Subcultures Seminar

Seminar - Subcultures

South park, parody goths and other subcultures, tenuous link. Episodes of simpsons as well reference subcultures, family guy etc. Exaggerated forms of the subculture for comedy. 

Difficult subject to link to animation.

Go back in history, with 1920’s flappers. But Dick Hebdige writes about skinheads and punk that are recent and started off being underground then died out because of the media. 

Is Daria from a subculture? Is she her own subculture because she’s so different to everybody else. 

Tim Burton adopted by goth’s, Not confining to those who like it.

Is it preferable to an avent garde following or a mainstream following?

Freud’s Pyscho Anaylsis.

Un Chien Andalou, Salvador Dali

Part psychology (behaviour) and psychiatry (mental illness). Although it is linked to them both, it’s a ‘way of thinking’ that can be applied to society including art and design.

Misconception that is about sex, whilst psychoanalysis does position the role of sexuality, especially in our infancy, as a foundation of our adult live. It is also about how we treat and examine other objects.

Look at where psychoanalysis emerges,

Identify key concepts and terms, ego, super ego, ID, abject, object relations.

Look at object-relation theory with regards to art and design,

Look at the abject.

Freud’s definitions.

A discipline founded on a procedure for the investigation of mental processes that are otherwise inaccessible because they are unconscious.

A therapeutic method for the treatment of neurotic disorders.

A body of psychological date evolving into a new scientific discipline.

Hitchcock films deals with subconscious, so does David Lynch. Is there an appropriateness to it with it being live film.

The third category comprises Freud’s work on culture, which is largely based on the view that culture is a product of the diversion or sublimation of sexual energy.

Sublimation - the conversion of sexual drives and energies into creative and intellectual activity. Deny that its there, like the M&S advert.

Pyschoanalysis dissects the unconscious mind. It comes out when you most lose control of it, like in dreams. 

Sigmund Freud 1856-1939

ID- Governed by the pleasure principle

Ego - Governed by the reality principle

Superego - the ego ideal

Dali,

Drugs or creativity?

Paintings of dreams, drug fuelled, ate hash. Had mental illness also.

Were surrealists a subculture?

Identity Lecture

Identity

James Beighton

introduction of historical conceptions of identity.

Introduction of Foucault’s ‘Discours’ methodology.

Placing and critiquing contemporary practice within these framework and considering their validity.

Considering ‘postmodern’ theories of identity as ‘fluid’ and constructed.

Considering Idenitity in the digital domain.

Essentialism is the tradition approach to identity. That your biological make up is who you are.

Post Modern theorists disagree with this.

The difference and judgement between white and african ethnicity. The judgement suggestion of a link between intelligence and facial features. This goes back much further than 20th century but even in Hieronymous Bosch (1450-1516) Christ carrying the Cross, Oil on Panel, c. 1515.

Chris Ofili deals with black identity in the modern age.

Per Modern Identity - personal identity is stable, defined by long standing roles, like being in the monarchy.

Modern Identity - Modern societies begin to offer a wider range of social roles. Possibily to start ‘choosing’ your identity, rather than being born into to. People worry about who they are.

Post Modern Identity, accepts a fragmented identity, one self constructed. I.E Facebook.

Pre-Modern Identity.

Institutions determine identity.

Baudelaire

introduces the concept of ‘flaneur’ gentleman-stroller. 

Veblen ‘Conspicuous Consumption’ it’s obvious to others what you spend your money one.

Consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure.

Simmel writes about how fashion defines identity. Write the trickle down theory, which is basically the fashion cycle, so working class emulate the upperclass fashion so the upperclass distinguish themselves with something new and the cycle goes on. 

“the feeling of isolation is rarely as decisive and intense when one actually finds oneself physically alone as when one is a stranger without relations, among many physically close persons, at a party, on the train, or in the traffic of a large city”

Makes the point that showing off is actually an alienating way of life...

Simmel suggests because of the speed and mutability of modernity, individuals withdraw into themselves to find peace. He describes this as ‘the separation of the subjective from the objective life.’

