Are Gazes Changing?

There are many ways to define a "Gaze." One can Gaze at a picture, one can Gaze at an object, and one can Gaze at another person. Each gaze is similar, but different at the same time. It is similar in that Gaze usually means to stare or to look at, but when one someone stares at an object it is because one is observing it. The same goes with the Picture. The Gaze starts to become different when one gazes at a person. The Gaze then becomes something more. There is power in looking (Hooks 115). The Gaze now becomes more that just a simple stare or observation, it becomes a tool. Power is inside as well as outside (Hooks 116) How this power is used is now not only internally, but it transfers externally as well.
In Traditional European paintings, women are often depicted naked and are the ones who are being looked at, and the men are the ones who are looking at the women. Her body is arranged in the way it is, to display it to the man looking at the picture (Berger 55). She is offering up her femininity as the surveyed (Berger 55). This is where the Gaze starts to become more than just a simple observation. It starts to become power. This picture is made to appeal to his sexuality (Berger 55) and therefore the male becomes the "Spectator" and starts to gain power. This however, is unusual to me because it is a simple picture that the male is looking at. how did the male gaze gain power? It is clear that the spectator-owner will in fantasy oust the other man, or else Identify with him (Berger 56). This is turn is what is giving the male gaze power internally.
This type of "power" has been and still is around today's society. We are living in a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female (Mulvey 837). What does this sight of the other man mean to us, how does it, at that instant of total disclosure, affect our desire? (Berger 58). Now many women may have different opinions on what the sight of the other man means to all of women out there especially when it comes to cinema. "every narration places the spectator in a position of agency; and race, class and sexual relations influence the way in which this subject hood is filled by the spectator." (Hooks 117). In this case the Spectator can be whomever, and this for Bell Hooks is what the Oppositional Gaze is from my understanding.
The oppositional Gaze is something where the Spectator is not the typical male but can be of any Gender race or class. The oppositional gaze also is seen as going against and fighting the "power" of the male gaze. This power was gained and specifically as geared towards the African American community through the cinema. It was the oppositional black gaze that responded to these looking relations by developing independent black cinema (Hooks 117). This was a breaking ground for them and gives chance that the whole Male Gaze will just become an ordinary gaze. It is now seen in media where the Males are now starting to become the passive/male and the women are becoming the active/females.
An example for this would be Twilight, or True blood. I Personally don't watch True Blood, but from what I've heard it is becoming the opposite. The men seem to become the subject of the film or picture. As I understand the Gaze has been and Still is a male dominant structure, but with this example that I have stated it seems to be changing. The media is still predominantly filled with the Passive/females, and active/males in magazines, but i sense that there will be a change in the Gaze. Personally I have felt the "external power" of a male. It is intimidating, and I do not feel like males have a right in looking at me whenever they feel like it just to feel superior to me. In my perspective it is nice to see that there is starting to become some type of balance between this Gaze.

As seen in the pictures both genders are using each other as objects, possibly one more so than the other, but both none the less.






Cosmopolitan Image Credit GQ Image Credit