Post #1

The male gaze can be described as the way in which a man surveys a woman, a look that bears a negative connotation and is interpreted as violating to women.  Images that cater to this gaze can be traced back to the Middle Ages and have had a long history within the art world. One example of many can be seen in Lely's painting of Neil Gwynne, the mistress of Charles the Second. She is painted in the nude and positioned in a way that provocatively presents her body to the probable male viewer.  John Berger explored this concept, in his book Ways of Seeing and supports this idea of the male viewer in the line, “women are there to feed an appetite, not have one of their own”.  
(Berger, 55) The implication is that the presumably male viewer is not merely looking but rather objectifying the female subject for his pleasure. 

This common pose and theme is seen throughout early European art and can still be seen today. Support for why this gaze existed and still endures, rests on the fact that the foundation of these European civilizations were patriarchies. Consequently, creating a long and continued history of western culture dominated and governed by men. As pointed out in Berger’s Ways of Seeing, patriarchal European art is in sharp contrast to the images of non-European art.  Although non-European art also includes nude images, many of the subjects are both men and women or deities demonstrating mutually active states of sexual love.

Unlike the male gaze, that can be described as misogynistic and one that takes power from women, is the oppositional gaze. The oppositional gaze as described by Bell Hooks is a gaze that takes power back.  Hooks states that, “there is power in looking” (115) back in resistance and describes a look so powerful that it can change reality.  In addition to gender, the oppositional gaze has racial implications as well. The gaze represents the powerful stare that was historically denied to people of color. In Hooks’ piece, “The Oppositional Gaze Black Female Spectators” she explores the function of the gaze and how it relates to being black in the United States.  She also explores this idea using American cinematic history as a reference point.  She poignantly states that  “representations of blackness were stereotypically degrading and dehumanizing”. (Hooks, 117) She asserts that the power comes from looking into these images and identifying them in order to challenge them and make change. A violent history of U.S colonization, white supremacy and patriarchal ideologies fueled negative images of women and people of color. These images are illustrated in many forms of media including cinematography. Racism was so prevalent that as Hooks’ brilliantly points out, even the whites weren’t white enough for mainstream cinema, “the best blondes have all been brunettes”. (Hooks, 119)  Throughout the piece Hooks writes about the power of the gaze and how it can transform reality and ultimately allow black female spectators to “invent the future”. (Hooks, 131)  The images I selected are of women that believed looking back in resistance could and would change reality.  Each has courageously stood proud, stared backed and changed our society.

 

Although I have always been acutely aware of the politics of gender and race, these readings have definitely broadened my perspective. Before these readings,   I never so intently considered the subjects of art, especially fine art.  For me the issues about class and disparity are what I recall most when looking at art. I naively and perhaps selfishly viewed art as a personal escape for me to either perform or view.  Art  was never presented to me as being charged rather as being an escape and that largely  became the tiny lens through which I viewed art, especially the masterpieces.  When viewing art I have often been overwhelmed in amazement by the techniques, the paint strokes, the vibrant colors and the textures, that I never considered the oppressive nature of the pieces. I often regarded the nudes as the perhaps the ultimate compliment. I saw the nude as an enduring symbol of adoration for the female form.  Now, I have a different view.

As for mainstream media, my news sources have typically been liberal and alternative. This in part, because I do believe a lot of racial and gender stereotyping still exists in the many mainstream media outlets which make it a deterrent for me. These ideologies are alive and well when we consider how we are continually inundated by a disproportionate number of sexually graphic images of women than men. These images are used to either engage us as viewers or make us potential consumers. 

http://toomuchblack.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/rastafari-and-sexism/

So Maybe Mulvey Had a Point - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3TwB7vTczU