Ekaterine Kervalishvili

Professor Cacoilo

Media 384

25 February 2017

                                                            On Ways of Seeing/Viewing

            Women in media today are often portrayed from the masculine perspective, they are presented as object to pleasure men. Laura Mulvey called this representation of women male gaze. Mulvey coined the term in 1975 however it is as prevalent in today’s pop culture as it was then. Mulvey in her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinmena” argues that women in Hollywood cinema are often portrayed as objects, women are denied their identity and are only presented for the pleasure and inspiration of the men. Mulvey argues that for the most part Hollywood cinema are targeted towards heterosexual men, they are regarded as default target audience. The misinterpretation and objectification of women are rooted in the patriarchal ideology of the society. According to Bell Hooks patriarchy is a social disease. Patriarchy represents the idea that men are inherently more superior then women. It assigns specific gender roles to both men and women and places them in certain boxes in the society. The way women are misrepresented in the media is the result of patriarchy which creates gender inequality. Women in popular culture are often sexualized and objectified. Little focus is on their identity and character, mostly it concentrates on their looks. Berger in his essay Ways of Seeing argues the oversexualized images of women in the media are culturally central today. These images reassure men of their sexual power and the same time deny women their sexuality other then what is constructed by male viewers.

The depiction of women from the masculine point of view in the media has detrimental impact on the society in general. It supports and feeds patriarchal ideology and further creates stereotypes and places limitation on women. Hollywood and pop culture today often cast women as an objects to be looked at, they are told by the patriarchal media that women are sight a vision that should serve as an inspiration for the men. Mulvey stated that women in the film often have two functions, to serve as an erotic object for the male character and to serve as an erotic object for the men in the audience. 

            Berger in Ways of Seeing stated: “Men act and Women appear. Men look at women and women watch themselves being looked at these determines not only most relations between men and women but also relation of women to themselves.” (p.47)The masculine representation of women effects how men look at the women on screen but also how women look at themselves which lead to not only objectification of females by men but also women objectifying other women. Male gaze devalues women worth on screen, it suggest that women can only exist in relation to men therefore stripping them of any kind or importance. The examples of male gaze are often present in the advertisement where females are represented as overly sexualized object in order to sell product. Films such as transformers are also an example of masculine way of portraying women in film. Female lead in the film has no meaning other than being an inspiration to the male lead. Men saves the planet and she is the prize that he gets. Women is treating like a possession that he acquires. 

As oppose to male gaze, oppositional gaze is the way black women are represented in the media. The phrase was developed by Bell Hooks in 1992. Hooks argued that black people women in particular are often misrepresented in the media or not represented at all. Black women where often represented and transformed into white women on screen which further supported the idea of white supremacy. Hooks stated that because of the misrepresentation many black women would protest by not watching the films. Hooks said: That some of us stopped looking was the gesture of resistance, turning away was on way to protest to reject negation.”(121).The oppositional gaze is the direct response, rebellion to misrepresentation, and the lack of representation of black women in general in film. Black women were objectified not only by men but also by white culture. They were denied voice and authenticity in their representation. However as women they were also victims of male gaze, and the rules of patriarchal society.

Understanding the male gaze and oppositional gaze gave me better understanding of the inaccuracy in which women are often portrayed in the media film. It clarified how much of our society is still governed by the rules of patriarchy and male dominance. Women right have come a long way however there are still a long way ahead towards equality.

Sources:

1.     Mulvey, L. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Screen 16.3 (1975): 6-18. Web.

2.     Berger, John. Ways of Seeing: Based On the BBC Television Series With John S Berger. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 1972.     

3.     Hooks, Bell. "Understanding Patriarchy by Bell Hooks." Arizona. N.p., 25 July 2004. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

4.      Hooks, Bell (2010). The oppositional gaze : Black female spectators. In Marc Furstenau (ed.), The Film Theory Reader: Debates and Arguments. Routledge.