What Are You Looking At & Who You Talking To

  One of the greatest things about referring to the "male gaze" is talking about it from a man's perspective while also getting insight from what women think and what they feel. First to break it down when people gaze at something, they are looking with a purposeful intent and when you add the "male" it gives the term a whole new perspective in how men visualize, objectify and sexualise whatever they are looking at, and in most cases it is always a woman that falls victim to it. Women are deemed the spectacle or object of our (men's) desire. In that moment her feelings, thoughts or own desires mean jack nothing and are deemed less important by the man's own desire. And don't get me wrong men also fall victim to the "female gaze" but i'll get to that later. According to journalist,Andy Simmons, he states that the "male gaze" "invokes the sexual politics of the gaze and suggest a sexualised way of looking that empowers men and objectifies women". In a sense the male gaze is purely for man's satisfaction and that the woman is in essence treated like a zoo animal. What I mean by that is she is only there for show, for man's entertainment and that man doesn't care about what she wants, but has this idea or selfish notion that women are placed on earth to be pure specatcles. As Berger says, "Women are there to feed and appetite, not to have any of there own"(Berger 55).In many female based paintings or art pieces we see how men rarely looks at the art content, but is more focused on the body of the woman.We see a lot of this in society today, especially in the magazines such as vogue, but it has really been "subtle" in movie pictures. Two main examples that hit home for me especially was Transformers and Batman:Rise of the Dark Knight.

 https://youtu.be/aAzXwlmQ0b4

In the attached link, it is an actual video showing how Anne Hathaway, who plays Catwoman, was actually in a negotation scene, but still the director made it sexual and narrowed the focus on how she was dressed. Also in Transformers, Sam's girlfriend, Mikaela had a whole scene where she was practically sexualised while helping fix his car.

https://youtu.be/f6L3Ef1JCC8

      According to Laura Mulvey, feminist film theorist states that “the gender power asymmetry is a controlling force in cinema and constructed for the pleasure of the male viewer, which is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideologies and discourses.” At the end of the day this means the main target audience are male viewers and directors or producers will try to appeal to them more, and that problem stems from old fashioned, male-driven society. On the other hand movies like Magic Mike, starring Channing Tatum, is a stripper based movie that target audience is for women and therefore the roles are reversed in which "the female gaze" is in effect. At the end of the day the "gaze" is a something that we have to change as a collective, where we focus on the content of the person instead of sexualizing the person. Since I'm on the topic of a "male driven-society" it leads me to talk about patriarchy and the negative effects that it has in our lives. Bell Hooks describes patriarchy as "a politically social system that insists males are inherently dominating,superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females"(Hooks).In the books we read, we see that in Patriarchal societies, men often took credit for the woman's work, while the woman were treated less than a citizen and everything ran through the man. Growing up, fortunately my dad made sure that I didn't walk around thinking that just because I was man that the world and everyone in it should bow to my feet and that I understood what my role was as man, and that was simply him saying everyone has their own way and their own identity. He made sure to teach me the importance that woman have to the world, and how they are basically the backbones of our very existence. And that is the first step in changing the notion of male supremacy and patriarchy "we can not dismantle a system as long as we engage in collective denial about its impact on our lives"(Hooks). Essential until we change our ways of thinking in being, there will always be this constant cycle of men belittling and treating women as if they are not on the same level as them. At the end of the day, as men we have to ask ourselves especially when it comes to women, "What are we looking at, and who are we talking to?"(Warren)

Different ways Patriarchy is Expressed

  


Works Cited:

1. Berger, J., & Dibb, M. (2008). Ways of seeing: Based on the BBC television series directed by Michael Dibb. London: British Broadcasting Corporation. 
2. Hooks, B. (2005). The will to change: Men, masculinity, and love. New York: Washington Square Press.
3. Loreck, Janice, and School of Media. “Explainer: What Does the 'Male Gaze' Mean, and What about a Female Gaze?” The Conversation, The Conversation, 19 Sept. 2018, theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-the-male-gaze-mean-and-what-about-a-female-gaze-52486.
4. Sampson, Rachael, et al. “Film Theory 101 - Laura Mulvey: The Male Gaze Theory.” Film Inquiry, 3 May 2018, www.filminquiry.com/film-theory-basics-laura-mulvey-male-gaze-theory/.