project 29 buffy the freudian

Project 29 Buffy the Freudian

"Restless" centres on the dreams of the four main characters after ending an exhausting fight in the last episode.  These are used to comment on the characters their fears, their past and their possible future.  Consistent in  these dreams is the first slayer who hunts and kills them one by one until she in confronted by and dis-empowered by Buffy.

Two Allusions  - Faith (" So that my dream that had some stuff about cigars and a tunnel")  Faith makes a Freudian kind of joke.  Freud believed that things in our dreams where symbolic.  Cigars and tunnels would therefore be symbolic with sex.

Buffy - ("Well you have not seen this Adam thing.  He is the Terminator without the bashful charm")  The little character from the movie The Terminator was far from being bashful or charming.  Buffy uses the hyper bile to express just how dangerous Adam is.   

Willows dream  - Willow is painting Sappho's love poem ` Hymn to Aphrodite` in  Greek onto Tara's (her girlfriend) back.  She then find herself on Sunnydale High School stage about to perform in a radically changed `Death of a salesman` she is uneasy as she doesn`t know her lines or role.  Then Buffy take her to stand in front of a classroom wearing nerdy clothes.  Xander mocks her as she nervously begins her book review. Oz (willows ex boyfriend) flirts with Tara while watching Willow doing her book report.  Suddenly Willow is attacked and the life is sucked out of her by the first slayer.
Her confusion in the dream represents her lack of self confidence, her fear that  she does not fit in or have a place in the world.  By her wearing ordinary clothes, which the others comment on the excellence of her `costume` this gives reference to her fear that these friends do not see what she has grown into, but rather what she was when younger, nerdy and awkward.  It also suggests that the maze of red curtains on the stage represent the safety and comfort of being with her girlfriend Tara  and are a sexual metaphor as well.  (Freud her sexuality with another female - Lacan -what she shows to others is an illusion she puts on an act because she is unsure of herself). 

Xanders  Dream--   Xander wakes up on Buffy's couch, excuses himself to use the restroom finds himself the object of an attempted seduction by Joyce (Buffy's mum) in the restroom he starts to unzip then realises that the bathroom is attached to a large white room with many men in white coats ready to take notes and observe his performance.  He then meets Buffy, Giles (Buffy's watcher) and Spike (a vampire) in a playground where Spike tells him Giles is going to teach him to be a watcher, while Buffy plays in a sandbox.  Xander then finds himself in an ice cream van with (Anya) (a demon) Willow and Tara they are all dressed in skimpy clothes and heavy make-up they ask him to join them in the back he goes to the back only to find himself in  his basement (where he lives) then goes to the University and meets Giles, who starts to reveal the reasons for the dream,  but suddenly starts speaking in french.  He then finds himself in a reenactment of the `Apocalypse Now`.  The scene between  a captive Capt. Benjamin Willard and Colonel Walker Kurts.  Throughout the sequence Xander end up in his basement again and again.  Chased by an unseen pursuer who revealed as the first slayer when she tears his heart out.

The main theme of Xanders dream is his sense of failure and being left behind by his friends he feels stuck throughout his dream by the inability to leave the basement bedroom in his parents house.  Also by being the only one not at collage with the others he feels anxiety about his ability to understand (ideas and conversations) and keep up with them.  This is further shown when Buffy and Willow tells him "We are well ahead of you)". Underscoring his fear that this is really the case.  (Freud  - young son whats to replace father as the main focus in the family life and sexually).

Giles Dream -  Begins with Giles swinging a watch in front of Buffy (a Watcher is a mentor and trainer). They are in Giles apartment which has no furniture other than a chair and a bed.  Buffy laughs ,then the dream cuts to his family with Buffy and his girlfriend Olivia at a fairground, quicker than the others to realise something is wrong he confronts Spike who is posing for a photo shoot in his crypt.  In the Bronze (a club) he meets Anya failing as a stand up comedian and Willow and Xander,(with a bloody chest wound) warns him of their attacker.  He then breaks in to song, giving suggestions on how to deal with what hunts them, but the sound system breaks down, He then crawls backstage to trace a wiring fault be begins to realise his pursuer is the first slayer just as she (slayer) scalps him.

