400 Words on The Gaze



Above: "Venus of Urbino" (1538) by Titian

 All throughout art's history, women have been at the man's centre of attention, playing the lead role in a pornography hiding under the respectable guise of art. Grandiose paintings of the nude were regarded as a proud statement of power and wealth, displaying women draped in eased poses amongst decadent homes.

Although today the context's changed, the state is still the same. Women as we all know too well, are heavily exploited as sexualised objects, referring back to John Berger's quote... ‘...according to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome - men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at...’. This notion of 'men and women appear' only reaffirms the idea of the woman being available upon the man's demand. Berger is also explaining that a women is constantly conscious of her image under the gaze of a man, but this promiscuity and seduction can not be offered by the man himself, a sexism that has evidently existed not just now, but through the centuries.

Above: Katy Perry, photographed by David LaChapelle
 for GHD (2011)

 Perry imitates Venus, although their postures may differentiate greatly in the positioning of the arms and legs, both women act as the man's ideal alluring temptress, decadent and indifferent as though the man they're waiting for is their only reason for being. We the viewer are fooled in to believing the intention and desire seen in the image of the woman is of her own conscious control, but this is false. The creator of the image is the soul dictator of the image's message, not the subject themselves, meaning the subject (the woman) should not necessarily hold the responsibility for her sexual suggestiveness.

The Venus of Urbino has become a patriarchal fantasy of the nude waiting for her husband to arrive home, depicted and warped by men in a way that would sexually arouse other men under the guise of art. The photographic depiction of Katy Perry works in the same vein, with Perry posing and beckoning a man in to her boudoir. This provocativity is only imposed by the auteur, which drives a twisted ideal that suggestible young girls thrive to reach and ultimately fall victim to.

'Dennis' (1978) by
Robert Mapplethorpe

An interesting challenge posed against the conventions of the gaze is the introduction of homosexuality and a man's seductive beckoning and display as opposed to that of a woman's.

One particular artist that explores this idea is Robert Mapplethorpe, who's sculpture and photography introduces the idea of sexuality and spirituality. His work displays the beauty of the male body and harks back to Renaissance sculpture, often undiscovered under the tide of the female shape. 



2000 Word Essay - Idea and possible title...

I found panopticism really fascinating, so I think this is the best starting point for me, although as I know already it's far too general.

I've been reading through 1984 as it's a classic I've never read, but also because it couldn't be more relevant to panopticism, so I know already I want to write my essay about panopticism in modern society and culture.


The Railway Station - 1862 (William Powell Firth)

 Considering the panoptic situations I experience everyday on which to draw from for inspiration, the most obvious choice would be a focus on Leeds Train Station. The entire waiting area is flooded with CCTV, and often with police. As the busiest train station outside of London it also seems rich in examples...

CCTV under the guise of public protection - is there an agenda beyond keeping people safe?

William Betts' intricate acrylic
reinterpretations of CCTV stills
commentate on the state of the
post-modern society and the
presence of the panopticon.

How people behave under the gaze of closed circuit tv in the station - how people behave around each other and what is normal.

Where does supervision and safety end and mass control begin?

The introduction of biometric face recognition technology?

Commuters carrying a collective conscious...

Collective effervescence and collective behaviour

Books:

Orwell, G (1949), '1984', Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd, UK.
           
Foucault, M (1975), 'Discipline and Punish', Editions Gallimard, France.
           
Ericson, R.V and Haggerty, K.D (2006), 'The New Politics of Surveillance and Visibility', University of Toronto Press, Canada.


Weibel, P (2002) 'Ctrl [space]: rhetorics of surveillance from Bentham to Big Brother', The MIT Press, Massachusetts.


Le Bon, G (1994) 'The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind', Cherokee Publishing Company, USA


Lyon, D (2006) 'Theorising Surveillance: The Panopticon and beyond', Willan Publishing, USA


Lyon, D (2003) 'Surveillance as Social Sorting', Routledge Publishing, UK


Lefebvre, H (2005) 'Critique of Everyday Life: Volume 3', Verso Publishing, UK & USA


Lefebvre, H (1991) 'Critique of Everyday Life: Volume 1', Verso Publishing, UK & USA


Lefebvre, H (2003) 'Key Writings', Continuum Publishing, UK & USA


Online sources:


Gray, M (2003) 'Urban Surveillance and Panopticism: will we recognize the facial recognition society?', http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/articles1(3)/facial.pdf

Watkins, F.M (2008) 'The Truth About CCTV', http://freebritain.wordpress.com/2008/04/26/the-truth-about-cctv/

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Possible essay titles:

Popular Culture Notes

About a process or way of life -  a design for life. Basically living by a common understanding or maybe a discipline.

Popular culture:

• Commonly liked by many people
• An inferior? form of true culture
• Culture produced by the people for the people.

The rise of Chartism and class identity that becomes a political voice with a demand to be heard against the bourgeoisie. 

The working class deciding what culture is, is a threat to the upper classes.

Matthew Arnold was trying to defend and redefine culture against the working class.

Frankfurt School

(More to come)

Identity Notes

Identity...

• Historical Conceptions of Identity.
• Foucault's discourse theory.
• Post-modern theories.
• Zygment Bauman.

