Seminar 2: The Gaze

Just placing these little extracts here so that I can allow the definition of the gaze to sink in better, you can skip on ahead to what we actually discussed about in the seminar today.

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 "Male Gaze" in Feminist Theory

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

Robert Doisneau's "An Oblique Look"

It is argued by Griselda Pollock, in her article, that the female gaze can often be visually negated. The photo above supports this argument, a couple is looking around an art gallery, while the spectator's view is from inside the shop, the couple is looking in different places than the view of the spectator. The woman is commenting on an image to her husband, while her husband is distracted by a nude female painting off to the left, in view of the spectator. The woman is looking at another image, but it cannot be viewed by the spectator. The man's gaze has found something apparently more interesting and has chosen to ignore the woman's comment. The woman is also contrasting to the nude female in the painting, as she presents herself as "actively returning and confirming the gaze of the masculine spectator", instead of passively accepting the male gaze.

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.

You want sexist? Doe eyed females that are practically creepy sex robots? Go play Killer is Dead then.

Sorry, no triangle boobs here, but have some short shorts.

Lara Croft of Square Enix's "Tomb Raider" series is a beautiful, intelligent and athletic British archaeologist adventurer, and perhaps to this day, remains one of the most famous female game characters and sex symbol (Perhaps even one of the first in video games) in the gaming world. However… do people truly remember Lara Croft as an archaeologist when ogling her for her looks? Or simply as some pin up girl with guns? That basic fact, might not even be well known outside of the fandom, everything that makes her the strong character that she truly is, is in truth, overlooked for her 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)

For ages, men have always been seen as the more dominant and powerful gender, whereas women  are seen as weak and feeble creatures that they use for their own pleasure. This animation is the radical retelling of the Biblica story of Judith, a beautiful hebrew widow, and Holofernes, commander of an invading Assyrian army laying siege to her hometown. Judith gains entry to the enemy camp's fortress, ostensibly to offer a personal surrender, but instead plans to seduce Holofernes then kill him after in order to save her country.

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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Seminar 1: Visual Analysis Exercise

Bottle and The Dog Who Was a Cat Inside both came out in the 2000s, albeit quite a few years apart, respectively in 2010 and 2002. Bottle was created by CALarts student Kirsten Lepore from Los Angeles, California, while The Dog Who was a Cat Inside was done by Siri Melchior, a danish animator from Copenhagen, Denmark. And so Bottle is the more recent of the two animations.

Bottle focuses on the long distance relationship between two fairly different creatures (With one composed of warm sand while the other of snow), and by not actually having the chance to meet with one another until the very end, the little gifts they would receive from the other perhaps hints at their belief to alter their appearances to satisfy the other’s expectations for when the time came for them to see one another.

The title for Siri Melchior’s piece, with the usage of the word “was” (Instead of “had”, which would imply something else altogether) already suggests that the message behind its story is the identity issues the main character/s faces, and that it is in fact just one individual that suffer from split personality, or even transgender issues.

While not actually dark in terms of its storytelling, Bottle does give off a far more somber tone as compared to The Dog Who Was a Cat Inside, with its lack of music and its rather sad (But still considerably open) ending. One would assume that the two perished upon entering the sea, hence never getting the chance to meet with one another, while it could also be assumed that the two simply became a part of the sea and hence were finally able to join together as one, discarding their physical forms whilst doing so.

Comparing to Bottle’s ending then, The Dog Who Was a Cat Inside clearly had the happier ending, as the character/s was/were able to find a kindred spirit in the end and accept themselves for what they are (Allowing both personas to get along with one another). And as mentioned earlier, it has an overall more light-hearted and humorous tone of storytelling compared Bottle, with its more colourful and cartoony style and whimsical soundtrack (Which is most definitely an aspect that makes a huge difference to any animation, film, video game, etc.).

Both shorts do seem to focus on the subject matter of identity, though on considerably different levels and areas of it, Bottle seems to focus on identity through peer pressure while The Dog Who Was a Cat Inside focuses on a more different psychological aspect of it. Regardless, both animations were perhaps made to be more open to interpretation, so that they would be more presentable to a wider audience. This especially applies to The Dog Who Was a Cat Inside, if it truly had been focusing on a considerably sensitive subject such as the acceptance of transgender; it had to be made in a way that it is not too obvious or offensive for its audience.

