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{{wiktionaryTop}}The concept of '''gaze''' (often also called '''the gaze''' or, in French, ''le regard''), in analysing [[Visual perception|visual]] [[Mass media|media]], is one that deals with how an audience views other people presented. The concept of the gaze became popular with the rise of postmodern philosophy and social theory and was first discussed by [[1960s]] [[France|French]] [[intellectuals]], namely [[Foucault]]'s description of the [[medical gaze]] and [[Lacan]]'s analysis of the gaze's role in the [[mirror stage]] development of the human [[psyche]]. This concept is extended in the framework of [[Feminism|feminist]] theory, where it can deal with how [[man|men]] look at [[woman|women]], how women look at themselves and other women, and the effects surrounding this.{{Bottom}}

=Jacques Lacan= Forms of gaze ==Jean-Paul Sartre==[[Image:Gericault_Insane.jpg|thumb|right|[[Théodore GéricaultLacan]]'s ''Insane'' first comments on the [[gaze]]The gaze can be characterized by who is doing the looking: * the spectator's gaze: the spectator who is viewing the text. This is often us, appear in the audience first year of a certain text,* intra-his [[diegesis|diegeticseminar]] gaze, where one person depicted in the text who is looking at another person or object in the text, such as another character looking at another,* extra-diegetic gaze, where the person depicted in the text looks at the spectator, such as an aside, or an acknowledgement of the reference to [[fourth wallJean-Paul Sartre]], or* the camera's gaze, which is the gaze [[phenomenology|phenomenological analysis]] of the camera or the director's "[[gaze. These are not |the only forms of gazelook]]. Other forms include "<ref>The fact that the gaze [[English]] translators of an audience within a "text within the text", such as [[Lisa SimpsonSartre]] and [[Bart SimpsonLacan]] have used different [[terms]] watching obscures the fact that both use the cartoon-withinsame term in [[French]] -a-cartoon ''[[Itchy and Scratchygaze|le regard]]'' on ''.</ref> For [[The SimpsonsSartre]]'', or editorial the [[gaze, whereby a certain aspect of ]] is that which permits the [[subject]] to realize that the text [[Other]] is given emphasis, such as in photography, where also a caption or a cropping of an image depicting one thing can emphasize a completely different idea[[subject]].

<blockquote>My fundamental connection with the Other theorists such -as Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen provide the idea -subject must be able to be referred back to my permanent possibility of ''[[being]] seen'' by the gaze as a relationship between offering Other.<ref>[[Jean-Paul Sartre|Sartre, Jean-Paul]]. ''[[Jean-Paul Sartre|Being and demanding gazeNothingness: indirect gaze is an offer by the spectatorAn Essay on Phenomenological Ontology]]'', where we initiate the gaze, and the subject is not aware of thistrans. Hazel E. Barnes, and direct gaze is a demand by the subject[[London]], who looks at usMethuen, demanding our gaze1958 [1943]. p.256</ref></blockquote>

Gaze can also be further categorized into ==Subject==When the [[subject]] is surprised by the direction [[gaze]] of the gaze[[Other]], where the subjects are looking at each other[[subject]] is reduced to [[shame]].<ref>[[Jean-Paul Sartre|Sartre, Jean-Paul]]. ''[[Jean-Paul Sartre|Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology]]'', trans. Hazel E. Barnes, London, apartMethuen, 1958 [1943]. p. 261</ref> [[Lacan]] does not, at this point, develop his own [[concept]] of the same object[[gaze]], or where one is gazing at another who is gazing at something elseand seems to be in general agreement with [[Sartre]]'s views on the [[subject]].<ref>{{S1}} p.215<br clear=all/ref> [[Lacan]] is especially taken with [[Sartre]]'s view that the [[gaze]] does not necessarily concern the [[organ]] of [[sight]]:

