Male Gaze vs Oppositional Gaze:  Have things really changed today?

The “Male Gaze” is a theory termed by Laura Mulvey in 1975 in her analyzation of cinema and the portrayal of women.  Mulvey claims because women are objectified in film, psychologically, the audience, male and/or female, interpret what they are watching in the point or view of a heterosexual man.  Women’s body and curves are emphasized to encourage the audience to have a male perspective.  The objectification of women can be very demoralizing as their human identity becomes questionable.  They only exist in the film to appeal to men.  Laura Mulvey truly highlights on the unenthusiastic approach when she states, “ The paradox of phallocentrism in all its manifestations is that it depends on the image of the castrated woman to give order and meaning to its world”.

     The reason why this method,  “male gaze”, exists and why it has become so pervasive today is because it has become the way in film and in advertising to entice and allure the audience to the film/product.  The reason why it exists today in this day and age, is that both women and men continue to accept this form of temptation and appeal faster than any other form used.  Below is an example of advertising that uses the "male gaze" concept.

     The “oppositional gaze” was a form of retribution against the male gaze as well as white supremacy amongst black women in film.  Black women evaluated how they saw themselves as well as how they were represented in movies with white women, which at the time was as maids and nannies/mammies.  They retaliated against these stereotypical portrayals of them and as bell hooks stated in her essay, The Oppositional Gaze, “The all attempts to repress our/black peoples’ right to gaze had produced in us an overwhelming longing to look, a rebellious desire, an oppositional gaze.  By courageously looking, we defiantly declared”.  A form of retaliation was when a popular and one of the first black radio and television show,  Amos ‘n Andy was created, the female character Sapphire was depicted as a strong, angry, nag and was used to be tough against the men in the show.  Black women empathized with her because she represented what white people and black men could not see.

     Sadly, “male gaze” continues to be a dominating force used to pull the society in.  Advertising has used this as one of their tools when selling anything from a car to food.  Women continue to become a center of objectification and demoralization and are sexualized to captivate the audience.

     Although the “oppositional gaze” may seem as a reprisal against the “male gaze”, women are still demoralized thru interpretation of their culture, whether black, Latina or any other minority for the matter.  Women either way continue to be subjected and used to entice overall society and discourage them from embracing their individuality.

    Here are some examples of how we can challenge "male gaze" http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/05/changing-male-gaze/