Post 2 Bethany Si Yue Mong

     A male gaze is how audiences in media see others in a male’s point of view. The male gaze becomes a pervasive form of vision in popular culture due to the different social presence of male and female. In our society, media affects social convention such as gender role. Because of gender role, people’s behaviors and thoughts are somehow shaped by the media. In John Berger’s article, he stated how male and female are portrayed in media and how does the ideal images of men and women affect people in our culture.

     In the “Ways of Seeing”, Berger illustrated how media portrayed men and women and their relationship. Berger wrote, “A man’s presence is dependent upon the promise of power which he embodies.” In this quote, my interpretation of “promise of power” means how men are capable of doing things. In the article, Berger gave examples that promise of power “may be moral, physical, temperamental, economic, social, sexual – but its object is always exterior to the man.” In other words, it means no matter how men are like internally or externally, men are going to see these factors as exterior. However, the case will be different when people see it in a female point of view. Berger claimed, “By contrast, a woman’s presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her.” In this quote, the writer presented women who express themselves in a more conservative way. Berger used passive voice – “can and cannot be done to her” to show that women are at a passive state unlike men. It shows there is difference on how media portrayed men and women.

     A recent movie “Skyfall” is a good example to prove that men are the leading role and women are followers and appendages of men in media. In the story, James Bond is always the hero who saves the people. And, he won’t get killed so easily because he is powerful and smart. However, when it compares with the Bond girl, women are portrayed weaker in media. In the movie, the Bond girl’s life is controlled by her lover, Silva. James Bond tried to save the Bond girl but she still finally got killed by Silva. The part that James Bond tries to save the girl and the part that Silva tries to kill her both indicates that men are the leading role in media. And, women are just followers. Also, the part when Silva and Bond shot the glass on top of the Bond girl’s head shows that the girl is just an appendage during their bet. This movie indicates that men are always the leading role and women are only followers or appendages.

     An oppositional gaze is about how the relationship between media and race affect audiences. In “Black Looks: Race and Representation,” Bell Hooks talked about how media affected black women’s images. He wrote, “Conventional representations of black women have done violence to the image.” In this quote, “image” refers to how white women look ideally in the media. Because media portrays a male gaze, it makes white females more desirable for both white and black men. However, the black women become the reverse side of how the media sees women should be. This is the reason why Hooks thinks the society sees black women as image which “done violence” to the ideal white women image. As a result, the oppositional gaze raises the issue of racism.

     In the “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema,” Laura Mulvey suggested that a male gaze in media does not only give pleasure to viewers who are mostly men, but also to women. In the article, the author wrote “There are circumstances in which looking itself is a source of pleasure, just as, in the reverse formation, there is pleasure in being looked at.” Because of the influence of media, not just men but women believe that they should look like how women are portrayed in the media. The ideal form of women becomes the standard form of how women believe they should look like in the society. This explained why Mulvey said it is also a “pleasure in being looked at.” It is because a male gaze does not only provide pleasure for male, but also female.

     After learning about how gender differences play a role in media, I realized how the media reveals our society and culture. Also, I realized how our culture and society interacts with media to develop social conventions or even stereotypes. As a media consumer, I think the best way for me to understand how our culture, society and media interact together is to put myself into what I learned. For example, when I watch the movie “Skyfall”, I realized the Bond girl is portrayed as sexy, pretty and dependent to male. And, James Bond is portrayed as smart and strong who gets a lot of girls. I will analyze from what I learned about the relationship between media and gender depiction, instead of purely believing in that girls who are pretty or dependent will lead them to get strong or smart guys.

Here's the link to a Youtube video of how women nowadays influenced by the media:
http://youtu.be/hMxtBL8lHbU