Post 2: On ways of seeing/Viewing
By:Hussein Farraj
What is the male gaze and why is it a pervasive form of vision in popular culture?
- The male gaze is a masculine view of how men view women as objects instead of actual human beings. The scientific word for this is scopophilia but then cinema takes a new lead to it when it gets to dominating women with power as well. This gaze has taken over our society today in political, religious, literature, and in media forms that degrade women to only having value in their appearance. For example, in Freud's famous phase "Women's desire is subjected to her image as a bearer of the bleeding wound, she can exist only in relation to castration and cannot transcend it."(Laura Mulvey). This means that a women are only brought into this world to bear children, be a servant to man, and to look pretty for her husband. A relatable outcome that has happened in American culture was the presidential election. Instead of having a women that was fit for the position, America decided to elect a man who doesn't have a single clue about politics. President Trumps main focus to winning the presidency was basically lieing and bullying Hillary. Bell Hooks explains that white capitalist corrupt this system to their favor because they believe it was meant for them. "Imperialistic white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy to describe the interlocking political systems that are foundation of our nation's politics"(Understanding Patriarchy). Bell Hooks basically describes President Trump in one sentence. A man who only cares about money and believes he is better than everyone especially women. Remember the bus right he took!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o21fXqguD7U Here is another youtube video of the man literally talking shit about Hillary and getting away with this on a national stage. Isn't that a patriarchy moment! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwLsSNi1BYk
-The male gaze is a pervasive form of vision in popular culture because the entertainment field is male dominated. "In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/ female. Male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly. (Laura Mulvey). This means that male writers and producers want to express their conditioned narcissistic views of male and female interactions to being the norm. That males hold power into looking at women and the women is just ok to being look at as a pleasure tool. The after affects of watching this unfair basis leads to the formation of rape culture. Professor Cacoilo explains through her lectures that these movies are shown purposely to the younger audience because of how easy it is to convince a child to think this way instead of an adult. For example, the Transformer movie franchise has a huge play to male gaze onto women. Remember that scene when Shia Labeouf looks at Angelina Jolie as she is fixing the car. Usually fixing a dam car is messy but instead the producers wanted the shot to look like a greased up women in a porno magazine.
-The male gaze is a pervasive form of vision in popular culture because the entertainment field is male dominated. "In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/ female. Male gaze projects its phantasy on to the female figure which is styled accordingly. (Laura Mulvey). This means that male writers and producers want to express their conditioned narcissistic views of male and female interactions to being the norm. That males hold power into looking at women and the women is just ok to being look at as a pleasure tool. The after affects of watching this unfair basis leads to the formation of rape culture. Professor Cacoilo explains through her lectures that these movies are shown purposely to the younger audience because of how easy it is to convince a child to think this way instead of an adult. For example, the Transformer movie franchise has a huge play to male gaze onto women. Remember that scene when Shia Labeouf looks at Angelina Jolie as she is fixing the car. Usually fixing a dam car is messy but instead the producers wanted the shot to look like a greased up women in a porno magazine.
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| Yep so sexy!! |
What is the oppositional gaze and why( as described by Bell Hooks) has it developed?
-The oppositional gaze is a political resistance movement when black people weren't allowed to observe, stare, or gaze into cinema or any piece of information. This develops because during that time black people were increasing their knowledge through multiple information sources. Once conflict shows that these cinema films and news papers were delivering messages against black representation, they went a different path. "To stare at the television, or mainstream movies, to engage its images, was to engage its negation of black representation" (Oppositional Gaze, 117). Soon to follow was the bringing of black cinema, black news papers, and even black stations. An example, of a successful news paper that gave information to its people was the Black Press. Here is a passionate video that will better example the subject. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Jg4wTthDM
How have you come to understand these structures and in what ways has this understanding changed your views about various media examples and of your own identity and role in these structures?
- I now understand how the media has extremely conditioned men to believing that women are objects to be used in pleasure, dominance, and even as tools for blaming. As a brother and son to, two extremely influential women in my life, I can't let this go on. Personally, I feel embarrassed back when I made fun of my sister when she had problems about these obstacles going on in her life. When she couldn't get her first job because, her field is male dominated and females have to look appealing to being hired. Media today is slowly changing, because of the more diverse groups of people challenging these sources like Al-Jazrea. The media companies help the public to forming their own opinion and in the process, spreading the truth of what goes on. I am more aware now of how society conditions males to believe a certain way, and its like now I can't stop seeing all of this unfair bullshit.
Sources:
The Oppositional Gaze-Bell Hooks:
https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/currentstudents/pg/masters/modules/femlit/bell_hooks.pdf
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema- Laura Mulvey:
https://www.asu.edu/courses/fms504/total-readings/mulvey-visualpleasure.pdf
Understanding Patriarchy-Bell Hooks:
http://imaginenoborders.org/pdf/zines/UnderstandingPatriarchy.pdf
-The oppositional gaze is a political resistance movement when black people weren't allowed to observe, stare, or gaze into cinema or any piece of information. This develops because during that time black people were increasing their knowledge through multiple information sources. Once conflict shows that these cinema films and news papers were delivering messages against black representation, they went a different path. "To stare at the television, or mainstream movies, to engage its images, was to engage its negation of black representation" (Oppositional Gaze, 117). Soon to follow was the bringing of black cinema, black news papers, and even black stations. An example, of a successful news paper that gave information to its people was the Black Press. Here is a passionate video that will better example the subject. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Jg4wTthDM
How have you come to understand these structures and in what ways has this understanding changed your views about various media examples and of your own identity and role in these structures?
- I now understand how the media has extremely conditioned men to believing that women are objects to be used in pleasure, dominance, and even as tools for blaming. As a brother and son to, two extremely influential women in my life, I can't let this go on. Personally, I feel embarrassed back when I made fun of my sister when she had problems about these obstacles going on in her life. When she couldn't get her first job because, her field is male dominated and females have to look appealing to being hired. Media today is slowly changing, because of the more diverse groups of people challenging these sources like Al-Jazrea. The media companies help the public to forming their own opinion and in the process, spreading the truth of what goes on. I am more aware now of how society conditions males to believe a certain way, and its like now I can't stop seeing all of this unfair bullshit.
Sources:
The Oppositional Gaze-Bell Hooks:
https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/english/currentstudents/pg/masters/modules/femlit/bell_hooks.pdf
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema- Laura Mulvey:
https://www.asu.edu/courses/fms504/total-readings/mulvey-visualpleasure.pdf
Understanding Patriarchy-Bell Hooks:
http://imaginenoborders.org/pdf/zines/UnderstandingPatriarchy.pdf
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