John Berger:
' According to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome, men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at'
(Berger 1972)
- Women are not vain, women carry around an idea of themselves being looked at.
Hans Memling, ' Vanity' (1485)
- The mirror distracts you and makes you think the woman is looking at herself, its a moral judgement. By the woman not looking directly at us, it makes it okay for us to look at her.
- Contemporary advertising: the woman is lost in thought as she looks at herself. Her legs are slightly parted which makes us look between them and because she is not looking at us it means that she is making it okay to look there.
Alexandre Cabanel, 'Birth of venus' (1863)
In this painting her arms cover her face, which means that she is either just waking or just going to sleep. This and also the way she is laying allows us to look at her body without a returning gaze.
This is an advert by Sophie Dahl, for the perfume Opium.
This ad was withdrawn as it did not pass the census as it was thought to be too sexual. The position of the women was insinuating a sexual meaning. Also the way in which she fitted the frame meant that we were looking directly at her chest and genitals.
The image was then turned vertically and passed the census as it was no longer insinuating something sexual. Our focus changed and the women was in a less vulnerable position.
Titans Venus of Urbino, (1538)
This painting shows an upper class woman naked on a bed, she is looking directly at us, but in a relaxed and inviting way. Even though there is a direct gaze she is making it okay for us to look at her.
Manet, 'Olympia' (1863)
This image is a piece of Modernism, the stance of the woman is more assertive and she is a wealthier woman. She is a prostitute and a symbol of modernist society. The cat in the painting shows femininity and independence.
This is a billboard designed by the Guerrilla Girls. They were asked to design a billboard for the public Art fund in New York. They welcomed the chance to do anything that would appeal to a general audience. Their design was about the number of nude males and females in the artworks on display. The PAF said that their design was clear enough and rejected it,s o they rented out advertising space on New York buses, but their lease was cancelled as they said their design was too suggestive.
Manet, 'Bar at the Folies Bergeres, (1882)
This painting shows a barmaid who is serving 'us' and also Manet himself. This painting gives us another dimensional value and skewed perspective. It is almost a self portrait of Manet as his reflection can be seen on the top right hand corner. This makes us no longer a spectator, we are involved with the scene.
Coward, R, (1984)
- The camera in contemporary media has been put to use as an extension of the male gaze at the women on the street. This model has been placed in a setting to make the image seem like it is normal for her to be dressed like this in public. No one is looking at her so that it seems normal, she is also wearing sunglasses so we are not challenged by her gaze and can look at her.
Eva Herzigova, (1994)
This is an advert for wonderbra, the woman is looking down which means she is not gazing at us and therefore means we can look at her. As this is a billboard it is hard to know if she would be looking down at us or at her own chest.
Coward, R, (1984), Peeping Tom
- The profusion of images which characterises contemporary society could be seen as an obsessive distancing of women.. a form of voyeurism.
- Voyeurism: the compulsion to seek sexual gratification by secretly looking at sexual objects or acts.
Here is an example of when the male body is objectified. This just goes to show that men are objectified like women in advertising but just not as much as women.
This image for Dolce and Gabbana is very challenging as all the men are gazing at us. The image represents a cult of fitness and the male ideals of body image.
Pollock, G, (1981)
- Women 'marginalised within the masculine discourses of art history'
- This marginalisation supports the 'hegemony of men in cultural practise, in art'
- Women not only marginalised but supposed to be marginalised
Cindy Sherman, 'Untitled film still no.6, (1977- 79)
Barbara Kruger, 'Your gaze hits the side of my face', (1981)
- Women artists challenge the male gaze
Sarah Lucas, 'Eating a banana', (1990)
- You should never look someone in the eye when eating a banana, or even eat them in public as people think eating a banana can come across as sexual.
Susan Sontag, (1979), 'On photography'
- 'To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed'
- The act of photography is more than passive observing. Like sexual voyeurism, it is a way of at least tacitly, often explicitly, encouraging what is going on to keep on happening'
Paparazzi shot of Princess Diana
- Pap images steal shots for personal financial gain
- The publication of these shots creates a market for their passive consumption (mags and newspapers)
- We contribute to the perpetuation of this cycle by buying these mags, we create the market for our own voyeuristic pleasure
- Our desire is to see the mask of celebrity lifted, and ordinary life exposed
Reality television:
- Appears to offer us the position as the all- seeing eye- the power of the gaze.
- 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 Truman Show, (1988), Dir Peter Weir
- Jim Careys character discovers the limits of his world, that his life is a staged event.
Big Bother 2011
- Males and females to gaze upon.
- The BB chair is designed for maximum exposure.
- Voyeurism becomes everyday.
'Looking is not indifferent. There can never be any question of 'just looking'.
Victor Burgin, (1982)
No comments:
Post a Comment