March 14, 2004
The male gaze & phenomeology
The reifying power of the male gaze:
Jan Saudek, The Doll, 1975
That is a different way of looking than this one:
Jan Saudek, Life, 1966
One could say that this male gaze is essentially pornographic; a vision that looks at the world through a keyhole. It is also paranoid:
Jan Saudek, Suzanne, 1979
I am free when I'm looking through the peephole. Then I hear footsteps. Someone is looking at me. It's the Other.
It is my lover. She is looking at me looking through the peephole. She suspects something behind the visible.
My being is filled with shame.
She sees things differently. The male gaze makes the feminine an object and strips woman of her freedom.
I lose my freedom from her look. I feel dead from the look of the Other.
Basic stuff huh?
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at March 14, 2004 04:44 PM | TrackBack