‘… a set of recurring statements that define a particular cultural ‘object’ (e.g., madness, criminality, sexuality) and provide concepts and terms through which such an object can be studied and discussed.’ Cavallaro, (2001)

Possible discourses:

Age, Class, Gender, Nationality, Race/ethnicity, Sexual orientation, Education, Income, Etc.

Class:

Humphrey Spender/Mass Observation, work town project. Which we looked at last year. Commenting on the working class through the eyes of a middle class man.

“Society” …reminds one of a particularly shrewd, cunning and pokerfaced player in the game of life, cheating if given a chance, flouting rules whenever possible.

‘Much of the press coverage centred around accusations of misogyny because of the imagery of semi-naked, staggering and brutalised women, in conjunction with the word “rape” in the title.  But McQueen claimed that the rape was of Scotland, not the individual models, as the theme of the show was the Jacobite rebellion’.

Even though classes aren’t as prominent in western society as they are as for example third world countries where there is a big difference between poverty and those with money, there still is a formidable boundary especially when it comes to things like where/how you do your food shopping. I think this is the biggest divide my grandma is very working class and shops at jack foultons, my step dad is more middle to working class and uses telcos my mum likes to think she’s more middle class and would always use sainsburys my step mum is very middle to upper class and only shops at wait rose and she has friends that only use ocado. To me this is the biggest symbol into showing which class you’re apart of.

Race

Chris Ofili was one of the first successful black artists in the 90s, by presenting the stereotyping of black people, he plays on racial stereotypes normally accepted by the white society. Paints with bold colours referencing the raster movement.

"Captain Shit and the Legend of the Black Stars" (1994) was conceived from a negative view, of there being no black super heros. He had negative thought around what a DC black hero would look like since he was a child. 

Emily Bates, Textile Designer/Artist

Spent her life growing up being called ginger, won a scholarship around rome and made a larger than life dress out of red hair. Inspired by the portrait of Mary Magdalene with her long locks that sweep round her body.

‘Hair has been a big issue throughout my life… It often felt that I was 

nothing more than my hair in other peoples’ eyes’

Gender and Sexuality

There’s a stereotype that all fashion designer’s that are male are homosexual.

Objectification of a woman. Tracey Emin - the standard and tabloid way of looking at this would be too say she's a slag however they were her intentions, the actual meaning of the tent is showing everyone Tracey Emin has actually just got into bed with, not necessarily who she's slept with.

Is this how males perceive women? judging them solely on their physical appearance? however the women on the right wearing the 'I may not be brilliant, but I have great breasts' is actually a male undergoing surgery to become a women.

After looking at these topics the Lecture then goes on to look at post modern identities, how people are portrayed in the tabloids how they choose to portray themselves on social media. 

To be honest though everything in this lecture is just covering the stereotypes associated with identities, I think everyone in this room knows what stereotypes are associated with people, I think it would of been much more interesting to show a new way of looking at people’s identities. 

Take this article for example: 

http://www.buzzfeed.com/alanwhite/12-pictures-of-death-row-prisoners-last-meals

This says a lot about the identities of inmates.

SubCultures

COP 2 Lecture

Subculture: The Meaning of Style

Introducing a text that all subcultural theory comes from: 

Hebdiege, D. (1979) ‘Subculture: The Meaning of Style'

Film by Don Letts. 

In one way or another you are all part of some part of subculture.

‘Youth cultural Styles begin by issuing symbolic challenges, but the must end by establishing new conventions; by creating new commodities, new industries, or rejuvenating old ones.

We feel the need to make subcultures, as we don’t feel part of main stream society, so we group together with like minded people, rethinking what it means to be individual. Creates our own values. Share an infinity with people we like. Challenging society, they might not have a specific politics, but by its nature is an attempt to suggest to the rest of the world that what there doing is alienating other. Symbolic challenges to the norm. People join the as an excitement for an alternative form of existence.

