Intro
In the psychoanalytical theory of Jacques Lacan, the gaze is the anxious state that comes with the awareness that one can be viewed. The psychological effect is that the subject loses a degree of autonomy (Freedom, independence, etc) upon realising that he or she is a visible subject. This concept is bound with his theory of the mirror stage, in which a child encountering a mirror realises that he or she has an external appearance.
Lacan suggests that this gaze effect can similarly be produced by any conceivable object such as a chair or a television screen. This is not to say that the object behaves optically as a mirror; instead it means that the awareness of any object can induce an awareness of also being an object.
The concept of the "male gaze" was first introduced in Laura Mulvey's essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" where it was stated by her that women were objectified in film because mainly heterosexual men were in control of the camera. Hollywood films played to the models of voyeurism and scopophilia (The sexual pleasure derived from looking at erotic objects such as erotic photographs and pornography).
This gaze occurs when the camera puts the audience in the perspective of a heterosexual man. It may linger over the curves of a woman's body. The subject is normally displayed on two different levels, as an erotic object for both the other characters and viewers. The man emerges as the dominant power within the created film fantasy. The woman is passive to the active gaze of the man.
Mulvey's essay also states that the female gaze is the same as the male gaze (Not vice versa of the male gaze), meaning that women look at themselves through the eyes of men. From this perspective, a woman who welcomes an objectifying gaze may be simply conforming to norms established to benefit men, thereby reinforcing the power of the gaze to reduce a recipient to an object. Welcoming such objectification may be viewed as akin to exhibitionism.
Women and the Gaze
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| Robert Doisneau's "An Oblique Look" |
Video Games
There have been numerous arguments over whether Bayonetta was created mainly for the male gaze (It feels like such an odd coincidence since the term male gaze is specifically being used during these discussions on "Bayonetta 2" as it nears its release date in Europe and America, instead of the usual "It's sexist!"), truth be told, the negative side of the argument has yet to win me over, as I have seen some actually backing down over their detest over her design (And pretty much the entire game) simply because they found out after that her initial designer happened to be a female.
Design wise, Bayonetta comes off more elegant than sexual (Sure most of her back is exposed and she has a… boob window), with her beehive hairdo, flowing ribbons and sleeves, and rather classy english accent. The ability to use her hair in battle and as her clothing to be overly sexist as it puts her nude body on display when carrying out certain attacks or summons (Honestly it depends on how it's done, it is not always sexist putting your body on display). The only truly exaggerated part of her anatomy are her limbs, which is perhaps done merely to enhance her elegance and movement, and it is still in no way as exaggerated or obscenely done as other animated female characters.
She is in no way a passive female character, in fact, she many one of the strongest female characters around, sure she maybe seen as fetish fuel by some (What with her glasses and very dominatrix-y looks and personality), but in the end she is clearly an incredibly empowering character that makes full use of her sexuality against her enemies, and in a more direct and forceful manner, as compared to more subtle tactics carried out by others.
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| You want sexist? Doe eyed females that are practically creepy sex robots? Go play Killer is Dead then. |
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| Sorry, no triangle boobs here, but have some short shorts. |
Thankfully the reboot does portray Lara as a much more realistic and developed character (Far more than Angelina Jolie ever could), so at least Square Enix is doing something right since that merge many years back...
Animation
The Hat by Michèle Cournoyer's The Hat (1999)
Despite its attempts to be surreal, I still find the presentation of the subject matter to be pretty direct and obvious, and in all honesty there is nothing truly outstanding or new about it. The hat could be decent metaphor for the gaze, but honestly, the only thing I felt that this animation managed to accomplish is it's disturbing presentation (No stop, I have seen enough crotches and phallic shapes to last me the rest of the week).
The music at times quite clearly hints that the woman is a stripper, the eyes and hands of her viewers attempting to devour her whole. While the creepier music that plays when she is a child hints at a dark history of sexual abuse under some unknown male figure (It is never really specified whether this man was her father, or her uncle, or just some complete stranger altogether). Her eyes are closed most of the time (In fact, her face is hidden quite a few times, with more focus being placed on the rest of her body), to seemingly avoid the gaze, as she allows herself to be viewed by everyone. It is mainly the music and sounds that portrays the inner turmoil she faces through it all.
Honestly, this animation lasted a little too long, the same effect could be given in just two to three minutes.
Ruth Lingford's Pleasures of War (1998)
The art style is considerably gritty and stylised, while genitals aren't necessarily seen, explicit sexual imagery is still displayed throughout, with integration of archival documentary footage from 20th century wars also seen in some part of the animation, the imagery is used to raise disturbing issues about the connections between sex, violence and war.
Ruth Lingford's What She Wants (1994)
Another rather creepy and provocative piece by Ruth Lingford, a woman taking a subway train back home is bedevilled with images of desire (Which is probably the nicest way of putting it...) where ever she looks, needless to say she has pretty wild imagination... I still find the ending a tad baffling, what is that creature suppose to symbolise as it leaves the woman's body? Flying about so freely and gayly after in celebration? The animation style done through the low-tech graphics of the Commodore Amiga computer to give the animation a more heightened lucidity.
Joanna Quinn's Girls Night Out (1987)
Finally taking a break from all of those intense examples… Girls Night Out is a rather humorous story about a sexually repressed woman finally getting the chance to go a little wild during a trip out with her friends to a stripper's club on her birthday. Certain scenes accentuates how unattractive (When she takes a seat, it humorously shows how much weight she has gained over the years as she struggles briefly to remove her thumbs after accidentally sitting down upon them) and unwanted she actually feels and her desires to just feel wanted again, especially as she lives her life as dull housewife, her husband never sparing her a glance (Even on her birthday!) with each passing day.
Joanna Quinn's animation style has always been uniquely cute (While her characters can be very cartoony in nature, there are times when she is able to mix in a nice bit of realism to their features), and her choice of voice acting style has always been amusing to listen to it, though a tad hard to hear at times.
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