The gaze is commonly described as the right of power. The person to gaze has the power as the person being gazed upon becomes powerless. We learn of the importance of gaze from as early as childhood. There were some moments you simply were not allowed to look at an adult and some moments where you were commanded too. Very early in life you learn that the gaze has different meanings and is often situational. At a time your parents are scolding you, the gaze was not acceptable, It was a sign of challenge. The respectful thing would be to look down at this moment you would most likely be instructed to look up as you were scolded. When you looked up the gaze had to be innocent, your frustration could not be visible through your gaze for it would warrant an even more aggressive reaction from the adult. How could a gesture that appear to be so minimal mean so much. During slavery and segregation it was very clear that the gaze was reserved for those in power only. Black people were not allowed to look at white people in the eye. Consider Emmit Till a young black boy who was killed for looking at a white women. The white women felt violated by his gaze. What did the gaze really symbolize? Was it fascination? Attraction? Friendly gesture? Society plays a big role on how we decode a gaze. The gaze given by Emmit Till in society today could have been simply understood as flattery, perhaps giving a smile in return would suffice instead of causing a young man to be murdered. Our Gaze is a way to read someone, a way to understand them as well. African Americans often found that the only way they could gaze upon the race that they had so much curiosity about was through television. It was the only time the gaze wouldn't carry and consequences.These scenarios are why African American women could develop an oppositional gaze, They are not able to look at cinema and identify with the film subject. They would not posses the pleasure of the gaze . Cinema is looked upon for what it really is in most cases, racist and prejudice why would anyone want to relate to such an ideology. As a black women you only learn to accept that these characters in film do not represent yourself, you can not relate to them nor will you try. You instead view the film critically knowing that you and the film are completely different entities and it may very well remain that way.
Real Women Have Curves: A feminist Narrative of Upward mobility
A feminist would surely be offended by a woman's need to stay fit, cook, clean, look appealing all for the pleasure of a man. There is no need to be anyone but yourself. WE must simply appreciate the way we are. In the film Real women have curves there is a cast of all overweight women who work together in a sewing factory making dresses. It is basically a sweat shop. They are payed very poorly but they continue to work.There are several issues such as race, class and gender that are brought about. We see that the cast might in some way feel inferior because of their hispanic background. There are also obvious class clashes which was most evident by how intimidated Pancha was as she spoke to an exec at the office that she supplied dresses for. The topic of marriage was also constantly discussed throughout the film. The mom would constantly criticize her daughters image for not being married. Telling her daughter that she could be married if she lost weight. She goes to extreme measures to insure her daughter might get a husband through religious rituals. This seems to be the only way any female in the cast can be validated. The mom feels as though she is above other women who have not been married using that fact that she already has a husband as a justification of why it is ok for her to be overweight. Ana the main character is the rebel of the group. She does not conform to the others. She has attended a great high school is more educated than the rest. She has ambition and the other ladies can not quite understand it. She eventually goes to college breaking the hispanic norms of staying in your parents home until marriage. She chooses to go to college for herself. She does not believe that her financial security lies within any man. She is met with resistance at first but eventually her family gives in. In a cast that stood for everything a feminist would be against Ana was that upward mobility, through her sometimes childish behavior, bold stunts or blatant arrogance she made a point. She eventually inspires the sister to close the workshop and open a boutique that is not shown in the movie but is shown in the original play. It would therefore symbolize an upward improvement on the ladies behalf.
Chapter 6: Consumer Culture and Manufacturing of desire
Based on the emerging modern consumer society of the time this chapter focused on how advertisements played a role in getting people to buy things that were being overly manufactured by the capitalist society. It discussed how ads were able to make consumers feel as though they needed the items being presented.The author describes the Marxist critique of commodity fetishism in which actual means of production is ignored and instead people focus on the ideologies set in place to affirm consumption of the product. The topic of interpellation is also brought up. Interpellation in advertisements are believed to drive us to want any product whether in the form of images or words. It subconsciously makes the viewers feel as though they are not complete until they have purchased what is being advertised. The author also describes how easily we are influenced and basically do not have a mind of our own. It is stated that our bodies are docile and we basically allow any ideas to be placed into us. Often times advertisements aim to have us become something other than ourselves whether it is the new victoria secret bra that will make us sexy or the new axe hair gel for men which will make them more attractive. Very rarely do we see advertisements that enforce that notion that we are beautiful just the way we are. If such ideas are implemented it will end the maerialistic obsession we know have which seems to only benefit the leaders of capitalism.