Historically, they start off as challenges to the norm and then eventually they end up as a convention. Main stream industries get involved and sell it back to them, so they no longer are independent so are no longer underground. 

Punk, rewrote the rules on masculinity, rejected the idea that music was a skill to be learned, a DIY ethos. Rejected the mainstream and challenged it, and utter refusal to conform. Part of this was not redefining what it means to be british but what it means to be from London.

London Calling album photo, an attack on mainstream pop music. Reference Elvis Presley album. 

It’s not authentic to by the main stream companies products that use the subculture as imagery and advertising this is just supporting what the industry was supposed to be rebelling against. Fancy dress lampoons the subculture as fun. Incorporation, is the term he gives to the consumer process and capitalism sucks back in that the subculture originally opposes.

Commodity form; the ay capitalism seizes on subcultures and creates a market for it. Once it becomes a mass market a new subculture has to be made.

Idealogical form; the fun made out of the subculture, such as fancy dress.

Tragically, always try to overthrow the mainstream, but always end up being sucked back in.

Fred Perry presents ‘Subculture’ (2012) Dir. Don Letts.

Comissioned by Fred Perry.

Opening line ‘Has anyone won wimbledon since fred perry? Ye that lass.

End of war, rock and roll from america, from early fifties. Eagerly consumed by teenagers.

Teddy Boys

First subculture that came along. With a uniform. Cared about Hair. The more flamboyant the better.

Reknowned for being conservative, and led to be racist in the media which caused fuss in the streets.

Rockers

Leather Jackets and motorbikes. Marlon Brando, ‘The Wild One’ biggest influence.

Teddy boys in notting hill riots,

Mods vs Rockers in Brighton

skin heads - 

Punks smashing things up

Violence made them more popular but also kills it. The essence of subculture is that there elitist but then that’s broken when everyone joins in.

Modernists

interested in modern jazz not rock and roll. 

Vespa

Gives an ability for the teenage generation not to rely on there parents.

Desert Botts, three button jacket. About being smart. Androgynous girls, and then camp looking guys. 

Both wore make up. 

Later on Parkas.

Mods separated 

Between Hippies, velvet jackets became flowery and started taking different drugs, pink floyd etc.

Harder mods became skinheads. 

Braces, anarchy.

Mods were never extreme, chosen by fred perry as chosen for simplicity that could also be sportswear.

England became multicultural. 

Rudeboy culture

The specials,

white socks and trousers, hitched up trousers, low rise hats.

Mixed with braces and loafers and you get skinheads.

’68’69’70 weren’t racist. 

Serious dressing no creases allowed!

As soon as the media reported it the whole thing died out in the 1970’s. Bu then later on it was revived and it was racist and violent. These kids adopted the look as it looked intimidating. 

Tennis - Mod - Skinhead

Soul Boy

early seventies, black music dance obsessed, counter parted by northern soul. 

all about loose fitting clothes you could dance in.

Platforms. Multi racial. No political statements, but subtly making a social statement about accepting others. Started clubbing.

Punk

Scare people

Malcom Mclaren - college artist (sex pistols)

lots of rips in clothes, chains, colours, no one looked the same.

Women with guitars. Feminist ideas got acted out in punk.

Once Sex Pistols swore on tv, became a pantomime with super big hair. 

Glam Rock

Two tone, those punks that joined with reggae. The specials, ska sound. Challenge authority through music and politically be able to change things. 

Monochrome feel, dressing in black and white. 

Every subculture was getting shorter and shorter. 

Football

casual wear fans, addidas puma, ellesse. Designer sportswear to football fans.  Discovered ecstasy, so rave started.

Rave a child of the hippies. Drugs, lights and sound.

Dressed to dance. 

Less about musical movements, more about musical genres. 

Brit pop

backward looking, guitar, bass and drum. Rock edge. \refreshing.

A celebration of british culture.

Documentary ends on youth culture then, as if subcultures haven't continued but I feel like some subcultures have been missed out, such as chavs, emos, goths and now the new hipster?