While both animated shorts can be enjoyed by a wide audience, The Dog Who Was a Cat Inside will perhaps be better enjoyed for its cute and quirky presentation and overall more light-hearted tone of storytelling.

Lecture 2: The Gaze and the Media

• 'according to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but by no means been overcome - men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at' ~ Berger 1972
• This is one of the most commonly misquoted quotes in Berger's essay, he is not saying that they are vain, but that women are forced to carry an idea in their heads, and not simply by choice.

• Hans Memling's Vanity (1485), the mirror is used as a device of justification, moral condemnation, to make us believe that the woman is a subject of vanity as she admires herself, this was especially during a time when women could be accused and prosecuted as witches.

• In this fashion advertisement, a mirror is once again used, the woman is clearly absorbed in her own image, and does not seem to be aware of the rest of her surroundings, whilst her reflection is facing towards us, a dark shadow covers nearly half of it.

• Alexandre Cabanel's Birth of Venus (1863) was the most admired painting at the Salon during that year, Venus is posing in a way that allows her to avoid eye contact with the viewer, shielding her eyes away with her forearm, her body language overall gives off a very unchallenging, sentimental, unaggressive feel.

 

• In the Sophie Dahl for Opium campaign, she is in this reclining pose, chin up and eyes closed, at the time, it was considered to be far too sexual and was hence banned, as the main focus of the image is of her hand grasping at her breast (Though the exposed nipple was not questioned as much as you read further…).  Humorously enough, a rotated version of the exact same image was actually accepted later on, because apparently the focus was then stronger on her face.

• Titian's Venus of Urbino (1538), Venus in this image is regarding us coquettishly, as if regarding the viewer as a peeping tom in amusement and actually giving them permission to do so and admire her further.

• Manet's Olympia (1863) stood as the first nude to represent modern reality, with the subject being a prostitute rather than a goddess figure, whilst similar to the previous painting, with the subtle differences being the woman's look, a more direct one given, and while Venus' hands are laid in a more relaxed manner over her body, Olympia appears to cover her's in a more challenging manner (You gotta pay to see these goodies). The cat is a symbol of individual femininity and independence. In contrast to the presentation of degraded courtesans, Olympia is adorned with gifts from her admirers, them being a proof of her success.

• The Guerrilla Girls movement formed in 1985 a response to the Museum of Modern Art's exhibition, "An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture", which showcased 169 artists, showed that less than 5% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 85% of the nudes are female. 
• Their design (That makes use of Ingres' Le Grand Odalisque with some alterations...), was first rejected by the PAF as it did not appear clear enough, and was also later rejected by the bus company (When they tried to run the advert themselves) as the feather duster she was holding appeared far too sexual (Everything is phallic if you look hard enough apparently).

• Manet's Bar at the Folies Bergeres (1882) has an interestingly skewed perspective of things, the mirror interestingly shows a strangely angled reflection of her back (When it should be positioned behind her), as well as the spectator himself (You are no longer the spectator even, you are actually involved in the scene). Impressionists at the time were given an artistic license that allowed them to break from more realistic details. The barmaid is the only one not truly reflected in the mirror (Her back facing it all, while her true self dully (And perhaps unhappily) regards what she sees before her as she works), unlike the rest of society.

• Inspired by Manet's painting, Jeff Wall's Picture for Women (1979) borrows the internal structure of that painting, with the figures similarly reflected in the mirror, the woman's pose is quite similar to the barmaid's, sharing the absorbed gaze and posture, while the man is the artist himself. It is interesting to see how carefully Jeff Wall placed the mirrors and subjects, being able to create small regions in this image, in the end, there are practically three gazes shared with the viewer, that being the woman's, man's, and the camera's. Postmodernism gives the viewer a chance to play a more active role than a passive one as compared to works in the past.