Giles is represented with two choices whether to remain a father figure to Buffy or begin his own life.  This is shown by the appearance of his girlfriend Olivia who pushes an empty baby stroller.  In this dream of the dream Buffy is dressed as a child unable to throw a ball without his help, this being an indication of that Buffy will not be able to do her job without him.  Then we see Olivia weeping this signifies elements of his unfulfilled  life i.e. marriage and children.

Final Dream Sequence

Buffy is woken by Anya in her dorm. room, then finds herself in her room at home.  Then Tara speaks cryptically about the future.  At the University Buffy talks to her mother who lives in the walls, then meets Riley (was her boyfriend I think) at the Initiative.  He is promoted to surgeon general and is drawing plans with Adam for world domination, the three of them are interrupted by a demon attack and Riley and Adam make a pillow fort, When Buffy finds her weapons bag it only contains mud which she smears on her face.  She is transported to the dessert and finally meets the First Slayer through Tara the First Slayer tells Buffy that she must work on her own which she (Buffy) rejects.The major theme of Buffy's dream is her fear of the personal cost of her life as a slayer the isolation and the loneliness she is forced to endure.

Further notes - The opening dream sequence focused though Willow, illustrates the way that language dissociates us from our own desires (Lacan's psychoanalysis)  By sexualizing the painting on Tara's back  could this exemplify a point made by Freud; "The most prominent of the parts of the body from which libido arises are known as 'erotogenic zones' although in fact the whole of the body is an erotogenic zone of its own kind.

Xanders continual return (in the dream sequence) is to the scene of his childhood trauma (the basement of his home) perfectly illustrates Freud's understanding of repetition compulsion.  Xander also exhibits the classic desire (oedipal) for the mother though his sexual encounter with "Buffy's mum," this ties up with the phallic phase of development (Xander's visit to the bathroom but cannot perform due to the gaze of his father which changes into doctors.

extracts taken from Prof. Fellugu.  (felluga/373 engl 373 the theory of SF-F.

Project 27 Being and its Semblance

Project 27 Being and its Semblance

Schrodinger Cat is a famous illustration of the principle in quantum theory  of superposition proposed by Erwin Schrodinger in 1935.  The cat serves to demonstrate the apparent conflict between what quantum theory tells us what is true about the nature and behaviour of matter on the microscope level and what we observe with the unaided human eye.  Put a cat in a box with a small flask of poison and a radioactive source (sealed).  If the internal monitor detects the radioactivity the flask is shattered releasing the poison that kill the cat.  The idea being that according to the laws of quantum physics the cat is both alive and dead because until it is perceived both scenarios are simultaneously true.

The gaze

Reflections - Bruno Zabagglio

This was commissioned by a group called `Branch` for the cover of a CD Reflections is a stunning painting of colour and gesso at first it is the explosion of colour and texture that pulls you in. An organic Rorschach that makes you want to both define its patterns and yet not dare to do so.  As with any great painting, photographs are pale representations of the original you must be in its presence up close and personal to fully appreciate its impact.

The gaze decides the relationship of the subject with the desire to look and the awareness that one can be viewed.

In Tex Avery's Red Hot Riding Hood' Little Red is an object of desire for the wolf and Droopy Dog a prize to be won, and curves to be admired.  In many comics and cartoons woman are introduced as isolated body parts rather than characters.

The eye  Looking in the eye of someone I feel myself under the gaze of someone else I do not see.

A Quote from Jacques Lacan  I can feel myself under the gaze of someone whose eyes I do not see, nor even discern.  All that is necessary is for something to signify to me that there are others there.  This window (which we all have) of it gets dark and if I have reasons for thinking that there is someone behind it,  it is straight away a gaze. 