Visual Analysis Exercise

Visual Analysis Exercise

Kirsten Lepore, Bottle 2010

http://www.kirstenlepore.com/bottle

Bottle by Kirsten Lepore is a beautifully executed stop motion/pixilation. Which every time I watch never ceases to amaze me. I first watched this when searching for animations for our very module animation skills, and during summer it was shown on the aeroplane when I went on Holiday. It’s clear it’s been executed well when you wish you’d made it. It’s clear to see a lot of hours have gone into the production and preproduction by the lighting. There is a magic in the way shadows are cast, often when doing a stop motion if not filmed in a blacked out room lighting can be a nightmare to get smooth looking, so she was very adventurous to do this outside.

The big question that people could interpret from this short is to do the relationships between people of different places/cultures. It’s very sad in that the two main characters don’t get to hug. I think there’s a lot of challenges with people who are in relationships from different cultures, and I think more often than not the relationships do disintegrate but there’s always some that are destined to be together.

Another comment in society this film could question is how identity is questioned. Do you have to look like other people say you do? Neither of the characters asked for their accessories and just accepted them even though actually receiving a mouse would be pretty horrid. A bold statement could be made about when they go to meet it other the accessories float off them in the water like they are meaningless and shallow.

The Dog Who Was a Cat Inside, is a completely different skill set in animation realm. It looks to be computer generated with hand drawn textures and facial features (maybe on a tablet). Yet still has strong themes and similarities to the bottle running throughout. Discussion on this animation made us as a group question whether the inner battle of the cat and the dog, represented a bigger issue of possibly, schizophrenia or other mental illness. Or was a question of gender? Does the cat represent female and the dog represent male? Is it a man who thinks he’s a woman? I did do some research into Siri Melchior, and she is a Danish women who has written an awful lot of children’s books. Therefore I find it hard to believe there’s a hidden concept other than to be super charming and loveable by all because it’s very clear that her target audience is children to entertain, and their parents. You probably wouldn’t buy a book for your child if it were about transgender. I think Kristen Lepore’s work is more likely to tackle deeper issues being a student project, generally student’s are pushed to convey messages in their work and challenge the audience.

However saying that, similar themes that make both these shorts so successful are how much appeal the main characters have. In Bottle, the shapes are round and are friendly, there’s no reason to dislike them. And in the other short the characters are kept very simple and are very playful giving them appeal too. I also think the biggest similarity is how they both end up in water to form a resolution in the narrative. It’s something I’ve never noticed in a narrative before. I really like how one resolves the issue in a positive way and the cat and dog learn to swim, where as the snow and sand man disintegrate. I think it sums up their similarities and difference in visually metaphorical way for there contextual way.

The Gaze and The Media Seminar

The Gaze and The Media

From the lecture, 1950’s films driven plots by males,

relevant to disneys early films, driven by males with passive princess’.

Sexualisation of characters are acceptable if they are written well. Bayonetta. Lara Croft. There’s a lot of sexualised characters in animation particularly anime, is this because the industry is lead by men?

Games made for men by men so sexual female characters fulfilling fantasies.

Jessica Rabbit, Betty Boop.

Doesn’t negate the objectification of women.

Here a list of animations James selected for us to watch to challenge our view on The Gaze in animation.

Michele Cournoyer - The Hat 1999

The Hat from National Film Board of Canada on Vimeo.

I didn't enjoy this animation. I feel like it was made by an angry feminist, I don't think the message it conveys, the fact that little girls can grow up to be strippers and how the gaze could be empowering at times. I just found that it was really crude not intelligent, and technically not a brilliant animation. The line work is horrendous, it's not visually pleasing and to me it just seems like not much time or care has been put into the animation. I also think it's aged quite badly.

Ruth Lingford - What She Wants 1994

http://www.skwigly.co.uk/ruth-lingford/

Ruth Lingford - Pleasures of War 1998

I also did not like Ruth Lingford's animation's although I'd say they were better than Michele Cournoyer's, as they do actually have a narrative. But again it's just a bit crude, I don't find it empowering to the women, it's not visually pleasing, the soundtrack is just ordinary if not amateur. I just found them a waste of my time.

