The Gaze In The Media

Upon comparing the writings of Mulvey's - 'Visual Pleasure' and Coward's -'The Look,' it can be said that both women convey similar opinions on how women see themselves, both personally and in society. This is confimed by Mulvey, writing that ‘it appears to women that the whole possibility of being loved and comforted hangs on how their appearance will be received,’ this could be viewed that Mulvey considers women to be very aesthetic dependant, feeling that they must look physically appealing in order to mate with a male or be appreciated in any form by the opposite, or even the same sex. It could also be argued that there is some psychological scarring behind the thought of only being accepted by essentially looking pleasing to the eye. To Mulvey it appears that women are objectified, ‘men look, women are to be looked at.’ This could raise questions as to if women should be considered people or more like objects of desire.

Cowards form of writing is generally similar to Mulvey, where Mulvey appears to consider women as little more than objects of attraction, Coward discusses how women are oppressed and perhaps held back within society. This point could take a more feminist route as examples such as women being given less pay than men, women being refused the right to vote and females being generally stereotyped as typically housewife ‘stay at home mother’ types.

Unlike Mulvey, Coward approaches the topic of women and how they are perceived in the media in a generally more light hearted, if not comical tone, she discusses her own personal experiences as a child and uses this to draw on her perceptions of todays society.

It could be argued that Cowards point of  the psychological development and experiences of childhood are what have developed women to how they are today. Examples of this can be seen almost everywhere, posters of models, video game represented females and magazines conger up a false and unachievable representation of the female body and thus create a mythic beauty.

However it can also be said that each girl grows up to be their own person and the sights of the surrounding environment should not effect how a woman sees herself directly.

Mulveys writings appear to be more formal on this note and she speaks in a more direct, academic form, often referencing more psychological terms in order to back up her arguments. Mulveys main argument is that it is moden day media and film that seems to have caused women to rely so heavily on improving their aesthetics to become the mythic and unobtainable airbrushed beauties that they see everywhere on the covers of magazines, posters and plastered on the introductions of the old james bond films.

These writings both convey similar arguments concerning how women value themselves, it could in fact be said that the arguments are in fact more accurate as both theorists are in fact, female, this make the writings of both women come from their own personal experiences and emotions, giving the reader a clearer understanding compared to that of a male theorist writing on a woman’s behalf.