Male Gaze

The 'male gaze' is a feminist’s response to the voyeuristic way in which men look upon women. 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 saying that there are always meanings behind a gaze whether it's at another person or aimlessly into the distance; there is always something behind 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 : there is use of the fourth wall (the audience), the actor looks or talks to the camera engaging a personal audience response.

Direction of gaze -

Towards... others

oneself

object(s)

reader/camera

middle distance (not direct/beyond the audience)

Laura Mulvey

‘Male gaze’ and the ‘visual pleasure and the narrative cinema’ (the active male or the passive female) ‘women as an image’ and ‘man as bearer of the look’

She brings in the idea of a voyeuristic, meaning to enjoy looking at the gaze and the fetishist idea ‘sex sells’ if a picture is revelling or suggestive then it will receive a higher public status.

However she has failed to account for females. Within Mulveys research she only looked at the spectator as a heterosexual male, so this ignores all ideas of diversity.

Since 1980 there have been more adverts in the media displaying the male body, this is due to the modern generation learning to accept ‘sex sells’.

After discussing the male gaze as a class we looked at Freddie Ljungberg and Eva Mendes in adverts by Calvin Klein, both typical sex selling underwear adverts.

Firstly the menswears advert, Freddie Ljungberg a well-known Arsenal player from Sweden.

We had to comment on everything within the photo eyes, hair, tattoo etc. Firstly his hair, short practical and masculine this may be because of his profession or the photographer may have been creating a rugged look. His torso is toned, suggesting he works out, he looks shiny which could also relate to working out even though a makeup artist may have just oiled him up. His lips are also shiny, due to lip balm giving him a feminine look, as well as his pout which is also seductive. His face shows determination, Ljungberg’s strong eye gaze looks very inviting, although at the same time he appears to be very intense, the general gaze engages the audience into the image; his jawline is chiselled giving him a ‘pretty boy’ appearance, although he then has stubble on his face giving a ‘manly’ look. The tattoo on his body (a wild black cat) came across to me as daring, for one he can take the pain but it has been put in a very suggestive place which could be appealing to women. Although he is also wearing a necklace which could be religious or personal taste, whatever the reason this shows as well as being ‘manly’ he has a sensitive side. As the background is a dark red the image as an overall comes across as dangerous, romantic, and sexual. The colour also matched Ljungberg’s football team colour Arsenal, whether this was considered we do not know. On the photo he is holding onto a bar above his head, the bar again highlights the fact he could have been working out; he has a firm grip and his arm is tensed making him again look ‘manly’. He has been given the basic Calvin Klein underwear to model. This suggested to me the advert isn’t for the underwear itself but to mainly appeal to customers using the basic rule ‘sex sells’, the fact his underwear is tight also suggests this. His left hand is in a fist position holding down the edge of his underwear, again this is seductive but at the same time ‘manly’ with the strong fist. Where his hand pulls down you can see his pubic area this appears to be clean and shaven with a straight tan line showing he likes to look after his appearance.

We then looked at the women’s advert, Eva Mendes, a famous actress.

Both photos have the same seductive gaze from Mendes; this gaze also gives me the opinion that she knows she looks good, the way she has an indirect gaze also suggests she is distracted.