Task 4

Here Julia Roberts who is actually playing the character of a prostitute fits in with typically anodyne Hollywood fantasies which bear little or no relation to the reality of the sex trade. 

Mulvey points out that cinema had changed during the course of the 1960s and early 1970s in a way which afforded opportunities for other filmmakers outside of the mainstream because of technological developments in filming and also exhibition. It is worth noting that this is even more pertinent now because of the rise of relatively cheap digital video cameras (DV), relatively cheap software and with the growth of the internet the possibility of distributing to a global marketplace. YouTube is the perfect example of that.

Arguably it is the realms of the videogame which is beginning to impinge and to change cinema. It is perhaps here that industrial capitalist media will re-establish its headquarters. For just as it has become possible to erode and circumvennt the powerful position of Hollywood through technological advancement that advancement establishes new barriers to skills knowledge and capital, whilst a new media industry is being developed. 

The Gaze


“Men dream of women; women dream of being dreamt of...”
“Behind every glance is a judgement...”
“A woman is always accompanied... by an image of herself...”
Looking isn’t a neutral activity, it’s not passive; a judgement is always made.
Women are being continually scrutinised and surveyed.
“Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.”
(Berger, 1972)


Women react to a patriarchal gaze.
Parallel with Foucault: men look at women but women don’t look at men
I.e. if women know they’re being looked at they will change their behaviour and self-
regulate, behaving how they think they should.


There has been a shift since the ‘70s but there is still an imbalance of power between men and
women.


Image: Hans Memling ‘Vanity’ (1485)


Gaze relationships in the image:


We’re looking at the woman
She’s looking at herself
o The title connoted that she loves herself, is narcissistic
Painted by a man; commissioned by man; at this time the audience would have been all
male
o Therefore is a patriarchal image of women
o It becomes an image of a male impression of womanhood and has an erotic function
o Allows men to laugh at women for being obsesses with appearance, yet is all about
men being obsessed with a naked female body.
o Reinforces the idea that men (the viewer) have power over the woman in the
painting, therefore becomes a symbol of dominance.


Historically, ideas of beauty have been constructed by men for the enjoyment of men.


The Materialist reading is that the Base is made up of men in control of art and production;
therefore ideas of beauty reflect the imbalance between men and women.


Image: Alexandre Cabanel. ‘Birth of Venus’ 1863


An idealised female body, available for the viewer to claim; she’s averting her gaze so the
viewers’ gaze is not discouraged.
The image is of submission, tacitly encouraging you to keep looking.
It is ‘asking’ you to dominate the woman, who in turn is allowing you to do it.
o That she likes this is a fiction created by men.
o It is a fantasy of human relations.


Image: Manet ‘Olympia’ 1863


By comparison, this woman is looking at the viewer whilst covering her genitals.
She is challenging the viewer, i.e. you can only have her if you pay.
This image shows more of the reality of human relations.
Both images suggest women are sexually available, yet Manet’s gives the woman more control.


Erotic images are given a veneer of respectability through conventions of “The Nude”.


Berger: naked and nude are different as the Nude is accepted as art.


Guerrilla Girls: in galleries, 85% of nudes are females as 95% of exhibited artists are men.


Image: Ingres ‘Le Grand Odalisque’ 1814


Ingres – French, famed for images of Turks


(1) The man gazing onto the woman = power, control and subservience
(2) The West to the East – ‘Orientalism’ = fantasy about cultures
o Also about power
o Suggests racist stereotypes of loose women and submissive cultures


Woman portrayed as submissive, young and innocent; she looks Western in a Persian setting.


Shows men’s desire for innocence and virginity
A child’s face makes the viewer feel like a dominant adult.
The same doe-eyed look can be found in modern pornography and celebrity images.


Image: Manet ‘Bar at the Folies Bergeres’ 1882


Example of Suture – spectators look though the eyes of the actors.
The viewer is forced into the eyes of the man in the painting
Can only be read as a man looking at the woman, can have no neutrality.
Other painting examples allow possibility of a male or female viewer, even though it is
always from a male perspective.
In this painting, Manet’s man is not in a dominant position.


Image: Jeff Wall ‘Picture for Women’ 1979


Suture is occurring: we are the camera and are forced into this position
It is still an image of a man looking at a woman
But photography seems to be a neutral, objective gaze whilst painting seems subjective and
created.


Susan Sontag (1979) ‘On Photography’

“To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed” (pg 4)
o Therefore it can never be neutral


Example of how women are competing with other women to be subservient to men and be
approved by them.
She assumes the cameras are always on her and is therefore self-regulating, whether the
cameras are taking pictures or not. She is constantly acting up to the male gaze.
Celebrity images end up in women’s magazines; therefore it becomes a case of women
watching women from the point of view of male scrutiny.


Men are increasingly more scrutinised but as figures of power, strength and dominance.


Filament magazine – produced by women as a reaction against Nuts etc.


Aims to be a female gaze and objectify men
But men in the magazine are still defined by a patriarchal view of the male
In some ways, it is just women thinking in the same way as men, even though the roles are
reversed.


Women in positions of power in the media still perpetuate the male gaze.


Laura Mulvey on Miss World (1970)


“The Miss World competition is not an erotic exhibition. It is a public celebration of the
traditional female road to success.”
“Their condition is the condition of all men.”
o I.e. parading to be scrutinised by men.