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema : Mulvey
Mulvey says that films are greatly influenced by our patriarchal societies. Mulvey argues that the popularity of Hollywood films is determined and reinforced by preexisting social patterns which have shaped the subject. She believes that women are used in film to provide a pleasurable view for men who play the role of the gazer while women continue to have the role as the object being gazed upon.She believes that there are two ways in which cinema produces pleasure.The first involves the objectification of the image, and the second one the identification with it, both representing the mental desires of men. The first form of pleasure relates to what Freud termed as scopophilia or the pleasure derived from subjecting someone to one's gaze. The second form of pleasure which operates alongside the scopophilia is the identification with the represented character which is brought about by needs stemming from the Freudian Ego. Frued plays a vital role in most of her arguments as it is stated in the beginning of this narrative that women somehow envy men and would like to become one. It is then said that women bare children as a way to somehow fulfill that crave. Her main point is clearly made as she continues to show support in the inequality of men and women in film and how polarized the roles are between sexes.
An Introduction to Genre Theory : Chandler
I remember the first time we discussed Genre in elementary school. It was pretty fascinating because although I could distinguish between what movies made me laugh, sad or scared I could only describe them as such. Learning the different genres but things in perspective to me. I then noticed that most films were classified by genre and by being familiar with the terms it made movie and book selections an easier process. There are many types of genre and they manner in which they are classified is pretty interesting. Robert Stam a film theorist states "While some genres are based on story content
(the war film), other are borrowed from literature (comedy, melodrama) or from other media (the musical). Some are performer-based (the Astaire-Rogers films) or budget-based (blockbusters), while others are based on artistic status (the art film), racial identity (Black cinema), location (the Western) or sexual orientation (Queer cinema). (Stam 2000, 14). Evidently placing a movie in a certain genre can be very tricky. Viewers for one will have a preconceived idea of how or where the movie will take place based on the genre which might not be necessarily true. Also some movies can fall in more than one genre. Consider the movie Dance Girl Dance, This movie was a drama, comedy, and could even be considered a musical and or a romance. That leads to the second issue that classifying a movie under a certain genre can be limiting.
Practices of Looking: Sturken
Images are encoded and decoded. An image in encoded with meaning and it is the viewers job to decode it. The most interesting thing about decoding images is that we all see things differently. What I see as a powerful piece could seem very regular to someone else. This is what makes arts and images so great. For centuries the female species have been used as an object of display and art. Nude women especially has bee used for many years as an object for art. Berger stated that "Men act, woman appear" considering nude painting of women are usually done with the woman facing away from the male viewer. The female represents the image that is gazed at and the male is the gazer. Men later became an image to be gazed at as well. In advertising today we see men with really fit and muscular bodies pose topless as a sales pitch to sell items. It certainly gets your attention when you see such an image but how effective it is to make a consumer by something is questionable at least to me. When I see a half naked man in Armani boxers enlarged on one of the billboards in NYC I never think "hey, im gonna go buy some boxers". This then again takes us back to the fact that we all see things differently, our decoding process has different results as well. I must say that the fact that male figures are now used and women are allowed the chance to play the role of the gazer it makes me feel much better. Too often women are objectified as seen as sexual figures when there are way more aspected of the female species. According to Sturken the gazer plays a role as the superior the person being gazed is then inferior, the use of both male and females as objects to be gazed at seems more fair.
