task 4 - gazeee

‘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’ (Berger 1972, 45, 47).
Discuss this quote with reference to one work of art and one work from the contemporary media.

In this painting by Hans Memling, he has shown a young lady examining herself in the mirror who is not facing direcly back towards the viewer, by doing this he has shown her allowing herself to be gazed upon by the male audience. This is an idealistic view from males for males, art being made by men for men, it shows her being submissive towards men which in reality it doesnt really work like that, it is very manipulative as it sells a particular ideal towards men,. What this does is imply a un-equal power relationship between males and females, as the female gaze traditionally is not as predominant as the male which relates back to the quote ' Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at'.

Moving on to more contemporary media looking at advertisements, is this advert by Nathan jewellers. This advert portrays women in a slightly different yet still negative manor, showing women as gold diggers and sex objects for the men to lust over and spoil. Women seen as purely sex objects is another common theme within advertising, being used as eye candy to either grab the consumers (mainly targeted towards males) attention or give the consumer false belief that by purchasing or using this product it will somehow make these pretty women fall at your knees. This proves that women are mainly only viewed negatively within advertising, always shown as weaker gender. The advert still also portrays men as the wealthy more powerful gender, being wealthy enough to purchase a massive diamond ring for the lady, however this time the advert touches on female submission and shallow motivations as well; how the female will basically do ANYTHING for a diamond ring. This relates to the quote because it is an advertisement made by men for men, posting an idealistic vision that women are their just to be empowered over, they are objectified, a man can easily manipulate a women just by in this example displaying wealth. However this is just the vision within advertising and it not reality.