In "Ways of Seeing" written by John Berger, he beings by making a point that men are seen in forms of power, while women are surveyed by the way they look and how they act. He says that men look at women and then decide how they will be treated, and women express the way they want others to treat them. When Berger starts to discuss nudity in the form of European art, he expresses the differences between "naked" and "nude." He claims that being naked is simply being oneself, and "naked" must be seen as an object to become a nude. He believes that nudity is put on display for others to see and enjoy, while "nakedness reveals itself." Berger talks about how the spectators-owners of the paintings were assumed to be males who were viewing the scenes themselves, meaning to please themselves and show what they wanted to see. Women's bodies would face them instead of others in the painting so they could get their own view of it. He argues that women are designed to "flatter" the spectators, which are assumed to be "ideal" men, and that this hasn't changed between then and now.
Pre-reading:
- Imagine that you are going to draw a picture of a woman. Which way would she be facing and why? Is she the only object in the picture? What kind of scene do you put her in? Is she naked or nude?
If I were to draw a picture of a woman, she would be facing forward so that someone viewing it would see her face and her expression, possibly to get a better idea of her personality and emotions. I would draw her in a scene where she would be somewhere with friends or a group of people. She would be fully clothed because I don't think it is acceptable for her to be otherwise, especially in a public setting.
- Find two images of women--one from classical art and one from a magazine or advertisement--and discuss the similarities and differences in how the women in each image are presented.
http://www.windows2universe.org/mythology/images/Birth_of_Venus.gif
http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ8qE4svMhgX-3pcrKv_BJmddmYhGank742WREZm2h9rlLDNyZEOA
These two images have distinct similarities and differences. In the classic image, the woman is nude and seems to be portrayed in kind of a sexual way, just as the second image of Selena Gomez. In the second image, her personality is hardly shown because the focus is on her look. The images are different because Selena is clothed, whereas in the first image the woman is not.
Questions for Discussion and Journaling:
1. I think that artists of these paintings did know what they were doing when they created the paintings. I don't think that they understood the whole concept of it--I don't think that it was a "big deal" to most people back then, as it was seen as an art form--but most of them had a clear purpose to please themselves and show what they enjoyed seeing. I think that Berger would agree with me. He states himself that the spectators painted the women the way they wanted to view them, instead of how they actually appeared or would appear in the scene they were depicting.
2. Images of posed women are everywhere. They're in magazines, on TV, and all over the media in general. You rarely see complete nudity in publicity and the media, but they are similar to the paintings Berger discusses because the majority of them have a solid purpose of showing sexuality and to be pleasing to others, males specifically. That is something that has stayed the same. Some images, however, serve other purposes. They could be showing off a specific piece of clothing, a hairstyle, etc. Some are just meant to show true beauty. I think that today, people still view women in similar ways. However, women have definitely gained a lot of independence and have much more say in the way they are portrayed.
Applying and Exploring Ideas:
2. Berger's ideas of the relationship between spectator and subject in the paintings can be applied to those between author and reader, or main character and reader, because a text is there to represent a certain ideal or give away certain information about a person or thing. We take into consideration every detail about a character in a text, or about what an author is trying to tell us. We have to try to understand it and take it all into account. An author's ideas or main character affect us directly in some way, and have an effect in how we perceive the rest of the text.
3. I believe that in modern day images of women, women are positioned because they are meant to be viewed a certain way, such as the European paintings. Magazines, for example, have photo shoots in order to get the "right shot" of the subject. The photographer wants a certain look and positions the subject until he or she gets the image that they want to be portrayed in their magazine.
Meta Moment:
I think that this article discussing the similarities and differences between nudes, nakedness, spectator, viewer, art, and advertisement can really help in terms of writing. Berger's article showed that two extremely similar terms can have different meanings and be perceived differently. Specifically, for example, an author can write a piece for his or her own "pleasure" or for an entire audience, or maybe even both.
My thoughts:
I thought Berger's article was interesting. It made me reconsider general assumptions and how women were seen back then, and how they are seen today. I wonder, however, why Berger chose this topic and why he seems so intrigued by it. I want to know what sparked his interest in the history of European nude oil paintings and gender roles.
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