GAZE

The concept of Gaze deals with how things are shown from are certain perspective. It is also usually related to a specific audience.

In media theory, the gaze can be described as a particular perspective taken to embody certain aspects of the relationship between observer and observed, especially as reflected in the way in which an author or film director (unconsciously or otherwise) directs attention.

 In 1975 filmmaker and writer Laura Mulvey published a groundbreaking essay about images of women in classical Hollywood cinema. This essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," used psychoanalysis to propose that the conventions of popular narrative cinema are structured by a patriarchal unconscious, positioning women represented in films as objects of a "male gaze."

Having mentioned the male gaze, it is worth exploring the opposite end of the gendered gaze. Can there be a female gaze? One in which the roles are reversed?

According to Laura Mulvey, the male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness.

The usual result of Male Gaze is the way a (usually male) director/cameraman's interest in women shapes his shots, leading to a focus on the sexualization of the female body. Women are depicted in the media from a heterosexual male perspective, representing women as sexual objects formal viewers

The male gaze has been popularized in Hollywood and then been transferred to other sectors for example advertisements companies continue to sell products through traditional gender codes, by portraying women in demure, seductive poses for a possessive male gaze..., other ads play off these traditions by reversing them and showing both the pleasure of looking at men as objects and the power of women in action.

The movie posters above confirm Laura Mulvey's theory about the objectification of women characters in the movie for the assumed heterosexual male audience for purposes of visual pleasure.

In contrast to the male gaze, the female gaze has no focus on sexualization or body objectification. The female gaze can be described as the portrayal of female characters from a feminine perspective. This means that a woman would be the leader of such a project. Female lead roles such as director of the movie, author of the book and other leading roles in production can provide a female gaze. They provide authenticity and give women a more important role than to be looked at since it is a perspective based on reality not patriarchy.

Gaze and stereotypes are directly related given that one has to view the stereotyped individual from a specific lens which forms the gaze.

Examples include :

1. Afro- Caribbean people or individuals with African descent are stereotyped as athletic and sporty. This can be due to the media or the long history of successful Afro-Caribbean athletes. Nevertheless, there is an Athletic gaze related to the Afro-Caribbean culture.

2.Religion and Behavior

Religious people are regarded to generally have good morals which creates a gaze. This gaze relates religion to morality. Since most religious people are considered to be good-mannered, it creates a polarity with the religious and non-religious in relation to a moral character gaze.

As mentioned before, the Gaze deals with the observer and the observed. This can be reflected in multiple aspects of life as shown below:

In conclusion, there are very many different forms of the gaze depending on the situation. This brings up the question:

ARE YOU AWARE OF THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF THE GAZE YOU EXPERINCE IN LIFE?