The Politics of the Gaze “SPECTATORSHIP, POWER, AND KNOWLEDGE” Address — The way that an image constructs certain responses from an idealized viewer Reception — The ways in which actual viewers respond Psychoanalytic Theory — Addresses most directly the pleasure we derive from images — Treats the spectator as an “ideal subject,” one socially constructed by the cinematic apparatus and by the ideologies that are a part of a given viewing situation — Emphasizes the role of the psyche—particularly the unconscious, desire, and fantasy—in the practice of looking Sigmund Freud — Used the term fetishist to describe men who could only achieve sexual gratification through a specific material object, a symptom of their castration anxiety. — In spectatorship theory, fetishistic viewing is not limited to the neurotic fetishist, but is a critical part of everyday visual consumption (“I know, but nonetheless”). The viewerʼs desire is superimposed over reality, which is necessary to accept the illusion of narrative film. Jacques Lacan — Post-Freudian who reconceived looking as the gaze, which he believed held a central position in the formation of ego identity because it distinguishes the gazer from the object gazed at. His concept of the mirror stage examines the splitting of the subject when the infant distinguishes itself from its mother and/or its mirror image. Although unable to master or control this mirror- image, the infant fantasizes that it is able to do so. Lacan (cont.) — The mirror phase provides a basis for alienation, a splitting between what we are physically capable of (real) and what we see and imagine ourselves to be (ideal). All subjects are thus defined by recognition and misrecognition, and by lack, a desire for wholeness that can never be fulfilled. Film Theorists: Jean-Louis Baudry and Christian Metz — Cinematic viewing allows the spectator to return to a childlike state, to undergo a temporary loss of ego as s/he identifies with the powerful position of apprehending the world on the screen, much as the infant apprehended the mirror image. Thus a spectatorʼs ego is built up through the illusory sense of owning the body on the film screen. Film Theorist: Laura Mulvey — “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (1975) ¡ Proposed that the conventions of popular narrative cinema are structured by a patriarchal unconscious, positioning women represented in films as objects of a male gaze ¡ Examined male viewing pleasure through the psychoanalytic paradigms of scopophilia and voyeurism Mulvey (cont.) — Scopophilia: pleasure in looking — Voyeurism: pleasure in looking while not being seen; carries a more negative connotation of a powerful, if not sadistic, position. Film and photography can be theorized as voyeuristic practices in terms of both production and spectatorship. Mulvey (cont.) — Mulvey theorized that the visual pleasure derived from narrative film functions to ameliorate castration anxiety. Woman is fetishized as the object of the male gaze or she is punished to overcome the threat of castration she represents. Cover Story on photographer Andre de Dienes Andre de Dienes, from Nude Pattern, 1956 Lucas Cranach the Elder, Judgment of Paris, 1530 Giorgione, Sleeping Venus, c. 1510 This is one of the first nude paintings that isolated the female figure in repose (as opposed to showing the figures of Adam and Eve, or other allegorical events). It directly influenced Titians version (next slide). Notice the woman is on display, yet sleeping. She canʼt see us looking, so we are free to look without the embarrassment of being caught. She is a demure lady, with her hand gently hiding her genital region; however, this same hand directs the viewer to that area. The landscape is sited as mimicking the curves of her body. Titian, Venus of Urbino, c. 1538 Note in Titian’s version, the left hand, head and legs are in the same pose as Giorgione’s Venus, but Titian’s Venus is making eye contact with the viewer. Her gaze meets the viewer’s gaze. She maintains the sensuality of the original Venus. Remember that most viewers at this time would be male. Does she repel or invite the gaze? Edouard Manet,Olympia, 1865 Olympia caused a huge uproar at its exhibition; it was called vulgar and obscene. Clearly, it references the previous Venus paintings. Olympia is different; there is much greater detail in her body, in her jewelry, in the flowers in her hair and held by her maid (which reference something else, right?). Her gaze is much more confrontational. She is not as passive as the other nudes. She