Notes on Notes on “The Gaze”

I know this is not required, in fact Mr Reddy didn’t emphasize the importance of theory in the lecture, but being a theory junkie, I’m a sucker for theoretical readings of images. And since this is a learning journal, I’ll talk about The reading for week 7 here.

I encountered Mulvey’s feministic take on film spectatorship in other modules before and couldn’t agree less with her views. Not because I’m a feminist but because however we try to emphasize an egalitarian society, the images of women (young and beautiful) still starkly emerges as the symbol of visual pleasure.

Somewhere on the site, it was mentioned that women, unlike men, do not have the liberty to watch, but can only watch themselves being watched. I thought that was an extremely well put statement, and is truthful to a large extent.
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In the last lecture(wk7), Sir mentioned the variants of commercial photography, and the prevalence of the female face/form in photos for commercial purposes.

The image of Kate Moss thus came to mind, and Lacan’s concept of the dignity of the Thing sprung up. KateMoss, in the world of fashion photography, represents an unattainable aura that is distinct from the rest. She’s not the ideal beauty, (in fact, she’s even a little between weird looking and acquired taste) but that is her appeal. The sublime aura that she projects in her photos, and thus make her all the more unattainable. This is the anti-thesis of the perfect beauty, but it has the same (or even more) resonance with the intended audience.

For those interested, there’s an article on Kate Moss and Lacan Here)

So what have we found?

I find this idea binding the images the class has presented so far. From my obsession with taking pictures of rubbish in Assignment 2 (and Stephanie as well), to Paul’s obsession with taking pictures of rotting and seemingly “ugly” things, to Michelle’s beautifully composed pictures of supposedly ugly construction sites. I guess the appeal of these things to them is what is binding the appeal of Kate Moss as well.

So what is appeal? Is it a shift in the perspective we look at any and everything? Or is it when the distance between the subject and us is so great and only then we can appreciate the beauty of society without being bound by its implications in reality? I find the latter disturbing, it’s as though beauty is a mere illusion, and so distant.