking in traditional narrative film. She states, “The determining male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly (837).”  This means women are constantly hiding themselves and their identities and are being watch and be aware of their action, as women are subject to “this gaze”. The concept of “women as an object” is prevalent in advertising; often women are regarded as food, commodities.

For example, Carl's Jr. 2013 Superbowl television commercial

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDVGgoHumak), it utilized model’s body to stimulate desire of audience and ultimately, desire will be transferred to the product. Women identified with commodities they are selling; because sex appeal and “sex sell”- is a fast, effective and popular tool for advertising today.

As Bell Hooks experienced, I am well aware of the power of gaze. In Korea society and culture, generally gazing who is consider your elder or high authority is consider rude and irrational behavior, especially women has to avoid any eye contact with their parents, husbands, and authority- in order to prove they are subordinate to them. Korean culture has influence and taught me to be like this, and as of today I still feel conscious and difficult to make any eye contact with strangers, or even acquaintance.  I believe that in our unconsciousness we are aware of the power of gaze.

Hooks asserts that historically “the representations of black women in film were to enhance and maintain white womanhood as object of the phallocentric gaze (119).” As she also mentioned, there was no place for black women early era of Hollywood film.  However, the “oppositional gaze” ultimately allowed black women to examine and challenge the racial and gender discrimination. Hooks states “It was the oppositional black gaze that responded to these looking relations by developing independent black cinema (117).” In other words, oppositional gaze transformed movie spectatorship as it made passive viewers-black female- into active viewers.

I admit that I rarely give thought to representations of black women in media; the portrait/character of women in media often consistently recognized as white womanhood (even Asian women). I believe it is necessary to examine diverse female spectatorship; thus, as Hooks argues, we will be able to discover who we are. Consequentially, oppositional gaze will challenge the norms/conventions of mainstream media.  

On The Male Gaze...

On The Male Gaze...

To gaze is to look with fixed attention upon an object. The male gaze, a term coined by Laura Mulvey, is the idea that the portrayal of women in the media is created for and by men. The voyeuristic tendency of men to abuse the wandering eye using it to objectify any given woman he might encounter. However, the male gaze is not as innocent as being attracted to a women on the street insisting how beautiful her smile is or lovely her hair is done today. The male gaze is premeditated and intentional; everyone is aware of it and everyone exploits it.

Take for instance this 1960's Tiparillo Ciggarette ad "Blow in Her Face and She'll Follow You Anywhere", this ad not only suggests oral sex but the dominance which the male asserts over the women with his intense fixated gaze. This ciggarette advertisement justifies the male gaze by encouraging men that in purchasing these cigarettes the ultimate prize is a woman, and idea explored in Laura Mulvey's work Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, "Women then stand for in patriarchal culture as signifier for the male other" (Mulvey,834.) But is this ad appealing to men and women; it's difficult to tell without knowing a brief history. In the 1920's women were used as props of sorts in the background of tobacco campaigns, ladies who admired the strong man who took a pull from his cigarette but had little interest in smoking herself. Some might have believed it controversial to depict a woman smoking in a tobacco advertisement. But soon enough women became a target audience for the tobacco industry, a woman smoking was no longer taboo but stylish and attractive and thus the tobacco industry began the exploitation of women in their advertising. However, how could the male dominated advertising world of the 1950's and 60's ever truly know what appealed to women, when women had no influence over what went in to these advertisements. Again enter the male gaze, the notion that somehow women positively received degrading attention from their male counterparts, and thus this type of advertising could appeal to the masses.

Wandering eyes feast on a woman the second she presents herself in public. The male gaze is uncomfortable and unforgiving subjecting a women to uninvited scrutiny picking her apart, dividing her in to pieces. John Berger's asserts "To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognized for oneself" (Berger, 54), in his work "Ways of seeing". Society has somehow grown to tolerate this idea and sexually suggestive sexist advertisement is becoming more and more prevalent. Take for instance this ad campaign for a Tom Ford Cologne for Men, the creators and visionaries behind this masterpiece (sarcasm intended) couldn't even dignify the model by giving her calves let alone a face. Once again this presents a women as a commodity intended for male consumption.

Bell Hooks, explores the nature of the gaze through a slightly different lens, through the eyes of oppressed black people. Hooks refers to this as the oppositional gaze, a sort of rebellion for the injustices imposed upon black people throughout the ages. "That all attempts to repress our/black people's right to gaze had produced in us an overwhelming longing to look, a rebllious desire, an oppositional gaze" (Hook 116). Hooks also explores the representation of black womanhood in film and the response from black female film goers, "They resented the way she was mocked. They resented the way these screen images could assault black womanhood... And in opposition they claimed Sapphire as their own" (Hooks, 120.) Black spectators rejected the idea of black womanhood imposed by Amos n' Andy and adopted there own interpretations. Perhaps spectators of all backgrounds can benefit from the oppositional approach and perhaps ads will begin to start look a bit more like this one:

Gazing Away

John Berger writes in 'Ways of Seeing' published almost 40 years ago, "Men act, and Women appear." He goes on to say "men watch women, women watch themselves being looked at." Words that stand true even today, and now with media available to everyone, is more evident than ever. Throughout my life, I've always noticed scenes in movies, commercial, and music videos that just had females standing around, barely clothed, doing absolutely nothing. One specific example of this in recent memory is, "We Fly High" by Jim Jones. We all know that Hip-Hop is notorious for objectifying women, but this video sticks out to me, because is features the artist doing push-ups with a model on his back. I believe this is the most literal translation of Berger's quote, she is being used as an inanimate object.