Joanna Quinn - Girls Night Out 1987

I really really like Joanna Quinn's style. I think it's very similar to Sylvain Chomet's work. The animation has aged but in a way that makes it more charming. I also think it's quintessentially english as well. It's humourous and there's just so much attention to detail.

Alison De Vere - The Black Dog 1987

I think the colour palatte of this animation makes it quite dark, the pace adds tension as it's quite slow to get going. I think the quality of it is inbetween that of Quinn's and the previous although it has some charm there isn't the same amount of detail and I think that makes it less visually pleasing. I also think with the soundtrack choice and colouring it makes it look older than it actually is. I think a bigger issue other than the Gaze that is covered in this animation is the cruelty to animals. I think this animation is much longer than it needs to be. I'm ten minutes in and I don't even want to watch the rest. I just don't care what happens it hasn't grabbed me. There's no appeal for the female character my attention span has diminished.


My Own Findings:

But I'm A Nice Guy from Scott Benson on Vimeo.

I think this is interesting, it's short snappy, contemporary style. Most importantly it's made by a man about the feminist woman. An interesting viewpoint one that many men have but don't recognise.

I really struggled to find more animations with interesting viewpoints on the female in life. To be honest I don't actually care. This topic is not something I am passionate about, so I don't think I'm going to bother to keep looking. It's not that I don't believe in feminism I think yeah across the globe it is a major issue, especially when I was in South Africa I felt like whoa, I'm not being treated equal here. However at home in leeds I am so although it'd broaden my mind about the subject, I feel like on a day to day basis I am actually overwhelmed with woman who just take it far too far. They get angry about, in your face about it, especially on the news I think it's an overhyped topic. I think if these women didn't take it so far you wouldn't aggreivate the opposition so much and I think actually it requires you to passively suggest hints to the other countries that it's unfair so that they think it's their idea for it to be successful. I don't be an angry bitter woman about it. But I know where I stand.

I also appreciate that actually physically women are weaker and it's safe to say if you employ a woman in her early twenties, chances are she is probably going to want to have a baby in the next decade because theres so much pressure to have one from your parents, if your relationship from the other half. I think its a big issue for an employer to take that on if they're not actually great at there job. It's sexism its personalism. If someone is perfect for the job and they are ace at what they do you won't mind that they will need time off. I think discrimination against maternity leave is the biggest injustice in england for females of my age.

On that note I shall leave you with one of the most entertaining animations that came up on my search:

Seminars Overview

Seminar 1. 

7 1hr&half sessions

Think about what you would like to cover

Otherwise applying the lecture to animation.

Read texts before seminars.

animation and animators with mental illness - http://mentalfloss.com/article/28639/walt-disneys-secret-tragedy

http://www.peterubel.com/health_policy/150000-walt-disney-employees-denied-mental-health-coverage/

voltaire/derida 

literature and poetry in animation.

politics in animation

Colour theory the evolution of colour film.

Animation studies: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415807241/

Same outcomes as last year but more in depth. More shorter writing tasks including evaluating set pieces of text.

A 3000 word essay, refer to at least 4 sources, bibliography of at least 10.

Self directed title, may start as soon as you like. Choose the right topic.

www.jstor.org journal academic article access on uni computers.

The Gaze and The Media

COP Lecture -The Gaze and The Media

helen.clarke@leeds-art.ac.uk - Ba Photography

‘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’ John Berger 1972

The most misrepresented quote. In this quote he is not saying women are vain, but berger comments on how women carry around an idealisation where men look at them. 

We start with oil painting. Hens Memling ‘Vanity’. The mirror in this painting is used as a device of justification and moral condemnation. The mirror is there so that we can imagine that the woman is vain and looking at herself, therefore the onlooker has permission to look at her body. In context, this is the period of time when women were isolated in communities as they were deemed as a witch if she is single, or in any shape or form empowered with knowledge or prosperity. For example with knowledge of herbs and medication.

