An interesting factor in Berger’s reading is the way he differentiates nakedness and nudity. “She is not naked as she is. She is naked as the spectator sees her…naked is simply to be without clothes, whereas nude is a form of art” (53). A woman thus becomes an object in the eyes of the artist because she is on display both for the men in the room and for the spectators observing the art –which is her naked body. It is also ironic that the presence of a mirror equals vanity on the female nude in the European paintings during the Renaissance period, in which the female is looking at herself being looked at, turning her into the “villain.”
(This ad is the perfect representation of women in a male dominate society)
On the contrary, there is absolutely no evident for the presence of black women both in paintings and in movies, “mass media was a system of knowledge and power reproducing and maintaining white supremacy” (Bell Hooks 117). Not only are black stereotypes seen on comedy television shows such as “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” the whole program is a misrepresentation of black people as a whole. Black women are hidden behind the society as if they do not coexist with white women, “[black women] never went to movies expecting to see compelling representations of black femaleness…to have white women film stars to be ultra-white was a cinematic practice that sought to maintain a distance, a separation between that image and the black female Other; it was a way to perpetuate white supremacy” (119). Many black women explained that they go to movies just to get away from the real world and in order to enjoy the film; they had to close out their emotions and feelings towards sexism and racism.
In Laura Mulvey’s essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” she focuses on woman as an image and man as the bearer of the look, “in a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female” (837). Females have always been the ones who are conscious of the way they look, while the males are the ones active looking. In many cases, scopophilia, in which the active looker feels pleasure in looking at another person as an erotic object (843), can be extremely dangerous which can also leads to stalking and infatuation. Many predators prey on beautiful women silently, yet deadly. A few weeks ago, I read an article in the post about a murder of female dancer who was killed by a serious sex offender who has been secretly collecting photos of women’s behind for years.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/predator_chilling_clues_7hO6QF3YE7OPsoANVZUSbN
Throughout history of film productions, women have been portrayed as sexual objects on display for the desires of men, “traditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium, with a shifting tension between the looks on either side of the screen” (Mulvey 838). Men cannot face the burden of sexual objectification, which correlates directly with their high “manly” egos. Any action or presence of a strong female character either on or off screen is presented as a threat to the men, she is automatically considered “masculine” and “unacceptable.” Mulvey strongly believes that the only way obvious reasoning behind this huge gap is the presence of the male phallus and in order to reach a type of equally, the male must go through castration, “the meaning of woman is sexual difference, the absence of the penis as visually ascertainable, the material evidence on which based the castration complex essential for organization of entrance to the symbolic order and the law of the father” (840). However, I don’t support Mulvey’s extremist belief on castration because biologically females and males are made differently and to many degrees not every woman wants to strive for that same equality as men. They do not want to be a man, they simply just wish they can be themselves without fearing or present a type of threat to the “dominant” male.
After reading and touching upon the subject of the "male gaze," I find it extremely interesting that although we "live" under the male gaze, there are hardly any women that I know of, including myself, brings up this awareness. It has become such a social norm that if I do not talk about it, I do not really think about it. Everyday women "fix" themselves in front of the mirror to make sure they look nice and presentable, and it has become a routine. Then there are women who "act" out on the male gaze even more by wearing overly exposed clothing that attracts more looks. Ironically, sometimes, they wonder why people are staring at them.
Sources:
Berger, John, "Ways of Seeing" 1972.
Hooks, Bell, " The Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectors," Black Looks: Race and Representation, South End Press, 1992.
Mulvey, Laura, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," 1975
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