challenges us to look at her in all her glory. Additionally, Manet contrasts her with her clothed maid; the whiteness of one body with the darkness of the other; the smooth and civilized woman with the exotic fabric and black cat. Diego Velazquez, Venus with a Mirror, c. 1648 Sandro Botticelli, Mars and Venus, c. 1475 Caravaggio, Bacchus, c. 1597 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Artist and Model, 1907 Henri Matisse, Blue Nude, 1907 Alfred Hitchcock, Rear Window, 1954 Michael Powell, Peeping Tom, 1960 From Playboy, June 1958 From Playboy, December 1958 Robert Mapplethorpe, Dianora Niccolina, 1975 Howard Hawks, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1953 Edward Steichen, A Work of Art is Placed on Exhibition, 1945 John Berger: “men act, women appear” Oscar De La Hoya vs. Fernando Vargas Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Mauel Marquez Cecilia Barriga, Meeting of Two Queens, 1991 Greta Garbo in Queen Christina, 1933 Marlene Dietrich, The Scarlett Empress, 1934 Pam Grier in Foxy Brown, 1974 and Sheba, Baby, 1975 Etang Inyang, Badass Supermama, 1996 Michel Foucault — Power/Knowledge: In modern societies, power produces knowledge — Biopower: In the modern political state, power is exercised indirectly on the body to produce particular kinds of citizens and subjects — Panopticism: The structure of surveillance, whether active or not, produces conforming behavior Power/Knowledge • Gina LombrosoFerraro. An Epileptic Boy, Figure 14 from the book Criminal Man: According to the Classification of Cesare Lombroso, 1911 Power relations establish the criteria for what gets to count as knowledge in a given society, and knowledge systems in turn produce power relations. Biopower In the modern political state, power is exercised indirectly on the body to produce particular kinds of citizens and subjects. Panopticism • The Penitentiary Panopticon The structure of surveillance, whether active or not, produces conforming behavior. I.E. When you think someone is watching you, you behave a certain way, even if they might not be watching at that moment. The Gaze and the Exotic — Power/Knowledge depends on the construction of Binary Oppositions, the first category being “unmarked” and the second “marked: ¡ ¡ ¡ Civilization/Nature White/Other Male/Female Paul Gauguin, Two Tahitian Women, 1899 • Civilization/Nature • White/Other • Male/Female Saks Fifth Avenue Catalog page •Civilization/Nature •White/Other •Male/Female •Civilization/Nature •White/Other •Male/Female From the Miss Universe pageant, 2004 Orientalism — “The ways in which Western cultures attribute to Eastern and Middle-Eastern cultures qualities of exoticism and barbarism, and hence establish those cultures as other.” To receive full credit on discussion posts you must post at least one full paragraphs on each assigned topic. You must also interact with at least two colleagues. All posting MUST be done by posted deadline. Once the discussion is closed it cannot be reopened. Also, make sure to use 2 examples in all posts and cite all sources using MLA & Chicago Guides (the library website has useful guides for properly citing sources). Use the following guide to assist you with obtaining as many points as possible per post. One paragraph (4-7 complete sentences) bringing up your perspective in response to the discussion prompt written in a scholarly manner Two examples referring back to class text (by page 2 Points number) and/or powerpoint slides (by number) which supports your topic sentence Two responses to other students' posts which ask probing 2 Points questions about their point of view Engagement with the material/pushing the discussion 2 Points further/inciting conversation; posted before Friday at noon, so others can respond 10 Points For 20 point discussions, double the available points in total available each category 4 Points THE  VISUAL  CONSTRUCTION  OF   COLLECTIVE  “REALITY” “Mass  Media  and  the  Public  Sphere”   Mass  Media Those  media  designed  to  reach  large   audiences  perceived  to  have  shared   interests n Forms  and  texts  that  work  in  unison  to   generate  specific  dominant  or  popular   representations  of  events,  people  and   places,  whether  these  events  are  fictional,   actual,  or  somewhere  in  between n Robert  Rauschenberg, Retroactive   I, 1964 Phenomenological   differences Robert  Frank,  The  Americans, 1955 Mass  Society Social  formations  in  Europe  and  the  United   States  that  began  during  the  early  period   of  industrialization  and  