Active vs. Passive (post2)

A woman who is confident, has a great shape, and sexual appeal is nothing but a great sight to witness. According to John Berger in Ways of Seeing, the male gaze is exactly that. As he describes, a woman does nothing but set perceptions on herself by the way she appears. “This exemplary treatment of herself by herself constitutes her presence” (Berger 46), If she appears promiscuous, she will be treated immorally. Berger continues to describe the male gaze as a “prize” that it is the male who is the judge and it is he who decides the beauty that gets to own the “prize”. A great example would be the painting “The Judgement of Paris” .

This disappointing judgment has become a pervasive form of vision in popular culture because of the media. The media has greatly exploited the physical appeal of a woman through advertising and television shows and have concluded that sex sells. A great example of this would be the shows and advertisements that are seen today.
Laura Mulvey enhances the woman’s beauty as being objectified. The text, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema introduces how women in cinema, are solely featured to play a role for the man. While the men are active and saving lives, women are passive and cater to the heroes.

On the other hand, Bell Hooks has acknowledged the roles of women in the media on her piece, The Oppositional Gaze. She defines how women (especially African American women) have created a “rebellious” gaze because of the way they are being portrayed. “Not only will I stare, I want my look to change reality.”(Hooks 116) Her emphasis on African American woman fighting subjectivity becomes much memorable due to the countless examples she provides. One is Passion of Remembrance, a film that featured a friendship between two African American women, Louise and Maggie, who cope with their struggle. However, these films were produced by white men who did not know what a black scenario was, at first hand, white men owned the media and it was they who directed non-realistic African American films.

These imbalanced structures became hard to understand as I had not bothered to think this ever occurred. Sex does sell for both men and women; therefore I did not think America’s media had a problem due to advertisements and television shows that feature promiscuous themes. The media is constantly displaying the sexy women or the sexy men and are still producing more ideas to feature these individuals. This understanding has greatly changed my views for I was a vulnerable consumer who never analyzed the manipulation that was put upon me. I now look at the media with a careful eye but I have come to realize that after all the manipulation and psychological influences, my identity is now my own. It is I who decides what makes me happy and progressive in life.