OUAN502 - COP2: The Gaze and The Media
This year's first lecture focused on The Gaze and The Media of which feminism was a heavily used theme. "Men act and women appear. Men look at women, women watch themselves being looked at." - Berger
The Gaze is very prominent in many paintings, photographs and other media sources. It explores how the gaze of the audience can either be challenged or coyly averted in innocence or dismissal by the woman/man in the image/film. Sophie Dahl's advert for Opium, the fragrance (of which I wear ironically!) by Yves Saint Laurent, was actually deemed too sexual as her face when the image was presented horizontally didn't actually meet the audience quite in the right way as when presented vertically. This minor change to the advert might seem small, but more of her body seems exposed,(which was looked down upon) to the viewer because of the angle it was shot, when turned horizontally. Your eye is drawn more to her face, the "apparent" intention for the piece despite all the flesh on show when vertical.
the Birth of Venus from 1863 albeit having plenty of nudism on show is actually perceived as very innocent and naive. she is venus, the Goddess of love, benevolent and pure. Her arm is shielding the gaze of the audience almost even playfully as she lies back in - to me - a very seductive manner. The way we perceive an image and whether or not it is deemed fit for public viewing depends on a number of things, one major role being the gaze.
Many modern adverts actually work on normalising the display of nudity in society with models often wearing skimpy clothing, if not barely anything at all! The gaze of models now are more often challenging that not. This was very rare for the gaze to be challenging the audience many centuries ago as women were made to look pure and almost non-sexual/dominant. The gaze was often very passive. 20th/21st century media often shows an aggressive pose in an attempt to be overtly sexual.
A group of women who are known as the Guerilla Girls attempted a campaign against nudity in the media and women just being seen as sexual objects. If women are seen as sexual objects in the media, a very false and unreal realm, then many might see this as a means of abusing women in the way the media does in reality. This then leads to sexism and abuse on a very real level which can devastate many women. It doesn't just happen to women though, men often get a bashing from the media too.
In a Dolce and Gabbana advert, there are numerous men challenging the audience with aggressive gazes and stances all making the effort to almost intimidate the audience. They are all very masculine and seem to work by using this masculine, muscular appearance by promoting this product (underwear) to men who want to look like them. Men are also seen as sexual objects and sexism is equal on both sides despite many protesting tat women are solely the victims of the gaze in media.
