“he gaze is an important concept in visual culture studies that helps place emphasis on spectatorship, power and knowledge within photographs. The gaze is not the act of looking itself, but the viewing relationship characteristic of a particular set of social circumstances. Individuals such as Jacques-Lucan and Michel Foucault have placed a major emphasis on the importance of this term although in simple terms it means, “to look at or stare, often with eagerness or desire.” When considering the ways that an image or visual text invites certain responses, the gaze becomes an important factor to help come to such conclusions. Today, the world is flooded with advertisements and media and the “gaze” is present in many of these advertisements to help viewers notice it and send a stronger message amongst all the other clutter.
One example in particular where the gaze technique is used can be found is in an advertisement for the Golden Touch Motorola Razor cell phone. In this advertisement there is a beautiful woman staring directly back at the viewer with a slight smirk on her face, as she holds up the sleep Motorola Razor phone to her lips. The text next to the photograph explains, “Snakeskin feel. Golden touch. Elegant 18k gold plating. Sensual snakeskin texture. Lavish-enriched detailing. Sharper than ever.” In this advertisement it is clear that the woman is dressed elegant, with perfectly slicked back hair, luxurious matching eye shadow, and eliciting a sensual and provocative stare. The subject clearly knows she is the object being viewed by spectators and by the use of eye contact it becomes obvious that she wants to be the center of attention, so people will notice her, then indirectly notice the product that she is promoting. Another characteristic of the photo that supports this is the fact that she is smirking. She knows that she looks elegant, mysterious, and empowering and clearly likes to make a statement by using her gold makeup to help make a connection with her sleek look and the new luxury edition gold razor phone that she is promoting. Her body language sends the message that she is of high class and doesn’t settle for anything less than luxurious. This technique is used in hopes that it will reach a type of target market that has similar feelings and likes to brag about their wealth through the expensive products that they purchase.
Another advertisement using more than one subject that also uses the “gaze” technique is an advertisement for Louis Vuitton. This picture exhibits a male on his hands and knees with Jennifer Lopez kneeling on top of him in a sexual position. She is clearly the dominant figure in this picture, wearing pink high heels, hair tightly pulled back into a ponytail, a little black dress, and making direct eye contact with the camera. The male model is physically exposed and shirtless. He makes no eye contact with the audience and his hair is messy which symbolizes that she has been roughing him around. It seems to send a message that one should never underestimate the power of a woman in high heels, and that the right shoes or look could make a man completely submissive to her power. Although the thinkers Jacques-Lucan and Michel Foucault are greatly influential when discussing this theory, it is important to also point out Mary Ann Doane’s use of psychoanalysis to theorize the fact that men do not always need to play the dominant role. Woman can identify with the male position of mastery or exercise voyeuristic tendencies, which is perfectly depicted in the images used above.
This assignment helped me learn that advertisements not only use “the gaze” to help catch the attention of viewers, but also strategically chooses the direction of the gaze, as well as the dominant individual expressing the gaze to help place emphasis on a specific aspect of the advertisement. The emphasis created by the use of “the gaze” in turn helps viewers to come to a better understanding of what overall message is being communicated.
Alyssa Otis- Visual Rhetoric Comm. 265 