In the song by Sisters of Mercy these lyrics appear " I don't exist when you don't see me' so does this mean that the external gaze makes the singer real (Schroeder's experiment)? Does this tie in with Lacan suggesting that the gaze is not what we do to an object but the means by which the object impinges on our consciousness, an object not of ourselves.  The act of photographing people has made them act in a way for the camera - perhaps with instructions from the photographer so the act is not of the photographed but the photographer.

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Chiara Aime born in Italy 1991 self taught - depiction of the human face  - these faces seems to be modelled pictorially speaking - paying attention to the areas such as the eyes, expression of the soul, individual

the mouth and the nose.  A further study of the inner psychological type that reflects her state of mind.  The faces represent almost a tangle of emotions and feeling that come from her thoughts. In this particular face the eyes almost stare into your soul - quite mesmerising.

The Ambassadors  bu Hans Holbein the younger

The painting contains an optical illusion that seems out of place in it, relatively mundane subject matter.  If we stand in a particular spot in relation to the painting we see what appears to be a vague sliver instead this becomes a skull. This skull is waiting inside the painting to catch our gaze and throw it back at us.  This reminds us of our own status as potential objects and for our mortality.

The spectator gaze - gaze of a viewer at an image, this being the most common form of gaze.  You look at me,can also see you looking at others.

Intra-diegetic gaze - this is a gaze of one depicted person at other with the image i.e.  Degaz Le Vol  (the Rape)

This gaze is intra-diegetic the characters in the image that gazes at the subject (the young girl) may feel disgusted and upset by the image- but do not really feel any guilt.  We are not the perpetrators of the assault.

Extra - diegetic gaze this is the direct address to the viewer the gaze of a person in an image looking out as in job of a newsreader.

Inter- diegetic gaze - defers our guilt someone else is hurting that person (or has) which makes us feel guilty 

Different forms of the gaze evoke different structures of power.  Cinema, adverts, computer games thrive on contradictions.  Psychoanalysis seek to evaluate and identify the architecture and symptoms of the gaze 

I

Project 26 Ecclesiastes misquoted

Project 26 Esslesiastes misquoted

The Blade Runner - the Directors Cut

In this the director Ridley Scott finally reveals the answer to a plot which has been a topic of fierce debate for almost 2 decades.  Fans have been divided over whether Harrison Ford's portrayal of the hard boiled cop character Deckard was not human but a genetically engineered 'replicant' the very creatures he is tasked to destroy.

The clue is the appearance of a unicorn on screen while Deckard is lost in thought. Yet another hint comes from the number of 'replicants which Deckard is hunting.  We see that six had made their way to earth one of whom was killed.  Deckard is then looking for 4 begging the question "Who is the 5th 'replicant?

In the film The Matrix which can be interpreted as a criticum of the unreal consumer culture we live in, a culture that may be distracting us from the reality  (that we are being exploited by someone or something ) just as the machines exploited the humans in the Matrix for bio-electricity.

The film bought up two references to the work of Baudrillard.  The first being near to start of the film - when Neo grabs the authors book 'Simulacra and Simulation' to retrieve some mind altering substances hidden in it.  The second is Morpheus when he shows Neo the "real world" - saying  "welcome to the desert of the real"

In fact the 1997 script had Morpheus saying  to Neo "as in Baudrillards vision, your whole life  has been spent inside the map not the territory. This is Chicago as it exists today  the desert of the real".

In an interview entitled "Baudrillard decodes the Matrix" in the Le Niuvel Observatur after the release of the movie, Baudrillard said he had been contacted by the production team regarding his contribution, "It was not really conceivable" he pointed out that the movie failed to investigate the implications of Simulation.