Women watching themselves being looked at is more evident than ever with Social Media today. If you want an example of women objectifying themselves, just do a simple search on Instagram. Anything from #selfie or #goodnight to #sneakerhead will bring up pictures like the one seen below. This is a direct result of Hollywood's influence on the minds of women.

As stated in Laura Mulvey's 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' women are traditionally displayed as an erotic object for the character or an erotic object for the audience. The picture above is a perfect example of this, outside of Hollywood. Whether the woman in the picture wanted to show off her sneakers, or wanted to let her followers know she was going to sleep, the picture does nothing more than submit her body to the male gaze. Because no one goes to sleep in sneakers, or puts their sneakers on first.

When Bell Hooks writes about the male gaze in 'Oppositional Gaze,' she highlights the difficulties of this especially for women of color. She mentions that the first black actors and actresses had such a light complexion that many of the white viewers didn't realize they were black. Although we have made strides towards color equality since this was published, some of these traits are evident today. J. Cole said in a recent interview'

 "Barack Obama would not be President if he were dark skin. You know what I mean? That’s just the truth.  I might not be as successful as I am now if I was dark skin."

A statement like this is hard to argue, when you compare the successes of lighter skinned actors and musicians versus those of a darker tone. The most successful African-American musician, Beyonce, has a lighter complexion than some of the white people I know. And in Hollywood, the light skinned Halle Berry was the first woman of color to win Best Actress for a movie which was arguable more popular for her sex than the actual story line. Jadakiss asks in his 2004 hit, "Why did Halle have to let a white man pop her to get an oscar? " Because the male gaze controls so much of what we see and what we like, thats why.

(J. Cole: I Might Not Be as Successful If I Had Dark Skin: http://www.bet.com/news/music/2013/08/22/j-cole-i-might-not-be-as-successful-if-i-was-dark-skin.html)

To Gaze or Not to Gaze?

image borrowed from weknowmemes.com

We’ve all been there. Perhaps around campus or in a restaurant, but everyone in the room seems to be enjoying the event when a provocatively dressed woman walks in and immediately draws all of the attention and energy to her persona. Generally, men seem to notice her curves, appraising her beauty, while women stare wondering what she was thinking for wearing that. Additionally, try to go out without a bra and a single shadow of a nipple will automatically earn you a “slut” label from your female peers. Women’s discrimination and judgment of other women is harsh and sometimes even cruel. 

This "appraisal mechanism" aka the gaze has been consciously imbricated in us by hundreds of years of manipulated representations - from nude paintings of European Classical art to modern fashion and advertising images.

 

      

We are aware of it being directed at us and we regularly engage in it both as the surveyor and the one being surveyed. John Berger focuses his discussion of the phenomenon on the male gaze by suggesting that men look at women, while women watch themselves being looked at, but I would broaden this definition by including women looking at other women in the same judging and objectifying way, "subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze" as Laura Mulvey puts it.  While men reduce ordinary women to their sexual body parts, women often assign meaning and stigmatize other women based on their own criteria of beauty and social behavior raised in the close constraints of a patriarchal society. This works to reinforce gender stereotypes and justify the behavior of men. Here is an example to illustrate my point. In “Intolerance of Sexy Peers,” researchers studied how people judge their peers based on how they are dressed. As predicted, women who dressed “sexy” were seen as suspicious and judged more harshly by their female peers, while those who were dressed more conservatively didn’t illicit a negative response. 

Cultural economy of entertainment and advertising has transformed the way women identify and appraise themselves in both public and private spheres through internalization of hegemonic social stigmas around femininity, gender and sexuality. Women have accepted the status of passive vessels for pleasure and recreation while having to constantly exert themselves to reinforce it, so that the media is always provided with fresh material to resume its vicious cycle of governmentality.   Among others, the cinema has played an important role in feeding the consciously-created image of white supremacy. In considering the way that films are put together, many feminist film critics have pointed to the "male gaze" that predominates in classical Hollywood film-making. Mulvey discusses the passive role of women in cinema and argues that film provides visual pleasure through scopophilia, and identification with the on-screen male actor. She asserts: "In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness," and as a result contends that in film a woman is the "bearer of meaning, not maker of meaning."

Bell Hooks introduces a racial element in the gaze discourse by suggesting that many women of color could not consciously submit  to images of white supremacy they saw on screens because these images simply did not look like them in real life. In a way, they were forced to look at movies critically and with awareness of the cinematic illusion. She puts forth the notion of the “oppositional gaze,” encouraging black women not to accept stereotypical representations in film, but rather actively critique them. She writes, "looking at films with an oppositional gaze, black women were able to critically assess the cinema's construction of white womanhood as object of phallocentric gaze and choose not to identify with either the victim or the perpetrator." I think that active critique of the images we see in media is necessary for all of us because popular culture has power to create and reinforce stereotypes, which we then carry over to our everyday lives. So we might as well take control of it and not let us be manipulated.


Works cited:

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing, Chapters 2-3; London: Penguin Books, 1972: 36-64.
Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. Eds, Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP, 1999: 833-44.
Bell Hooks,  Black Looks: Race and Representation. Chapter 7, The Oppositional Gaze. Boston: South End Press, 1992. 115-31