Ways of Seeing, Chapters 1-2 (page 7-43) John Berger
How we see things is largely dependent on the individual and the individuals surroundings. Based on life experiences we can infer the type of emotion most pictures exude. A lady sitting straight up with a straight face will most likely be characterized as serious or unhappy. We connect that image to the way we are. A man seated with a sluggish hat on is described as unkept, unprofessional and perhaps a drunk as stated in the reading. However another important part of art and the way we see it is largely dependent on others. Consider the Virgin and her child painting, a first glance it looks to be similar to most paintings in that era but it was not until an American offered millions for the painting that it actually acquired true marketable value. This American saw something in this picture that most had not seen yet after he unknowingly placed value on the painting people began to place value on it as well. It now sits behind a bullet proof glass. A bit extreme I believe but what has my belief have to do with it?
Chapter 2 :
How are women seen? For centuries women have been seen as sex objects and that remains today. It is believed that if women carry themselves a certain way men will take notice. What then is the importance or benefit of en taking notice? Simple, financial stability. Beautiful women are often seen in the fanciest of clothing and jewelry, normal woman stare from afar secretly wishing they could have the same. These normal women are then tempted to express their sexuality further in hopes of acquiring the same.
Practices of Looking: Rosie the Riveter
As humans looking is a natural thing for us. It is an innate behavior. The most interesting thing about looking at images or at different occurrences in life is that it brings forth a different emotion in each individual. Consider the photo of the children who have seen someone killed. Some of the children looked mortified while others look almost amazed to be witnessing such a thing. This is the power of imagery. For years we have read of Rosie the Riveter. We were in awe of the strength many women, young and old displayed while the men were at war. We commended them for their support, we credited these women for helping the United States win the war. Why then would we also have documentaries or movies depicting the same thing we have read since elementary school? Simply putting images to the words changes our outlook. We knew that these women were courageous and because of the role they played in history they were almost regarded as super heros, not entirely relatable but inspiring. As I watched Rosie the Riveter, the documentary, these women were humanized. I saw my mom, I saw my aunt, I saw what I thought could have been myself. I then questioned whether or not I would have been able to perform such strenuous tasks.
Imagery gives us a closer look on things that have happened. As photos of these ladies flashed across the camera we saw a time long before ours. Similar to paintings of the 17th century. That is an era we can't even begin to imagine however we are left with images that allows us to infer what life could have been like during that era.
The image of Rosie the Riveter has always been a picture of a masculine woman as explained in the reading images could be signals or signs. The protruding biceps that "Rosie" has shows us that she is strong. This goes back to the image of Rosie the Riveter being a signal of strength from woman. The power of image is also being able to say things without actually saying it.
Practices of Looking: Rosie the Riveter
As humans looking is a natural thing for us. It is an innate behavior. The most interesting thing about looking at images or at different occurrences in life is that it brings forth a different emotion in each individual. Consider the photo of the children who have seen someone killed. Some of the children looked mortified while others look almost amazed to be witnessing such a thing. This is the power of imagery. For years we have read of Rosie the Riveter. We were in awe of the strength many women, young and old displayed while the men were at war. We commended them for their support, we credited these women for helping the United States win the war. Why then would we also have documentaries or movies depicting the same thing we have read since elementary school? Simply putting images to the words changes our outlook. We knew that these women were courageous and because of the role they played in history they were almost regarded as super heros, not entirely relatable but inspiring. As I watched Rosie the Riveter, the documentary, these women were humanized. I saw my mom, I saw my aunt, I saw what I thought could have been myself. I then questioned whether or not I would have been able to perform such strenuous tasks.
Imagery gives us a closer look on things that have happened. As photos of these ladies flashed across the camera we saw a time long before ours. Similar to paintings of the 17th century. That is an era we can't even begin to imagine however we are left with images that allows us to infer what life could have been like during that era.
The image of Rosie the Riveter has always been a picture of a masculine woman as explained in the reading images could be signals or signs. The protruding biceps that "Rosie" has shows us that she is strong. This goes back to the image of Rosie the Riveter being a signal of strength from woman. The power of image is also being able to say things without actually saying it.
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