Notes on Baudrillards book Simulacra and Simulations

In the 1980 Baudrillard moved from economically based theory to the consideration of mediation and mass communication (media) he still retained his interest in Saussurean Semiolies and the logic of symbolic exchange (as influenced by Marcel Mauss).  Baudrillard turned his attention to the work of Marshall McLuhan on ideas how the nature of social relations is determined by communications that society employs. 

" The simulacrum is never what hides the truth- it is truth that hides the fact that there is none.  The simulacrum is true".

Badrillard was concerned with the cultural impact of mass/electronic media.  Our culture of simulation has progressed to the point that simulation no longer refers to the world.  Reality has been replaced by nested systems of signs, all referring to one another.  Baudrillard calls " precession of simulacra".  These images began as a reflection of reality, are now not related to reality (but now to other images).

An example of this is Disneyland an imaginary world, set up to mask the fact that America is itself only a simulation in which people take on roles but never truly interact.  In some ways electronic media makes everything a simulation e.i. political scandals that mask broader truths about the capitalist system.

Baudrillard also mentions historical movies which are more "real" that the reality was history is no longer an active force all cultures are congealing into one, and all that is left is nostalgia taken on the extreme e.i. culture content in museums is merely a support for the sedium to operate ( the visitor experience) the point is to encourage visitors, not to transmit the culture, this applies in advertising and propaganda which are more and more becoming powerful fractures of mass media publicity  all that matters not ideas or meanings.

Baudrillards book argues that late 20th century consumer culture is a world which simulations or imitations of reality have become more real then reality itself (he called this "hyper-real" one example of this is walking and running are not nearly as important as they were in pre-modern times, but jogging is a recreational  pastime (with special shoes, clothes, books etc) Whereas before you made do with what you had  these days you must be using or wearing the best that money can buy to be considered worthy of pursuing your sport etc. 

Another example is not much of our food is produced  locally, as in days gone by, but we have "health food" that enables to replicate the experience of a peasants diet. Though  "jogging and health food is somewhat dated the point still holds today.

Baudillard goes on the say that the consumer culture has gone from a state of being surrounded by representations or imitations of things that really exist to a state of which our lives are filled with simulations.  In this situation the world of simulations takes on a life of its own and reality erodes to the point that it becomes a desert. 

Project 25 Illusion is sacred truth profane

Project 25 illusion is sacred truth profane



While spectacle may be seen as an illusory - the unreal- by some for Debord "it says nothing more than that which appears is good, that which is good appears". Could this quote be taken as a metaplor for advertising and how our lives will be changed by purchasing the commodities the companies are selling?

Selling products or lifestyles

One trend that is becoming more and more common in advertising is to appeal to the emotions rather than the features or functionalists of the product.  Rather than talk about why we should purchase the product and discuss some of the practical features, many advertisements go about painting a lifestyle that you would want to have and placing their product in that wonderful new lifestyle.   For example:-

Three examples of current advertising that sells by appeal to lifestyle rather than the virtues of the product itself

The first of these being the television advertisement for Virgin Airlines  the running headline is "Your airline either has got it or it hasn't"  This advert stands true to the core of advertising which is to sell and or market goods by creating associations between the product or brand and present and desirable circumstance events or people .  In this commercial it seeks to associate flying with Virgin Airlines as a fun and glamorous adventure that will leave you wanting more. Visually the advert itself is stunning creating a glamorous world that seems to associate Virgin Airlines with mysterious and fantastical adventures right from the beginning when seen though the crowds at the airport a row of beautiful air hostesses in their red  uniforms (for the male interest) while waking behind them is a member of the male crew ( for the female viewer).  The aim I think is to create a sense of awe and the possible subliminal message that behind this particular scene that Virgin Airlines towers over the other airlines..  Music to the advert is Relax don't do it by  Frankie goes to Hollywood.

