The Gaze & The Media

The Gaze & The Media

Men act & women appear, women watch themselves m=been looked at.
Berger is not saying that women are vain its saying that women internalize the gaze, because of the amount of imagery which is in the media and the habit of seeing other women in the media is normal. Women have the effect of seeing themselves pictured.

Hans Memlings "Vanity"

This is a nude image is holding a mirror which is an impossible to get a reflection how it is showed. The painter has not just painted her nude for his pleasure but by putting a mirror in the image he is blaming it on herself as she is looking at herself therefore its OK for us to look at her. But Berger says you painted this, because you wanted to look at her naked body & you wanted to make it available for other people to look at. 1485 was a harsh judgement of women.

The device of the mirror has been replicated in the contemporary fashion, there is no return of the gaze as we cant see her eyes as there is no challenge to us at the view. She is preoccupied and therefore we are allowed to look at her. Due to her position its the moment that we are spying on her.



Alexandre Cabanel "Birth of Venus"

This women is partially covering her eyes, looks like she is awaking from sleep and therefore no challenge to our look as she can't see the viewers looking tat her as therefore we are invited by the artist to look at the woman figure and no challenge to the gaze.


Sophie Dahl Ad For Opium

This is a replying pose, this version of the ad was too overtly sexual as there is a concentration to her hand on the breast.

They turned it on its side to make the emphasis change by turning the image away from the horizontal format as there is more emphasis on the face.





Titan "Venus of Urbino"

What makes a challenge to the gaze is the look of the women's gaze, this is a flirty invitation to look at her body. We have this feeling again of spying on her as there is a curtain which is makes it out as its a private place we have viewing too. The hand is covering her women parts and therefore could be modest but also seen as a sexual pose.



Manet "Olympia"

Although this is very similar this is a challenge to the gaze due to her gaze in the eyes. The hand position is very definite which is stopping the view of that part of her body. The woman is actually a prostitute, therefore representing the modern nude and has symbols that she is a artisan. He is celebrating this powerful woman figure.


Ingre "Le Grand Odalisque"

They was responding to the international survey of international sculpture. 
The gorilla girls take the Ingres image and made a poster out of it which they put on buses to advertise the event. It was actally taken down from buses due to its phallic image.




Manet "Bar at the Folies Bergeres"

He makes this portrait as a self portrait. he offers this weird perspective of using the mirror. In the painting you can see her full back which would be behind her if we was siting in front of her. In the top right hand corner you can see he is conversing her and have been put in the position of the viewer.




Jeff Wall "Picture For Women"

In the stance of the women she is copying the stance and look of the bar maid. She repeats this vacant look, but Wall has put a mirror behind her but divide the image into thirds. And the camera is where Manet was in his painting. there is a really complex use of space.




Coward R

The action of the camera in the USA replicates the male gaze. This is a really good example, as she has a figure of a semi-naked female and put in everyday life. Like normalisation of the display of the female body. The model is wearing sunglasses which is another device in advertise as she cant return the gaze, without feeling we are betraying her privacy.




Eva Herzigonva

This is normalisation of the female body in the street, she is looking down at the people below. This is so there can't be no return of the gaze.




Coward R
Whats wrong with type of the investigation?
She says that the problem with the objectification of the body results in a detachment of women from the body and viewed as objects. We start to objectivify them. This is also created in Peeping Tom he films women and then kills them, and films the women in the moment of death. This is objectification taken to the extreme.


This is a male body in the classic pose with his eyes close so we are able to look at him without feeling guilty. 

From 2007

You usually find that every single male returns our gaze. There is no passive position that we get with the female body. If you find a male in particularly clothed situation. The body is a machine and a representation of fitness and nothing passive about the body.




Marilyn "The Seven Year Inch"

 Laura Mulvey looks at the way films are made within Hollywood and how bodies are chopped up by the camera, the framing of the sexual scene and certain parts of the female body will be filmed close-up and allows us to project our fantasy. The females of the film are never the drivers of the story they are reacting passively to the male characters.

People are invited to watch people in the dark. As its a very sexual charged environment. They phasitlitate for the view and the narcissistic process within the ideal ego. She declares that in partial society that it has been split between the male and female role.





Artemisia Gentileschi "Judith Beheaded Holofernes"

They are showing an active and aggressive scene which is unusual referencing as its more of an acted role in mythological role. She wants to reposition the role of women in the history as women are left out of art history as the artist as a genius is always given to a male figure. A lot of her work is position women so there voices are visible.



Pollock G
Women are margilised within the masculine discourses of art history.



Cindy Sherman "Film Still #6"

Her work challenges the gaze and the alumina of the work does not lie within the maker of the work. The woman in the image in a up right position so there is more of a focus on her face. rather than looking at herself in a mirror it is down on the bed so we are denied that access that we are allowed to use her as the gaze. This image challenges the gaze by refusing the viewer not allowed to look ate her without feeling awkward.




Babara Kruger "Your gaze hits he side of my face"

She uses this text which gives the impression its cut out of a newspaper. there is reference to violence. As its not harmful and challenges ways we cant look at female bodies by using the word hits.




Sarahs Lucas "Eating a Banana"

She pictures herself eating a banana which is referring to the phallic connotation of a banana. She is returning the male gaze in an aggressive challenge. The feel of food & language is something that comes out of her work often. This is a serious comment on the language that is used and a real challenge in her position.




Tracey Emin "Money Photo"

This is a similar pose to Sarah Lucas photo. She is saying that her work can't be rel or good as she is making money out of it. 




Caroline Lucas MP 

Even today we still have page three which has been brought to the attention of the house of commons by Caroline Lucas. This top was told to move as it was not norm for the dress code for the house of commons. 
There is a big trend against the attack of women which are talking about the objectification of the women of history. 

One of her campaigns was to reinstate the women on the British currency as if she is to be replaced she needs to be replaced by an important woman figure. If it goes unrecognised and unchallenged it makes it worse. She started receiving death threats which made her close down her account, which has led to them now bring the report button onto the twitter site.




Lucy Ann Holmes
She has also been a victim of similar abuse on Twitter for writing her views on feminism. 





The Times

Women happen to be removed from history, which ignores the fact that 30 years ago a female won the title.




Social Networking

Is used to perpetuate the critical male gaze and here even aimed at young girls who are already been made to change themselves for the male gaze.





Susan Sontag "On Photography"

This is a way of encouraging whats going on to keep on happening, this is a really interesting quote to the role of the paparazzi as our need for the images are the drive for the large amounts of money and therefore the market for these images are there. Taking the shots actually create the market, this is perpetuation of this cycle. This is to see the mass in celebrity as the desire to see them as ordinary people in this case leads to her death.




Reality Television
This offers us the all-seeing which offers the power which we use to vote to keep in the house. This is the kind of voyeuristic & passive consumption of this distraction. there is no active world for the viewer.




The Truman Show 

He was born into a reality TV as everything he does is filmed. This is the level of reality we can't get in BB. At one point he realises that everything he sees around him is a stage. 





Big Brother

Seems to offer the equality of both male & female body which seems to level it out. It makes voyeurism on everyday activity. Its the gaze at its worse. The fantasy is that they can't see us as we are the peeping tom. There is another layer that they carry round the sense of been looked at. 




Vistor Burgin
Looking is not indifferent, There can never be any question of just looking.
As your are the next generation of image walkers are there alternatives.