Visual culture Year 2 Journal 6

Gender and Otherness

In the topic of gender and otherness there are 4 main subtopics each with their own specific purpose in making up the terms gender and otherness. These are:

Gender:

Gender although thought of as something natural gender as a term is in fact societies view on the definition of being masculine or feminine.

Essentialism:

Essentialism in this term means the idea that because we are born as a male or female these are infact attributes that we cannot change about ourselves.

Otherness

Otherness is a term that puts groups into stereotypical categories, this is something that is determined by society. In the case of gender and otherness, the groups in this situation are male and female.

The gaze

The gaze is a look the viewer would give to someone or an object, the male gaze is one of the most well known forms of the gaze, commonly used in the context of males looking at females. The subject of the gaze is never aware of the viewer gazing at them.

Gender and otherness in cinema

In cinema around the 1940's to 60's otherness was obvious within the male and female genders.

Films would depict women in specific ways all constructed for the male gaze

An example of this is shown below:

This is Marilyn Monroe in how to marry a millionaire.

You can see from the still image that marilyn is sexualised by the dress she is in and also her pose, although it is common knowledge now that she herself was a sex symbol for the time.

The idea of this and even coming from the title ' how to marry a millionaire' is that women are the lesser gender and cannot financially support themselves.

The way this image feeds into the male gaze is the simple fact she is portrayed as a sex symbol. Cinema allows the male gender to gaze at women freely without the subject (the female) consciously knowing about it.

On the other hand in cinema the gaze has been represented in a way that shows a man gazing at a women but not seeing her as a sex symbol, the male is admiring the women in question.

Example below:

This is a still from the 1954 film rear window. This film represents the male gaze within the film opposed to the viewer being the person watching the film the male lead himself is the person doing the looking.

He is looking at her to admire and as you can see all the rules of the gaze applies as the female in question is seemingly unaware of being gazed at.

Even with two examples both opposites of each other it is still clear that in the 1940's to 60's women were still viewed as the lesser sex or 'other' because they were always the subject of the male gaze, they were never themselves the viewer.