Task 5: Hyperality

'The Gaze' -key words

Different forms of 'the gaze'
• the spectator’s gaze: the gaze of the viewer at an image of a person (or animal, or object) in the text;
• the intra-diegetic gaze: a gaze of one depicted person at another (or at an animal or an object) within the world of the text (typically depicted in filmic and televisual media by a subjective ‘point-of-view shot’);
• the direct [or extra-diegetic] address to the viewer: the gaze of a person (or quasi-human being) depicted in the text looking ‘out of the frame’ as if at the viewer, with associated gestures and postures (in some genres, direct address is studiously avoided);
• the look of the camera - the way that the camera itself appears to look at the people (or animals or objects) depicted; less metaphorically, the gaze of the film-maker or photographer.
• the gaze of a bystander - outside the world of the text, the gaze of another individual in the viewer’s social world catching the latter in the act of viewing - this can be highly charged, e.g. where the text is erotic (Willemen 1992);
• the averted gaze - a depicted person’s noticeable avoidance of the gaze of another, or of the camera lens or artist (and thus of the viewer) - this may involve looking up, looking down or looking away (Dyer 1982);
• the gaze of an audience within the text - certain kinds of popular televisual texts (such as game shows) often include shots of an audience watching those performing in the 'text within a text';
• the editorial gaze - 'the whole institutional process by which some portion of the photographer's gaze is chosen for use and emphasis' (Lutz & Collins 1994, 368).

Task 2 continued ...women wanting to be beautiful

When looking at popular music videos for the popular culture task 2 i came across this video by Pink and it linked so well with the seminar on 'the gaze' taunting girls that strived to be beautiful like the women we see in magazines. Pink tries to be a good role model for young girls and has taken this issue on within her song, although the song is quite light-hearted it is there to target these young girls effected by the gaze in society and teach them that they should not strive for beauty, that they should make the most of their personality and intelligence and it will make them a stronger individual.