In contemporary imagery (advert fashion shoot mimics the arrangement). Shows self absorption. Lost in a moment of vanity. In the gaze our permission to look is empowered by the fact the woman doesn’t look back. In this piece we can see her gaze looking back but it is softened by the shadowing of the eyes, so there isn’t a direct challenge. Also there is an interesting arrangement of her body, casual legs open environment, which focuses on her sexuality.

Alexandre Cabanel ‘Birth of Venus’ (1863)

Here the gaze is prevented by the shielding of her eyes and shadowing. Reclining pose shows purity. John berger says that you put the mirror in the womans hand to condemn the vanity. Here it is not the mirror but another manner of shielding.

Sophie Dahl for the Opium perfume by Yves Saint Laurent, mimics the birth of venus in the reclining pose. However was condemned for being overtly sexual. Therefore was banned from being used as an advertisement. However when placed vertical, there was less focus of the hand on the breast and more focus on the face so was passed. I find cases like this really interesting, for me personally I've been raised with an etiquette where nudiety isn't acceptable in social situations, it comes with a connotation of not being respectful, if you don't respect your body how can you respect others. Yet how is it that walking round in public in practically no clothes on a night out is judged but adverts like this aren't. This is like something you would see in vogue therefore it automatically becomes classy. As a young person it's very confusing and I think this is why the line in society between what's crude and nude and what's classy and acceptable has become so blurred.  I actually really like this advert I think it would sell the product because it is sexy and provocative, she looks good so it's easy to believe that she would smell good. I think as well that this particular advert is heavily influenced by the famous Marilyn Monroe quote where she only wears Chanel no. 5 to bed. Who wouldn't want there perfume to have that effect on women. At the end of the day perfume is a primal thing it represent pheromones to attract a mate it's supposed to sexual. I just think that young people can very impressionable and I don't want to see the average person doing this. I think it should be more clear that it unattainable to do that and have a decent lifestyle with privacy but then it wouldn't sell as well. It's all very confusing.

Titian’s Venus of Urbino, 1538

A traditional nude, Venus in this image is giving such a provocative look that lures the viewer in, as a spy or a peeping tom. In Berger's work he comparatively then looks at:

Manet’s Olympia ‘1863’ 

He compares them through a modernist perspective. Initially the pose is very similar, reclining propped up on cushions. But notes that there are subtle differences. Titians venus is subtly provocative comparatively Olympia is more direct. She doesn't give permission, she is aware the viewer is there. There is also a subtle difference in the position of the hand, in Titian’s it is soft and passive and Olympia’s is a more direct clutch. Berger makes the point the Olympia is a prostitute and that’s why she’s more direct and challenging because she’s more sexual. There's also a lot of hidden detail that can be taken as symbolism. Titian's venus is eating grapes and she has servants this clearly an empowering portrait. But Olympia is receiving flowers and has gold bands on her arm showing off her wealth through what men have bought even the new dress she's laying on. I think if you were to meet the two women Olympia would be a lot more self conscious because she's going out of her way to show off where as Venus looks comfortable in her own skin. I also read the cat on Olympia's bed is a symbol of femininity. I don't really buy into this viewpoint. I think it is very interesting however how Venus has a sleepy puppy at the bottom of her feet and Olympia has an alert cat.

Ingres ‘Le Grand Odalisque' (1814)

An image reused by the guerrilla girls in 1985 in MOMA of female vs male artists. Made a poster to represent the imbalance in the history of art, the fact that signficantly more paintings in classical galleries are that of men's. A movement to make the imbalances more visible in the classic forms. Ironically this poster was meant to go on buses, but was pulled for being too sexual with the duster.

Manet - Bar at the Folies Bergeres, 1882.

