The male gaze is a pervasive form of media in popular culture because it has always been present since the beginning of time. Media has historically mostly been run by the patriarchy. This means that the male gaze has been dictating what media is. Media has always used women to either sell, manipulate or “inform” the popular culture. The male gaze has always dominated the way that media is made. There has always been this idea of a “perfect woman”. Although that qualifications of what the “perfect woman” can change through time, the idea that there is a “perfect woman” has always stayed with society. This is the power of the male gaze.
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| A comedic depiction of the "Perfect Woman" |
The oppositional gaze is the resistance of the male gaze. Originally it began when black women were being cast in movies/ tv shows as very stereotypical characters like the jezebel or the mami. There was either stereotypical representation or no representation of women of color. While men of color were able somewhat able to relate to the men in the media, the women of color had no connection to white female actors in media. The oppositional gaze is the acknowledgement that there is under-representation of female people of color, and allows the women to choose not to associate or relate to what they were seeing on the screen.
As Berger states “men act and women appear.” (Berger, 47). This statement stuck with me the most after the reading. I believe that this is how the male gaze applies to my daily life. Working at a startup can be rough when it comes to gender equality. Usually the females are the front facing people in the company and the males are the backend. I work as a web designer which means that I had to learn how to code to be able to do my job. But nobody ever really asks me for advice on what code should be used for certain websites. They always end up going to the men for questions. This backs up the idea that men are the knowledgeable and capable ones while the women are just there for looks or to be the approachable aspect for the company.
Overall I feel like there is still a long way to go to get rid of the male gaze in the media. Since we are still living in a male dominated society, the male gaze will continue to run the media. Before reading what Hooks, Berger, and Mulavey had to say, I felt like I wasn't really affected by the male gaze in my daily life. But being a woman, it informs the way that I act and “appear” in public. It has changed the way that I think about media, especially when it comes to the oppositional gaze. I wish that more people participated in the oppositional gaze rather than the male gaze. Although I would like to be able to say that I am only going to participate in the oppositional gaze, I believe in this time period its impossible. Media is everywhere and it is overwhelmingly controlled by the male gaze. If I want to check my phone there will 100% be some form of ad that will be over sexualized by the male gaze. While these readings made me think about my role in media, it also made me think about how long the road to removing the male gaze is.
Works Cited:
Berger, John, Dibb (1972). “Ways of Seeing.” London: BBC Enterprises
Mulvey, Laura (1999) “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings. New York: Oxford UP: Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen.
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