My next advent is  The Apple I -Pad

 
This 2003 advertisement by Apple is another example of how modern day advertising has advanced from selling a product to seeing a lifestyle that can be associated with that product instead of seeing the I Pad Apple is selling the lifestyle obtained be ownership of the I Pad.  This visual emphasis is not on her but on the implied careful attitude suggested be the dancing.  The consumer is not distanced from the subject because it is familiar.  This familiarity fools the viewer into believing that it is simple to obtain this lifestyle- purchase the item and obtain the lifestyle!

My third product is

Abercrombie and Fitch Clothing

With this image of rugged country and the muscular figure this advertisement promotes what a REAL Man should be.  The bold text `FIERCE` grabs your attention, but instead of the text advertising the product being sold this billboard advertises what the end result will be if you purchase the product. Since the man's head is not clearly being portrayed as an individual- (his head is not included in the image) - so becomes an object or ideal that can be had by buying the retailers clothing which are counter-intuitively not been displayed in the advert.

Comparing advertisements  for products before the 2nd world war in the modernist period with the same products in today era.

Moet Chandon Dry ~Imperial

"Champagne is the only thing that leaves a woman beautiful after drinking it"  Bette Davies.

This advertisement  was made by using the work of Alphonse Mucha 1860-1939 an Art Nouveau painter and print maker.  He succeeded in bringing art to the ordinary people something he was passionate about
In this case the buyer received not only one of the best champagnes  but also an interesting art work as well may be in the hope that it would encourage the buyer to look more into art.  Though I suspect the company would rather they bought more champagne!

Moet & Chandon champagne 2011

This new campaign features Scarlett Johnsson - the brands celebrity ambassador since 2009.
Scarlett stands precariously on a ladder in her strapless pearl ball grown clutching a bottle of champagne in a huge ballroom with hundreds of champagne flutes stacked up on the floor.  The vintage dress adds to her sexiness and shows off her tiny waist and curves which flashing a toned slender leg at the same time. I think this would possibly encourage a man to purchase a bottle of  champagne.

OXO Cubes

These stock cubes have been around for more that a century - these two advertisements emphasis on family values and show only a modest development in graphic presentation.  The first shows a certain jauntiness creeping in to the picture (with the subversive notion of a man in the kitchen) for most part sobriety rules as it was considered a woman's domain preparing the meals.  The second goes on to say that you do not run a proper house (meal wise) without having oxo in your store cupboard.  Press advertisement's were complemented by free recipe books and colouring books for the nations children.

21st century OXO

The traditional oxe cube could soon disappear from British advertisements and kitchens after a century of service as the cooking product is being axed in favour of an X (the shape of the OXO) The company Premier Foods say that this a new format and will be a limited edition is see that consumers reaction which they hope will be positive to this object of fun.  So gone are the adverts which are to encourage and sell that product i.e. The OXO family which ran for many years to be replaced with a simple shape.  Which the company hope will send a message to other brands that Premier Foods is forward looking and not weded to nostalgia.

project 24 White

Project 24  White



Whiteness    Richard Dyer uses cinema to support the representation  of white  verses black. The films we are to study are Jezebel, Simba, Night of the Living dead and The battle of Algiers. These four different films embody the characteristics required for analysis.  They show the defiance of the white female who lives through her coloured help because she is trapped and comes to accept the rules and society required of her in society - the sorrow of white rule and the black response to it.  ( the book called The Help by Kathryn Stockett comes to mind here which was recently made into a film).




The makers of these films used black heroes  to encourage the white people to see whiteness as a culture they belong to.  Dryer discusses the whiteness in the mind of a white person and relates to each other as (British middle class ugly etc). The purpose of these films was to recognise and to change the way in which we create otherness (i.e. you black me o.k.) To realise that it is wrong to marginalise because of colour.

Night of the Living Dead



This was a 1968 film directed by George Romero.  The plot follows Ben, Barbra and five other trapped in a rural farmhouse. While the house is attacked by reanimated corpses known as ghouls.  The lead role was played by an unknown stage actor Duana Jones, he depicted the role Ben as a comparatively calm and resourceful negro. Which in 1968 was potentially controversial as at that time it was not typical for a African American to be the hero of a film when the rest of the cast were white.