Open pose on the bar with hands spread. If you look in the mirror an incorrect reflection of the body shows her back side on, you can see the viewer of a man onlooking. Although the lecturer made the point of the reflection being incorrect I think actually it's not. The next time I have looked at it I have realised that if she is stood at the edge of the bar and the mirror's on an angle then it would actually be right. A complicated impressionist brush style with artistic licence to explore a complicated viewpoint. The detail of the man stops us being an invisible onlooker. Goes in hand in hand with painting of women being for men. Actually looking at this poor women's gaze she looks like she has been slapped in the face with a fish it's hardly a nice picture. If I stare at it too long I can feel myself welling up I think she looks that sad, I really don't like this picture I just think she looks far too overdressed to be a bar maid. And why is her waist so skinny from the back and her reflection so podgy? I think it's too fussy the artist was trying too hard to capture all the detail I think as an impressionist he should of let loose a little bit.

Jeff Wall ‘Picture for women’ 1979

Inspired by the bar at the follies burgers, a multitude of gazes going on, instead of a 

Divided up the mirror, dividing the image. A very constructed pose with carefully placed character. An image with many mini images. Subtly different in that the woman isn’t open. Perspective of the room draws the viewers eye to the camera, slopes of the wall and the lights drawing the eye to the camera. Drawing the attention to the camera and the function of the camera. Onlooker invited to make there own narrative, typical of post modernism, so the viewer has an active role. I wonder why, if this photographed was so carefully constructed she's got closed off body language yet still so sorrowful. I think the lighting on her makes her look artificial like she could be a cut out photo. I don't really understand you're supposed to derive your own narrative from the scene but I just think as a scene, it would be so much nicer without jeff and the female model and without the camera you could have a really nice animation background there why have they ruined it.

Rosaline Coward, 1984 The Look, all quotations after the name Rosaline coward are from the 1984 essay The Look.

"The camera in contemporary media has been put to use as an extension of the male gaze at women on the streets"

The idea of nudity in a public place is normalised by fashion campaigns as they are seen in streets where everyone goes about their own business.

Nudity has been normalised also in advertising for example wonder bra billboards with Eva Herzigova Stopped traffic. In the nineties lads magazines came into population. Also laddettes became common who stood for not being sexually objectified. Realises the power of the naked body in this billboard in a playful way. One way of reading the billboard is how she herself isn't gazing at us giving us permisson to look she's looking down, is she looking at her own body or at our judgement of her body and advertising in general?

"The profusion of images which characterises contemporary society could be seen as an obsessive distancing of women... a form of voyeurism."

Peeping Tom, 1960, Directed by Michael Powell.

The problem with the objectification of women is not a light hearted issue, it is not something that you can brush off with humour. Explored in the film 1960, peeping tom. Dated sixties film. Things in it are also referred to when looking at the gaze. In the above film still the man is a voyeur who gets his kicks by filming women in the moment of death. Rosaline Coward is saying theres real consequences for this in reality, if you objectify women they become disposable objects.

The Male Gaze

This things do occur with male men to attract attention, however there is a dramatic difference in the quantity. Gender ad’s [http://www.genderads.com/] is a sight that have collected the objectification of male and female bodies. But generally there are more adverts that objectify women more so than men. I think it bothers women more and men are a bit more blase about it, so if it provokes a reaction it's more likely to be a successful/memorable campaign. Do you think this is because females are more likely to be consumers than men?

Dolce & Gabbana advert, 2007

Here the men are very domineering and have very challenging gazes a lot more powerful and very directed at the photographer/ potential consumer. This is very common for male gaze images in comparison to the passive potentially seductive woman. I don't really understand why this was such a successful campaign for D&G, obviously there was a lot of controversy around the menacing looks but who seriously would want to be associated with those undergarments, the guy on the left looks like a child's potato stamped his arm.

Laura Mulvey - Visual pleasures of the Narrative Cinema.