== Effects <blockquote>Of course what ''most often'' manifests a look is the convergence of gaze ==[[Image:Peleliu staretwo ocular globes in my direction.jpg|right|250px|thumbnail|[[Tom Lea]]'s depiction But the look will be given just as well on occasion when there is a rustling of branches, or the "sound of a footstep followed by [[thousand yard staresilence]]" on , or the slight opening of a shutter, or a light movement of a curtain.<ref>[[PeleliuJean-Paul Sartre|BliliouSartre, Jean-Paul]] at the . ''[[Battle of PeleliuJean-Paul Sartre|Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology]]]]Gazing and seeing someone gaze upon another provides us with a lot of information about our relationship to the subjects'', trans. Hazel E. Barnes, London, or the relationships between the subjects upon whom we gazeMethuen, or the situation in which the subjects are doing the gazing1958 [1943]. p.257</ref></blockquote>

The mutuality ==Object==It is only in 1964, with the [[development]] of the concept of ''[[objet petit a]]'' as the [[cause]] of [[desire]], that [[Lacan]] develops his own [[theory]] of the [[gaze]], a theory which is quite distinct from [[Sartre]]'s.<ref>{{S11}}</ref> Whereas [[Sartre]] had conflated the [[gaze]] with the [[gaze|act of looking]], [[Lacan]] now separates the two; the [[gaze]] becomes the [[object]] of the [[gaze can reflect power structure|act of looking]], or , to be more precise, the nature [[object]] of a relationship between the subjects, as proposed by [[Catherine Lutzdrive|scopic drive]] and . The [[Jane Collinsgaze]]is therefore, where this "tellin [[Lacan]]'saccount, no longer on the side of the [[subject] us who has ]; it is the [[gaze]] of the right and/or need to look at whom"[[Other]].

Gazing can often reflect emotion without speech ==Split==And whereas [[Sartre]] had conceived of an essential reciprocity between seeing the [[Other]] and being-seen-by- in Western culturehim, [[Lacan]] now conceives of an antinomic relation between the [[gaze]] and the [[gaze|eye]]: the [[gaze|eye]] which looks is that of the [[subject]], while the [[gaze]] is on the side of the [[object]], and there is no coincidence between the two, since "You never look at me from the [[place]] at which I see you."<ref>{{S11}} p. 103</ref> When the [[subject]] looks at an [[object]], the [[object]] is always already gazing back at the [[subject]], continued staring upon another can be quite unsettling upon but from a point at which the [[subject]] cannot see it. This [[split]] between the [[gaze|eye]] and the [[gaze]] is [[nothing]] other than the [[split|subjective division]] itself, expressed in the field of [[vision]].

Although it may appear that "==Film Theory==The concept of the [[gaze" is merely looking at]] was taken up by [[psychoanalytic]] [[art|film criticism]] in the 1970s, especially by [[feminist]] [[art|film critics]]. However, many of these critics have conflated [[Jonathan SchroederLacan]] tells us that "it signifies a psychological relationship 's concept of power, in which the gazer is superior to [[gaze]] with the object [[Sartre]]an concept of the [[gaze]] and other [[ideas]] on vision such as [[Foucault]]'s account of [[Foucault|panopticism]]. Much of so-called ". The gaze characterizes and displays [[Lacan]]ian [[art|film theory]]" is thus the relationships between the subjects by lookingsite of great [[conceptual]] confusion.