Social commentators saw the casting as significant - but Romero said that Jones "simply gave the best audition.  While Romero (director)  denies he hired Duane Jones because he was black, film reviewer Mark Deming notes that "the grim fate to Duane - the sole heroic figure and only African American had added resonance with the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X still fresh in the minds for Americans.  Stein adds "In the first ever subversive horror movie the resourceful black hero survives the zombies only to be killed by the redneck posse".   Romero confessed that the film was designed to reflect the tensions of the time. (1968).

This is similar to Baraka's play The Dutchman where the male protagonist is thrown off the train by the white passengers after being stabbed here again the coloured man is surrounded by white people and is powerless to defend himself.  What is happening is wrong and no one is fixing it with present methods - to try something else by getting to the problem and stop killing each other.  Dyer concluded that he has no answers for us.  He would like more discussion, discourse and deliberation to get to the bottom of it.  What is left is further deliberation and questions for all colour,race and creed is 'What Now' we all know something is wrong but no one is providing us with any answers!!!


Jezebel

This Film tells of a headstrong woman ( young southern belle) who was used to having her own way and everything done for her by her coloured maid.  Whose actions cost her the man she loves.  In this film colour or creed do not come into it.  This time it is a woman trying to overpower the man and not succeeding.

This film was said by some  to be on a par with Gone With The Wind but without the Yankees.  Instead the enemy is yellow fever and greed.  It takes place in the 1850s in New Orleans although there are references to the abolitionists and the prospect of war the story takes part pre-war.  It focuses on the southern lifestyle of the period and the life and times of a very spirited woman Julia Marsden (known as Jezebel). 

Project 23 Black

Project 22 Black

"To be a woman in Western Society is to be a member, arguably of an oppressed majority (even though we are in the age of equality) To be black in this society is to be a different form of ' the other'.

We are move away from the concept of 'the other' - looking only at gender and sexuality (project 20-22) into the subject of racial issues

Task to read Fact of Blackness by Franz Fanon (course reader)

Fanon (1925-1961) was a post colonial writer born in the French colony of Martinique.  After the 2nd world war he stayed in France to begin his academic career.  When he was working in Algeria the war for Independence broke out and he aligned himself to the Independence movement and became Ambassador for Ghana in the Provisional Government.  He died in the year of the publication of his book The Wretched Earth.

Fanon was writing from the view of a black colonial (a second class citizen) in his own country - I think this would make it more difficult as the world would make it harder for the black citizen as there is a split in the self as you become what are are perceived to be as a lower citizen  The issues that Fanon explored that applied to the visual studies, many artists be they Afro-Caribbean, African or Asian decent that work within Britain (the country of their birth).

Chris Ofili was born in Manchester and caused a sensation in the International Art World by being the first black artist to win the Turner Prize.

Afro Love and Unity 2002

This is painted about old fashioned ideas of paradise Red, black and green represent African nationalism and black unity (black man and woman) there is a connection with Marcus Garvey in the 1920s the Black Panthers and Militant political movements of the 1960 and 70s this could be a pointer back to those days and to see what reaction there is when the colours and points of view are bought back into the modern day.

Lubaina Himids  Jelly Mould Pavilions 2009-20

Lubaina Himids work investigates and looks a historical representations of the people of African diaspora and highlights the importance of their cultural contribution to the contemporary landscape.  She was one of the pioneers of the Black Art movement in the 1980s.  These hand painted Victorian jelly  moulds were done to celebrate the ongoing contribution of the Black community to the City of Liverpool.  These were models of monuments which will never be built.  The ceramic forms are covered in bright coloured text and portraits.  Their purpose is to encourage visitors to ask questions about the city's history how we can celebrate and commemorate the Black community or whether we already do this.