Comunication theory

Different ‘lenses’/tools – yield different results and may contradict/conflict

· Socio-psychological

· Socio-cultural

Context of the message is important and affects the message

· Rhetori

Communication as persuasion

· Semiotics

How things gain their meaning and the structure of communication

· Cybernetics

Communication of feedback systems

· Critical Communication

Communication as a site of power, as ideology, as manipulation

· Phenomenology

Perception and experience are key to communication

Shannon-Weaver Model

1 engineer, 1 mathematician

Military funded experiment to analyse communication with the aim of producing a model that led to the most efficient communication process.

Reduced communication to 5 stages at which communication can happen or can break down.

Model applied to telephones and radios

Is now the example of how all forms of communication work, both visual and verbal

It is a linear model; it only works if B h as responded to A’s message.

Related to Graphic Design

Misinterpretation of the message is a problem that occurs between the decoder and the destination.

The model starts when the message is decided to prior influences on the designer (culture, background, politics etc) are not considered; ie the model works in a vacuum.

There is a ‘feedback loop’ which means the destination’s reaction will feedback to the information source, thereby enabling the message to be ‘tweaked’.

· Problems

The model operates outside of any social factory

It has reductive linearity – ie it reduces communication to 5 steps and only works in one direction, A to B, unlike a real dialogue.

But, by reducing visual communication to these stages can help clarify your message as a designer.

Communication problems identified as having 3 levels

· Level A – technical problem

hhHow accurate can the message be transmitted?

· Level B – semantic problems

How precisely is the message conveyed?

· Level C – Effectiveness problem

How effectively does the received meaning affect behaviour? Ie communication only occurs when B behaves as A wants

Noise

Anything unintended assed to the signal between transmission and reception.

· Noise at information sourceE.g. someone defacing your message with graffiti changes the message away from the information source’s intention

· Transmitter and channel noise

E.g. static on TV,competition around your message (e.g. other billboards),organisations like Adbusters subverting your original message

To consider as graphic designers:

The information source and what you want to communicate

Models of transmission

Disrupting existing channels by being the noise source

Redundancy vs Entropy

Redundant:

adds nothing, doesn’t interfere in the process; e.g. power line does nothing to the power it’s conducting.

Redundancy = high predictability and /or low information.E.g. a handshake – a simple action that carries a successful message, therefore is highly redundant

Therefore, in communication want redundancy as message won’t be affected at all.

By increasing redundancy you communicate more effectively with your target audience.

Entropy:

Something is lost/seeps out; e.g. when power is lost from a cable

Entropy = low predictability; unconventional; high levels of information

E.g. handshake with a buzzer on your hand

All of the original message is affected by buzzer that shocks which alters the message and makes it confusing.

Communication entropy – the message ‘seeps out’ to the wrong audience.

Communication works better when you add redundancy.

- Designers who introduce redundant messages care about the receiver of the message and ensure the message works are all levels with all audiences.

- If you have a niche audience, you can use entropic messages. Redundant styles in this case would neutralise the message for the niche audience.

Examples of strategies to introduce redundancy in graphic design:

- Sans serif font – makes text plain and neutral

- Stereotypes – use is also a big problem as it assumes the viewer has knowledge of cultural stereotypes.

Medium/Codes

Each channel of communication has its own codes, e.g. visual, journalistic, social etc.

Those that adhere to codes are redundant, those that challenge/subvert the codes are entropic.

Redundancy is essential for communication therefore designers must understand the codes to communicate effectively.

What Foucault says is simple but he complicates it by analysing it and then analysing it again.

Panoptic Prisons

"perfectly individualised and consistently visible"

Small isolated cages (very controlling)

"to enclose, to deprive of light and to hide"

eliminates other people to think it safe to be watched. But its a trap.

"There is no copying, no noise, no chatter, no waste of time."

"one is totally seen, without ever seeing."

"An inspector arriving unexpectedly at the centre of the Panopticon will be able to judge at a glance"

The supervisor can be supervised

Task 3

Essay-The Gaze

-The gaze and the panoptic are linked

-Men are watching women while women are watching themselves

-There is always someone above you. We live in a hierarchy.

-Women know they are being controlled and take advantage on this.

-Women are being exploited, forced into a way of dressing by fashion magazines.

-The old day paintings of women, the painter makes sure the women are not looking at the audiences the viewer doesn't feel guilty. Also another reason for this is if the women is not looking at the viewer then the woman has less power so the viewer keeps the power.

-Scopophillia. That can lead to a more sinister kind of looking which is voyeurism which is looking at someone when they don't know the are being looked at. This is the panoptic.

Books

John Berger- Ways of seeing

John Berger- about looking

Task 1

The Panoptic prison was the first building to make people change their attitude, as a guard would sit in the middle of a large circled room where the prisoners were kept in individual cells, concealed from others where none could see the guards or the other prisoners but the guards could see every one of the cells.This made people self regulate but was see as a form of torture.

Facebook is panoptic because everybody can see what you post, personal things like where you live and who you are related to and you can get onto peoples pictures etc. Also, when you do upload photos, they no longer belong to you but Facebook network has copyright over them. The panoptic view is that people know they are looking at there profile so they change their ways of what they write and what photos they upload.

"perfectly individualised and consistently visible"

Small isolated cages (very controlling)

"to enclose, to deprive of light and to hide"

eliminates other people to think it safe to be watched. But its a trap.

"There is no copying, no noise, no chatter, no waste of time."

"one is totally seen, without ever seeing."

"An inspector arriving unexpectedly at the centre of the Panopticon will be able to judge at a glance"

The supervisor can be supervised