This idea forms a basis of feminist analysis of texts. === Gaze and feminist theory ==See Also=The gaze is used in feminist theory as a means to demonstrate power asymmetries by what is termed ''male gaze'', whereby a man gazes at a woman. Such feminist theorists posit that since it is almost always the female who is being gazed upon by the male, the man exhibits power over the woman. {{See}} This form of gaze can be the sexual gaze by a man towards a woman (so called "taking a pass"), or the gazing of an image of a woman in some text or in the media. * [[Laura MulveyDesire]], identifies the action of ''possessing'' a gaze as being an intrinsically male (the "'''male gaze'''"), and identifies the action of being gazed upon with the female. This harks back to binaries of male/active, female/passive. This idea of power relationships within the gaze can be continued to analyse gendered power relationships in the depictions of women in advertising. Some advertising presents women in a sexual manner, and it is argued that this degrades women because of the power that the gaze provides for heterosexual men viewing these advertisements. Furthermore, * [[Erving GoffmanDrive]] in ''Gender Advertisements'' describes that in his study the placement of men was higher than that of women in an advertisement. This positioning forces the gaze asymmetrically, the male must look down to the woman, and the female up to the man. === Responses to "male gaze" ===Male gaze in relation to feminist theory presents asymmetrical gaze as a means of exhibiting an asymmetrical power relationship, that is, the male gazing upon a female renders the female having an unwanted gaze upon her. However, this may not necessarily be the case; many societies have women who enjoy being gazed upon, [[model (art)|models]] and [[beauty pageant]]s in Western society for example, have women who are willing to be gazed upon. Some second-wave feminist viewpoints would argue whether the women are actually willing or not. Women may be merely seeking to conform to the hegemonic norms constructed to the benefit of male interests that further underline the power of the male gaze. Evolutionary biological explanations for the male gaze also exist.| The question of whether a * ''female'' gaze exists in contrast to the male one arises naturally in considering the so-called male gaze. Mulvey, the originator of the phrase "male gaze", argues that "the male figure cannot bear the burden of sexual objectification. Man is reluctant to gaze...". [[Nalini Paul]] describes ''Wide Sargasso Sea'', where the character Antoinette views Rochester and places a garland upon him to appear as a hero, and "Rochester does not feel comfortable with having this role enforced upon him; thus he rejects it by removing the garland and crushing the flowers." In the perspective of male gaze as merely possessing a gaze, the position of Objet petit a female possessing the gaze is then the female assuming the male gaze. [[Eva-Maria Jacobsson]] supports this by describing a "female gaze" as "a mere cross identification with masculinity". However, disregarding the viewpoint of gendered possession of gaze as proposed by Mulvey above, there is a lot of evidence to support a view of a female gaze, an objectification of men in some texts, such as in some advertisements and teenage magazines. The view that men are somehow reluctant to be gazed upon is also not necessarily supported, for example, at an exhibition called ''The Female Gaze'', where female artists study the male form, [[Therese Mulligan]] mentioned "To get these men who had leered at her on the street to strike these poses was amazing. And you could tell that they loved being looked at by her. These guys aren't attractive, but they sure think they are." The gaze can also be directed toward members of the same gender for several reasons, not all of which are sexual, such as in comparison of body image or in clothing. === Gaze and psychology ===[[Jacques Lacan]], early and influential theorist into [[child development]], found the concept of the gaze important in what he termed "the mirror stage", whereupon children gaze upon their own image and present themselves as the ideal ego.  == References ==* Felluga, Dino. "Modules on Lacan: On the Gaze." Introductory Guide to Critical Theory - see External links.* Jacobsson, Eva-Maria: ''A Female Gaze?'' (1999) - see External links* Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen: Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design. (1996)* Lutz, Catherine & Jane Collins: ''The Photograph as an Intersection of Gazes: The Example of National Geographic''. (1994)* Mulvey, Laura: ''Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'' (1975, 1992)* Notes on The Gaze (1998) - see External links.* Paul, Nalini: ''The Female Gaze'' - see External links* Schroeder, Jonathan E: ''Consuming Representation: A Visual Approach to Consumer Research''. == See also ==* [[Film theoryOptical model]]* [[Eye tracker]]||* [[Eye contactOther]]* [[Evil eyeJean-Paul Sartre]]* [[Staring contest]] == External links ==||* [http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze.html Notes on The Gaze]* [http://www.staleywise.com/collection/doisneau/doisneau_1.html Robert Doisneau, ''Un regard Oblique'', 1948Split] - another effective photograph illustrating gaze * [http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/pages/gaze.htm The Male Gaze], with photographs of several advertisements.* [http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/theory/psychoanalysis/lacangaze.html Modules on Lacan: On the Gaze]* [http://cid.nada.kth.se/pdf/cid_51.pdf A Female Gaze?] (.[[PDF file]])* [http://www.sharp.arts.gla.ac.uk/e-sharp/articles/spring_2004/Nalini_Paul-Female_Gaze.htm The Female GazeSubject]* [http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2003/01/30/gaze/index_np.html Salon Life - The Female Gaze]* [http://www.rochestercontemporary.org/dc798.html Review of ''The Female Gaze: Women Look at Men'']{{Also}}

[[Category:Human communicationJacques Lacan]][[Category:LacanDictionary]][[Category:Concepts]]