culminated  after   World  War  II n With  the  increased  industrialization  and   mechanization  of  modern  society,   populations  were  more  firmly  consolidated   in  urban  settings  and  the  corporation   replaced  the  local  workplace n Broadcast  model Members  of  a  mass  society  receive  their   messages  through  centralized  forms  of   national  and  international  media n They  receive  the  majority  of  their  opinions   and  information  one-­way,  rather  than   through  local  channels  of  back-­and-­forth   or  networked  exchange n Narrowcast  model Cable  television  reintroduced  the   narrowcast  model,  allowing  for  the   development  of  community-­based   programming  again  after  twenty  years  of   its  near  absence n Minority  networks,  such  as  Black   Entertainment  Television  and  Telemondo n Lifetime  (Entertainment  for  Women) n Multidimensional  Communication n Internet—allows  information  to  be   exchanged  and  modified  among  a  broad   range  of  participants Media  Debates Murphy  Brown (1992) n Can  you  think  of  other  ones? n Guy  Debord Society  of  the  Spectacle  (1967) n The  term  “spectacle”  was  used  by  Debord   to  describe  how  representations  dominate   contemporary  culture,  and  all  social   relations  are  mediated  by  and  through   images. n Spectacle:  “instrument  of  unification” n All  that  once  was  directly  lived,  had   become  mere  representation   n Jean  Baudrillard Experience  of  simulation  has  transcended   the  real n Simulacra:  copies  without  originals—no   recourse  to  a  real n Integrated  spectacle,  like  the  simulacra,   pervades  and  overtakes  all  of  reality   (virtual  worlds  of  Disneyland  and  the   Internet) n Leni  Riefenstahl,   Triumph  of  the  Will, 1935 Triumph  of  the  Will Frankfurt  School n “The  whole  world  is  made  to  pass  through   the  filter  of  the  culture  industry” – culture  industry § an  entity  that  both  creates  and  caters  to  a  mass  public  that   can  no  longer  see  the  difference  between  the  real  world  and   the  illusory  world  that  these  popular  media  forms  collectively   generate – false  consciousness § the  manner  in  which  the  culture  industry  encourages  the   masses   to  buy  mindlessly  into  the  belief  systems   or   ideologies  that  allow  industrial  capitalism  to  thrive   Marshall  McLuhan n n n n “the  medium  is  the  message”   “global  village” Media  as  potentially  democratic  (guerrilla   television),  a  challenge  to  Frankfurt  School   notions  of  a  mass  media  controlled  by  those   who  control  the  means  of  production “There  are  no  remote  places.    Under  instant   circuitry,  nothing  is  remote  in  time  or  in  space.     It’s  now”  (1965). Television  and  Sponsorship n n n n The  early  years  of  television  in  the  U.S.  were   characterized  by  explicit  corporate  sponsorship,   with  control  over  the  programs  they  sponsored. In  1952,  broadcast  networks  began  selling  short   spot  ads  to  an  array  of  sponsors Quiz  show  scandals  of  late  1950s—sponsors   removed  from  programming Coaxial  cables  enabled  local  stations  to  become   network  affiliates,  reducing  potential  for   community-­based  television. Cable  Television In  1972,  U.S.  cable  television  took  off  as  a   commercial  entity  with  establishment  of   Home  Box  Office. n In  the  late  1970s,  the  FCC  lifted   restrictions  on  satellite  delivery  of  cable;;   further  deregulation  occurred  in  1980s. n Cable  has  given  us  a  plurality  of  choices,   yet  has  also  made  possible  a  kind  of   media  globalization  (CNN,  Telemundo).   n Public  versus  Private n n n In  Great  Britain,  the  government  plays  a  strong  role  in   determining  what  the  collective  viewing  audience  sees.     The  BBC  (British  Broadcasting  Corporation)  contracts   directly  with  producers.    This  public  model  is  also   dominant  in  Canada,  France,  and  Germany. In  the  U.S.,  the  FCC  (Federal  Communication   Commission)  oversees  and  regulates,  but  is  not  involved   in  programming.    