Theories:

• Essentialism
• Biological make-up (white european/gender/sexuality)
• Inner essence and soul
• Post-modernists are largely anti-essentialists.

Phrenology: Different parts of the brain control different personality traits and characteristics.

 

The Holy Virgin Mary - 1996
(Chris Ofili)

Physiogonomy: Facial features as a reflection of intelligence - angle of the face at side profile (legitimises racism).

The idea that "criminal tendencies come with birth".

Chris Ofili's "Holy Virgin Mary" is a commentary on white perceptions of black culture and the misunderstanding divide involving unfamiliarity.

 

Douglas Kellner - "Media Culture..."

 

Pre-modern - different institutions determined forms of identity.

 

Secure identities:

• Farm worker - member of the landed gentry
• Soldier - member of the state
• The gentleman - member of the patriarchy

Discourses:

• Age
• Education
• Income
• Class
• Nationality
• Race
• Gender
• Sexality
   

These all commonly constitute to an individual's physical identity and background.

Fashion:

•  Emily Bates - "Dress"
•  Highland Ropes / Anglomania
•  Gillian Wearing
•  "Liquid modernity ad liquid love" - Bauman
•  Andy Hargreaves
•  Tele-mediation - being engrossed in technology and cultural media.
•  "You are who you pretend to be".

The Gaze Notes

 Linked to panopticism. Uses the man's fantasy of control via the objectification and sexualisation of women.



Vanity - 1485 (Memling)

In "Vanity" (1485), it's a man's representation of a woman. On one level attempting to objectify and sexualise. In calling her vein, we blame her for objectifying herself, as though it's her fault  - causing oppression.

Ideology always works on various levels and answers the masked questions:

"Why is it ok to stare at naked women under the guise of art?"

"Why was art male dominated until the 60's and 70's?"

Kenneth Clarke's "Wade" - "To be naked is to be without clothes"

The nude supposedly is different to simply being naked - maybe because being nude means there is consent and reason for being without clothes.

It is a man's form of power to objectify women in painting and is therefore reassuring for men to feel like they over-rule women. Nudity in art is validated for men to be a tasteful form of art, like an excuse to indulge in the woman's image.

Pyschosexual, voyeuristic and available in nude.



Olympia - 1863 (Manet) 



Venus / Olympia dispute and comparison. The cat comes and goes at will, sleeping where it wishes. the dog is a symbol of obedience, reliance and dependance. 

Venus of Urbino - 1538 (Titian)

The Olympia depiction of a prostitute and then giving her a goddesses name was an attack on the conventions of the nude.

She is inviting and sexually suggestive. This is the patriarchal fantasy of the nude, waiting for you when you arrive home.

It is easy to spot traces of the male gaze in other ideollogies.



Le Grand Odalisque - 1814 (Ingres)



Made to look more European than Asian. The orient was an intriguing and tropical part of the world that for the majority was unknown, and so the lady in this painting is mistakably imagined to look European.



This is all about the gaze from the west to the east and the cultural divide.

West are made to feel superior and the east weird and alien.



Sarah Jessica Parker as
Carrie in "Sex and The City"



Her face is very young, as were many nude faces in the 19th century. This idea of youth in a women is used to restore her sexual and mental innocence and is a form of power for men.

Sex and The City's women are the ultimate docile bodies to men and the men that operate society, because they are dressed and act in a way that benefits men.

Robert Mapplethorpe challenges conventions of the gaze using homosexuality in his photography.

Also look at Laura Malrey

300 Words on Panopticism

 

Above: A surviving example of the
Panopticon prison

As someone is thrust in to the public eye so suddenly, the panoptic state becomes omnipresent as they're exposed to people's judgments or at least the fear of those particular judgments and how to behave and conform to these rules and expectations. It is this willingness to conform and shape one's self in sight of the "all seeing eye" that controls the public in such a way to force us in to the mould of becoming "docile bodies" - a consciously aware law abiding citizen who refrains from challenging authority because they are the perfect example of authority's design. In the new post-modern age, panopticism is inescapable. The richest cultural example of the panoptic environment is of course the Big Brother house, as like bacteria under a microscope, each individual's behavioral mutation and differentiations of character can be studied both on a passive and critical level.

Above: The Big Brother's
all-seeing eye.

A hopeful contestant’s willingness to conform to how they believe they must act in order to reap success in the interview stage or “audition”, which seems more fitting, stems from an entrants fear of being declined from the process. Society promotes popularity and success as happiness, so Big Brother stands as the golden gates to this success. When one individual is declined this access because their behavior has not fulfilled the authority (or director)’s desire, the opportunity is otherwise rejected.

Within the walls of the Big Brother house, an example of one housemate is bombarded by pressure to act in ways that pleases the directors of the house itself, their fellow housemates, family and friends watching the show, as well as securing safety in the voting system. All of these factors are juggled whilst the housemate is trying to sustain a consistent version of how they believe their behavior is naturally projected and received by authority figures. In resisting controversy and anarchy, and behaving in a way that fulfills the rules of the house, the expectations of fellow housemates, friends, family and the voting system, the housemate becomes a “docile body” – a law abiding perfect model of what the institution expects.