Lubaina  chose Victoria jelly moulds as they symbolise the African link to the sugar industry that once enslaved Africans.


Alvin Kofi

New Embrace (poem)

Alvin Kofi born in London of African and West Indian heritage - has been an artists for over 20 years - his first love is drawing.  On his return from Africa in 1998 he quickly established a reputation having produced the first Black Print Collection distributed in the U K.  Subject and themes have varied over the years but the tradition of Africa has been constant throughout.  In 2003 he started the arts collection 'Black Arts Forus' where he got together 18 black artists to explore their work and experiences.

In Care

 'Lost and NOT FROGOTTEN' is his latest collection which represents studies in life which shows that our ancient past is ever present in poor expression of ourselves.



At Peace (poem)

Wishum Gregory

Gregory takes images and artwork to create a unique montage that captures the essence of each particular theme.  I have chosen King the Life-the Dream- the legacy which honours the legacy of Dr Martin Luther King and  his fight of equality  of all people regardless of colour or creed.  This latest poster also shows the new national memorial and monument in Washington D C opened to the public in 2011.

Other black artists I have found are Sterling Brown, Elizabeth Callett, Lennie Lee, Frank Auerbach, Sonia Boyce, Frank Bowling to name a few.

Also I thought it might also be worth mentioning a couple of books on the subject
Alice Walker (Colour Purple) and Alex Hailey (Roots and also Queen). Both of which I have read with great interest.

Project 22 two fried eggs and a kebab

Project 22 Two fried eggs and a kebab

To consider the work of Sarah Lucas and note any references to the theories that I have looked at so far.

Sarah Lucas was one of the 'Young British Artists' that arrived on the art scene in the 1990's her work mainly consists of self-portraits and uses a variety of mediums to achieve this as she shows life as a woman in the modern world.
Task 1

Two fried eggs and a kebab 1992

 Here Sarah uses foods as a sexual innuendo - a woman is transformed in to a commodity to be possessed and consumed  part of her being a piece of meat.  I think maybe this could link up with Project 21 (images of women, she transform a gaze in to objects.

Task 2

Au Natural 1994

 This work deconstructs the sexual act - genitals are replaced with commodities the soiled double mattress leaning against the wall- an erect cucumber with two oranges at its base - (the man) a bucket and two ripe melons (the female).  This could tie up with the project on Signs and Symbols.

Task 3

Self Portrait with two fried eggs 1996



 In this art work the eggs replace the breasts on the actual female form- to all outward appearances this could be a male with the short hair, T shirt, ripped jeans and man like shoes which supports the irony of the picture.  I wonder if could be aligned with Project 18 the mirror phase?  She does not appear at all feminine in this image.

Task 4

 Eating a Banana  1990

This I believe has great connotations which comment on the castration anxiety in Project 21.  Lucas gazes definitely at the spectator challenging the male gaze.  She avoids the phallic symbols by biting the banana which directly threatens castration.  I think she could be challenging Berger's argument in Project 21.

project 21 images of woman

Project 21  Images of Women

John Berger - ways of seeing Chapter 2 and 3

Berger argues that the tradition of the nude in paintings is almost exclusively that of the female form which is then presented to the male viewer.  The female nude is then possessed not only by the male collector but almost the male viewer.  Looking at women is defined by their appearance and thus the male gaze operates.

Task 1  We are asked using magazines and newspapers as a source to construct a visual study essay showing the visualisation of woman today

              

The above six pictures of the female form from a woman's perspective

                                       

the above 6 pictures of females from a man's perspective

In the first six pictures it is interesting to note that they reflect Lacan's theory of the mirror phase these are what we would like to achieve in looks ourselves but have to realise that a most of these are air brushed etc so have the feeling of being inadequate.