This  private  industry  model  is   becoming  more  global. The  Public  Broadcasting  System  (PBS)  arose  in  the   1960s  as  a  non-­profit  alternative  that  would  create  a   venue  for  free  expression  and  minority  viewpoints,   without  commercial  intervention. Media  and  the  Public  Sphere n n n n Public  Sphere:  where  public  discussion  and   debate  takes  place Jurgen  Habermas:  public  sphere  as  a  public   space  where  private  interests  were  inadmissible,   hence  a  place  where  true  public  opinion  could   be  formulated Walter  Lippmann:  public  sphere  nothing  more   than  a  “phantom” Nancy  Fraser:  counterspheres  of  public   discourse  and  agency:  working-­class  publics,   religious  publics,  feminist  publics,  nationalist   publics,  etc. Questions n n n n n Where  does  our  sense  of  a  public  exist  today? What  role  does  the  media  play  in  fostering  a  sense  of  a   public,  or  discouraging  it? Where  does  public  discussion  take  place  and  who  has   access  to  it? Is  it  in  public  squares,  cafes,  bars,  and  town  meetings,  in   the  editorials  and  letters  of  newspapers,  on  radio  and   television  talk  shows,  or  in  Internet  chat  groups  and   World  Wide  Web  sites? What  role  do  visual  media  play  in  building  a  sense  of  the   public? Television’s  role  in  fostering  a  sense   of  a  collective  public  sphere n Kennedy-­Nixon  debate  of  1960;;  Bay  of   Pigs  (1961)  and  Cuban  Missile  Crisis   (1962)  coverage n Kennedy:  first  president  to  televise  live   press  conferences John  F.  Kennedy’s  Assassination   and  Funeral Princess  Diana’s  Funeral Princess  Diana’s  Funeral 9/11  Tragedy Television  Talk  Shows New  Media  Cultures n Crossover  of  media  forms  (1990s)   REALITY,  AUTHENTICITY,   AND  THE  VIRTUAL Reproduction  and  Visual   Technologies Why  Do  Pictures  Look  Real? ► Pictures  use  certain  modes  of  representation   to  convince  us  that  the  picture  is   sufficiently   life-­like  for  us  to  suspend  our  disbelief. ► Three  modes  of  representing  reality  in   modern  Western  culture:    the  picture,  the   photograph,  and  virtual  reality Perspective ► Attempt  to  represent  three  dimensions  on  a   two-­dimensional  surface ► Three  types  of  perspective:  tiered   perspective,  atmospheric  perspective,  and   linear  perspective   Tiered  Perspective ► Top  line  acts  as   background,  bottom  line   as  foreground ► Hierarchy  of  scale:   depicting  the  size  of  an   object  or  person  according   to  its  social  importance   rather  than  its  distance   from  the  viewer Intuitive  Perspective ► A  method  of  representing   three-­dimensional  space   on  a  two-­dimensional   surface  by  the  use  of   formal  elements  that  act  to   give  the  impression  of   recession.    This  impression   is  achieved  by  visual   instinct,  not  through  the   use  of  an  overall  system  or   program  involving  scientific   principles  or  mathematics.   Intuitive  Perspective Atmospheric  Perspective ► Atmosphere  is  painted   in  such  a  way  that  an   unlimited,  indefinite   sense  of  space  is   suggested—the   relative  distance  of   objects  is  indicated  by   gradations  of  tone  and   color  and  by  variations   in  the  clarity  of   outlines Linear  Perspective ► ► ► All  parallel  lines  converge   at  a  single  vanishing  point   on  the  horizon  line Everything  is  subordinate   to  the  mathematical   construction  of  space   Invented  by  Italian   Renaissance  artists,  who   relied  on  earlier  theories   about  how  vision  worked Linear  Perspective Linear  Perspective ► Renaissance  artists  and   theorists  conceived  of   perspective  as  “a  picture   of  the  view  seen  from  a   window” ► Viewers  learned  to  accept   this  system  for  what  it   was—an  approximation  of   what  the  eye  sees Linear  Perspective ► Distinction  made   between  “ideal  viewer”   and  “actual  viewer” ► Perspective  was   understood  as  an   “effect,”  like  magic—it   was  prized  for  its   ability  to  resemble   reality Linear  Perspective ► Leonardo  da  Vinci:  ”In   art  we  may  be  said  to   be  grandsons  to  God  .   .  .  Have  we  not  seen   pictures  which  bear  so   close  a  resemblance  to   the  actual  thing  that   they  have  deceived   both  men  and  beasts?” Linear  Perspective ► ► Linear  perspective  reveals   the  desire  for  art  to  be  an   objective,  as  opposed  to   subjective,  depiction  of   reality. Historically,  its  use   coincided  with  the   Scientific  Revolution  that   took  place  from  the  mid-­ fifteenth  through  the   seventeenth  century. Linear  Perspective •Everything   is  subordinate   to  the demands   of  spatial  unity,  even the � ...
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