Post 2: A Gaze into Inequality

The male gaze is the idea that in visual media and culture women are depicted, essentially, as objects, seen through a heterosexual male/masculine view of the world. Laura Mulvey introduced this term in her essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, stating, “pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its phantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly” (Mulvey, 837). This concept has become so pervasive in popular culture because the majority of people making any meaningful decisions in the media are, to this day, heterosexual white males. And, of course, these men are mainly targeting themselves as viewers, marketing visual content to other heterosexual white males, who make up a large portion of the consumer population. Although the term male gaze was introduced in the 1970s, the notion behind it is nothing new. The supporting factors of this concept date back through history and can be seen in many pieces of art from different time periods. John Berger, in his book Ways of Seeing, compresses this theory into a simple “men act and women appear” (Berger, 47).

Berger uses Les Oréades (1902) by William Adolphe Bouguereau as a prime example of the male gaze:

This painting, depicting a mountain of naked 

women was designed for men to look upon in order to be 

reminded of his masculinity and power.

More modern day examples of the male gaze can be found in comic books and graphic novels, where most women are portrayed as large-breasted sexual objects. Mainstream cinema is also inundated with androcentric films because, as mentioned above, most films are still written and directed by men. Many of these men don't even attempt to understand their female characters (some argue they're too afraid) and, as a result, women end up being portrayed as watered down versions of themselves; obsessed with finding and keeping a man, all the while maintaining perfect hair and makeup.

The idea that most comic book readers are heterosexual

males is still prevalent in today’s society, even though in actual

 fact almost 50% of comic book readers are female.

The oppositional gaze is a resistance against not only the male gaze, but also against the limited representation of African Americans in media and popular culture. In Black Looks: Race and Representation Bell Hooks describes the oppositional gaze as “a site of resistance for colonized black people globally. Subordinates in relations of power learn experientially that there is a critical gaze, one that ‘looks’ to document, one that is oppositional” (Hooks, 116). It stems from the powerful look given by the oppressed slaves to their white slave-owners, rebellious in nature, as this act was punishable. Hooks also links this look/gaze to that of children, daring to look even after their parents, “dominating power adults” (Hooks, 115) have instructed them not to. The oppositional gaze developed over time as more African Americans began to watch film and TV, no longer in fear of punishment for looking. A discord arose between the images that were being seen onscreen - negative and very limited stereotypical representations of an entire race - and these Black spectators’ self-identity. However, as Black cinema evolved, the women in these films were still depicted as sexual objects, through an African American male gaze. 

            It is only recently, with films such as Julie Dash’s Illusions and Daughters of the Dust that African American women are beginning to be positioned in the forefront, driving the narrative and no longer supporting a male character or serving male needs.

Daughters of the Dust. The first film to be directed by an

 African-American woman and distributed theatrically

 in the U.S.

As a woman, and a film buff, a lot of the time I feel as though women are underrepresented in the films I watch. It actually took me a while to put my finger on what was irking me, I would still enjoy the viewing experience but there was always this feeling that something very important was missing. Performing the Bechdel Test is an incredible eye-opener and has led me to realize how present gender bias is in films, and media in general (although it’s pretty evident in mainstream advertising). Even in the rare instances where there are multiple women in a film, the odds that any of their characters will be something other than a two-dimensional, overly-simplified, stereotypically attractive pair of breasts and thighs, spouting one line for every male character’s ten, are relatively slim. Thus, while my views on this topic haven’t necessarily changed (I've always yearned for more fully-developed female characters to observe and admire) I now find myself painfully aware of both gender and racial bias in media. I've finally come to understand the importance of our needing to change this, and the grave repercussions that will continue to happen until we do.

Works Cited


Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. Print. pp 45-65.

Hooks, Bell. Black Looks: Race and Representation. Boston, MA: South End, 1992. Print.

Mulvey, Laura. “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Film Theory and Criticism : Introductory Readings. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. New York: Oxford UP, 1999: 833-44.