In the second six we see the interpretation that the male enjoys looking at and would like to find someone in their image   (Berger's argument)  The social presence of a man is to have the promise of power  which he embodies this maybe moral, physical, social sexual etc i.e to have power over the woman.   Where as

the woman expresses her own a attitude of herself by gestures, voice, opinions, clothes taste etc. From her earliest childhood woman have been taught to survey herself at all times.  Men look at women where as women watch themselves being looked at.  

The Future Unvielded 1912 oil on canvas by Suzanna Valadon   Geneva

Here Suzanna Valadon does not adopt the typical masculine approach in representing a naked woman.  She has placed the figure in a private area, (traditionally a woman's place was within the domestic sphere).  The woman is not alone nor placed as an object of desire for a man's pleasure.  She reclines on a sofa her naked body fully exposed she is relax and in a confident pose she appears to be completely indifferent to her nakedness as though it is quite a natural state, and does not offer her body as a exhibit for the male spectator, her eyes are looking down at the fortune teller as she deals the cards she is fully absorbed in her own thoughts disinterested in pleasurable experiences for a male audience.

Valadon's painting could be seen as a statement that this woman is not to be regarded as an object of male sexual desire and defies male objectification of the female subject.  

                                           Le Sommeil (Sleep or The Sleepers) 1866 oil on canvas Paris

This is an erotic painting on canvas- which depicts lesbianism.  It was commissioned by a Turkish diplomat and art collector who lived in Paris.  This painting was not permitted to be shown publicly (due to the nature of the subject) until 1988 when is was exhibited by a picture dealer. In 1872 it became a subject of a police report!  The painting shows two naked women lying asleep on a bed entwined in an embrace as couples do.  The setting is a bedroom with various textiles and ornamental furnishings - in the background there is a dark blue velvet curtain which ties in with the subject matter and in the right corner a table with a decorative flower vase.  In the foreground is a small wooden table with three items, a small vessel a transparent vase and a cup there is nothing else in the painting to overshadow the main image - Courbet worked curves between the women a broken peal necklace and hairpin scattered on the bed is reference to the nature of their previous activity.  These painting has been interpreted as a realist painting detailing the bodies without glossing over their imperfections. 

The Tepidarium by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema 1881 oil on panel  Liverpool

The word Tepidarium was a warm Roman Bath.  This picture carries a strong erotic charge rare for a Victorian painting of a nude.  The woman reclines in a pose of exhaustion on a marble couch beside the bath  Her face is flushed perhaps because she has just emerged from the hot bath.  In one hand is a strategically placed ostrich feather fan, barely concealing her genitals.  She holds the fan as if it about to drop from her grasp.  In her other hand she toys with a strigil ( a bronze implement used to scape oil or sweat off the body. This implement combines archaeological authenticity with a explicitly phallic shape, and the general air of sensuality is enhanced by the contract of the fur rug the silken cushions and the naked body.

The above three paintings  are those which would possibly hold more interest to the male viewer

Girl with white dog 1950 Lucian Freud  Tate  oil on canvas



This painting  is of Freud's first wife when pregnant she looks contented and relaxed sitting by a window with her faithful white dog. The drapes behind her are muted also the cover on the bed gives a contract to the plain coloured dressing gown.  One would imagine that she and her dog are both looking at the artist.

  Reclining nude 1942 oil on canvas  Victor Pasmore     Tate

Pasmore produced a series of small and tender portraits and nude studies of his wife,Wendy.  This one presents her in a quiet and intimate manner with the parted curtains adding to the personal time alone. Notice how the light shines across her body and the bed.

Morning 1926  Dod Protor oil on canvas  Tate

The was voted Picture of the year at the R.A. summer exhibition in1927 its popularity has been displayed in New York and a tour of Britain in 1927-1929.  It shows a young girl reclining on her bed in the morning almost awake.  The light from the window gives a powerful sense of volume and peace also the muted colours make it a joy to look at.

These three paintings above I think would be more interesting to the female eye.