The gaze was described in the 1970's as the way viewers look at images of people in any visual medium. The 'male gaze' is the feminists usual response to the voyeuristic way in which men look at women, as though they're there to look at and not to contribute. In 1998 Jonathan Schroeder said, "the gaze implies more than to look at - it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze." He is literally saying that there are always meanings behind a gaze whether it's at another person or aimlessly into the distance, there is always a power within it.
Forms of the gaze -
Spectator: the viewer
Intra-diegetic: longingly
Direct address: from within
Camera: usually in place of the other character
Bystander: glance of a passer by
Audience within a text: advert (audience gaze)
The camera gaze means that there is use of the fourth wall (the audience), the actor literally looking or talking to the camera engages a personal audience response.
Direction of gaze -
Towards... others
oneself
object(s)
reader/camera
middle distance (not direct/beyond the audience)
Laura Mulvey talks about the 'male gaze' and the "visual pleasure and narrative cinema" this means the active male or the passive female. 'Woman as image' and 'man as "bearer of the look."' She also brings the idea of voyeuristic, which means to enjoy looking at the gaze and fetishistic which is the idea that 'sex sells' and if the picture is sexy or appealing then it will receive more responses.
Criticisms of Mulvey are that she has failed to account for the female spectator within her research, she typically looks at the spectator being only a hetrosexual male which in itself ignores all ideas of diversity. Lastly, since the 1980's there have been an increasing display and sexualisation of the male body in mainstream cinema, television and adverts. This is because the modern generation have learnt to accept the theory that 'sex sells' and they know this is the main source of advertisement.
As a class we looked at underwear adverts by Calvin Klein, firstly a menswear one, of Freddie Ljungberg, who is a well known Arsenal player from Sweden.
We were asked to comment on everything within the photographic advert. I said that his hair looked masculine as it's a short, practical cut; his abs and general body shape also looked masculine and toned causing the audience to jump to the conclusion that his sexuality is straight. The 'look' in his eyes and faces shows determined, intense thoughts and his eyes look very inviting as though he's looking directly at the viewer; Ljungberg's jawline is also very chiselled which makes him look like a 'pretty boy' but all of his other features seem masculine. His lips look slightly pouted and posed for the photograph, this suggests a seductive image; the stubble on his face also looks manly and rugged. The background of the photo is a firey red colour, therefore this comes across as dangerous, sexual, romantic and hot, we also discussed that it reflects his football team colour, Arsenal. The bar his right hand is holding onto above him looks like a pull-up bar which highlights that he could have been working out, his arm is also tensed making him look manly and toned. The tattoo on the right side of his body is of a wild black cat, this could come across to the audience as daring and that he can take pain 'like a man', it is also in a sexual place on his body which is appealing to some women. The underwear he's modelling for the advert is plain black with the Calvin Klein logo on the waistband of them, they are a tight fit which is also appealing to women. From what you can see of the pubic area where his fist pulls his underwear down a little, we can see his tan line and that he's shaven, which suggests cleanliness. The hand in a fist position holding his underwear has a lot of inflamed veins which could also mean he was working out beforehand. He is wearing a necklace which could be a religious thing, or a personal and sensitive necklace with a meaning behind it. His necklace rests on his chest, which looks sweaty and shiny, this could suggest a post coital image, again using the idea that 'sex sells'. The general look in his eyes engages the reader and attracts attention to him, the focal point of the advert is him as a whole, there is nothing that particularly stands out.
We then went on to look at a girl version of the advert, featuring Eva Mendes, a famous actress known for being in 'Hitch'.
The 'look' in her face and eyes, I believe, shows that she knows she looks good, it also suggests that she's distracted and disinterested in anyone else's thoughts. Her fair is long which shows femininity, it's wet and messy which could mean she'd been in the shower or swimming pool beforehand. He legs are long, tanned, toned and slim which attracts a man's eyes from a voyeuristic point of view and attracts women's attention from a jealous point of view. Her stance is confident in both images, in the first one, one of her legs is turned outwards revealing more of her body and showing off the underwear, the second he has her hands on her hips and has a wide stance with her feet - standing her ground. Her arms look too thin from some angles but again show confidence within her stance, her body could be described as 'the perfect body' by some people but by others she looks 'too skinny'. The lingerie she's modelling isn't particularly attractive or sexy so Calvin Klein have tried to make it more appealing by the way they've captured the photographs. She's wearing high-heeled shoes with lingerie which makes no sense in the real world, but this also adds to confidence and causes her legs to look longer and slimmer, the shoes aren't the main focus so they are plain. The confidence that Mendes has in these images suggests that she's trying to make other women feel confident in their underwear, her legs are dominant in the picture so the viewer would look at her long legs and the way she's standing and immediately think that she's a confident and dominant woman. In contrast to this, her stance could simply mean that she knows she looks amazing and her body is slim and perfect.
The three images as a whole show good examples of fetishistic aspects and how 'sex sells' is definitely true as more and more adverts are becoming sex oriented.
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