• Coward, R (1984), the camera in contemporary media has been put to use as an extension of the male gaze at women on the streets. Rather typical of an advertising company, the subject is half naked and placed in a rather out of place setting, the contrast between her and the background being quite effective. This appears to normalize the idea that naked bodies can be put on display.

• The profusion of images which characterizes contemporary society could be seen as an obsessive distancing of women, a form of voyeurism (The compulsion to seek gratification by secretively looking at sexual objects or acts; the actions of a Peeping Tom). One such example is the British thriller/horror film Peeping Tom (1960), a serial killer murders women while using a portable movie camera to record their dying expressions of terror.

• It is not that male objectification doesn't exist, but can men be objectified as much as women in the advertising industry? In a Dolce and Gabbana ad, the stance and gazes of the models are clearly different from that of the examples we have seen of the women, it appears fiercer, and challenges your gaze.

• In 1940s and 1950s films and photography, female subjects appear to be shown in a fragmented manner, and are made to simply be seen as a visual endowment, instead of playing an active character role.

• In Griselda Pollocks' Old Mistresses, in Artemisia Gentileschi's Judith Beheading Holofernes, Griselda states that women are 'marginalized within the masculine discourses of art history'. This marginalisation supports the 'hegemony of men in cultural practice, in art'. Women are not only marginalized but supposed to be marginalized.

• In an untitled work of Cindy Sherman's (1977-1979), the subject is clearly reclining, the picture is positioned vertically instead of horizontally, again showing how different the same subject look when rotated, making it appear less sexual. She is looking off into the distance, more precisely into the left hand corner, and while there is a mirror, it is not a device being used to make her appear like a creature of vanity, while held in her hand, it is even positioned face down.

• Sarah Lucas' Eating a Banana, the subject (Also the photographer herself) is giving a rather fierce gaze in this otherwise humorous photo. In her Self Portrait with Fried Eggs, Sarah makes a play on words, and despite it's humorous tone, does make the viewer uncomfortable once again due to the direct gaze she gives off.
• In reality television, it appears to offer us the position as the all-seeing eye- the power of the gaze. It allows us a voyeuristic passive consumption of a type of reality. Editing means that there is no reality. Contestants are aware of their representation (either as TV professionals or as people who have watched the show.

• The plot of the Dir Peter Weir short (Featuring Jim Carrey) in The Truman Show focuses on the character's discovery on the limits of his world and that his life is all a staged event (Heavy…).
• Looking is not indifferent. There can never be any question of 'just looking'. ~ Victor Burgin (1982)

• Cruado-Perez argued that as the Equality Act 2010 commits public institutions to end discrimination. She received up to 50 threats a day via Twitter including threats to rape and murder. Although she reported the abuse, police lose evidence and she forced to delete her account.
• While not subjected to the level of torture that Ms Cruado-Perez had faced, Lucy-Ann Holmes, who founded a campaign to end the publication of topless "Page 3 Girls" in the Sun Newspaper last year, had received death threats for doing what she did.
• "I'd say it's a constant undercurrent when women write about feminist issues or are exposed in a lot of media for speaking out about sexism they tend to get a barrage of abuse and threats." ~ Lucy-Ann Holmes

• Andy Murray was celebrated for winning tennis after 77 years, when in truth, a woman had won the award about 30 years ago. Why is that a female figure, despite their accomplishments, can be so easily erased this way?

• Since the Great 2014 Celebrity Nude photo leaks, it should be addressed by how female celebrities are seen as objects and that we practically own them as expect to see every inch of their bodies… instead of treating them like any other human and respecting their privacy. (Paparazzi for you) Interesting thing to note is that there aren't many nude photos of male celebrities...
• "What these people are doing is reminding women that, no matter who they are, they are still women. They are forever vulnerable." ~ Roxanne Gray

• Laurie Penny, the author of the blog Penny Red, writer for New Statesman, Guardian, The Independent, etc. "The power to watch men back is something the web affords women, but men haven't quite realized that yet."

• Social Networking is used to perpetuate the male gaze/ the gaze of the media. The body is broken into fragments-could be any female. It plays on teenagers' body and their self esteem (So much hate…).