Analysis the male gaze and particularly in hollywood film. An essay in which dissects and analyses the way shots are composed in 1940's and 1950's cinema.  Which led to the discovery of the classic portrayal of the female body in cinema of this time, being that the body is always dissected as well. Never shown whole clips regularly show sections of the body. A female was a thing to be looked at rather than being a drive of the plot. Applied Freud’s pyscho-analytics, the cinema invited the audience to a private space to identify with the characters, but women were normally accessories and not directing the storyline. Active male, passive female. 

Artemisia Gentileschi

Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1620.

Griselda Pollocks Old Mistresses. 

Lecturer at Leeds uni, address female classical painters in history. Pollocks states the female is powerful as a painter by depicting the actual moment as normally the story is depicted after when the woman is holding the head.

Views from Pollock circa 1980.

Women ‘marginalised with the masculine discourses of art history.' This marginalisation supports the 'hegemony of men in cultural practice, in art.'

Women not only marginalised, but supposed to be marginalised.

If we don’t acknowledge that this is a missing part of art history it will be always an issue so we need to address it now.

Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #6.

States her work is not about feminism, or the female gaze. But whether she likes it or not it is associated with dealing with feminism because of how controversial the composition is the female is partially dressed, seductive coverage, so even though she’s reclining the image has been composed vertically so she doesn’t look like she’s reclining. The eyes aren’t shielded by the hand is artificially to the face making it awkward, making it look more staged. Refers to the classic poses without copying, which is why they challenge the gaze. Also the mirror is there its facing down and strewn. Therefore it contradicts the vanity portrayed in the earlier paintings.

Barbara Kruger

‘Your gaze hits the side of my face’ 1981

using text looks like its been cut out from newspaper, means it has not personality. Hit’s is a violent word as a visual slap. The issues around the representation of women have a real life consequence. I refuse to even put a picture of this on because I personally am not a fan, I think there's far too much effort gone into trying to provoke a reaction from the audience and I just have no time for the big piece like "I shop therefore I am." I feel although she's complying to the mordernism theory of having an active audience her work is like the annoying person in your life whose just a bit self absorbed and attention seeking, her work isn't from a design perspective or great composition or technically and innotively out there. It's just in your face and not in a pretty way. That's why they get GCSE students to look at it because it's so easy to replicate.

Sarah Lucas, Eating a banana 1990

Self conscious act in public, with very challenging aggressive gaze. Self portrait with fried eggs. Masculine pose, challenging pose, use of humour as an undertone.

Reality Television.

Complex set of gazes, appear to offer us the position as the all-seeing eye , the power of the gaze - i.e Big Brother. Heavily edited shows, often fixed. Contestants know they are on tv so often perform for the audience. No active role for the viewer, passively look at peoples bodies.

Allows us a voyeuristic passive consumption of a type of reality.

The truman show, born into a reality show from birth and realises something isn’t quite right.

Looking is not indifferent. There can never be any question of ‘just looking.’ Victor Burgin 1982

Theres no such thing as just looking theres always going to a political impact.

Caroline Lucas, 2013. Went to the house of commons in a tshirt comdemming page three which is onsale outside the building. However she was asked to change as it wasn't appropriate work wear. Which I can understand, if it had been a shirt fair enough but I think she did just want to make a statement. I don't think you can look at the gaze and not mention page three models. At the end of the day it's up to the model them self and if they aren't bothered by creepy men buying a newspaper to see a topless photo of them for them to get it sticky later that's their choice but it certainly wouldn't be mine!

Susan Sontag

To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed

Paparazzi is cyclical there fees are so high because so many people buy the rubbish magazines.

Nude leak 2014, desired and loathed, who deserves privacy? Because they are in the public being successful are we entitled to see them? No male bodies hacked because they weren’t valuable.

Vanity. 

By making people appear vain this reminds women of their vulnerability, and this can damage the women at the top and the ordinary women.

Laura Penny

“The power to watch men back is something that the web affords women, but men haven’t quite realised that yet” 

Vagenda magazine.
http://vagendamagazine.com/

Social networking, bullying related to body shape/size.

The everyday sexism project.

http://everydaysexism.com/