Week 3

I know that I have gotten behind on actually posting my thoughts lately, so I will try to catch up on my comments in the next few days.

One of the Calvin Klein advertisements we were assigned to study for Tuesday reminded me of Manet’s painting, Olympia. The advertisement portrays a male model lying on his side with his legs spread and facing the camera, wearing nothing but a pair of briefs, denim vest, and tennis shoes. To me, the composition and controversy of this ad seems similar to that of Olympia. Both the Calvin Klein advertisement and Olympia feature a person stretched out to reveal themselves to their audience. The only difference is the gender of the person, the amount of clothing, and the time period in which each piece was introduced. The work by Manet was unlike any other work of his time and was considered extremely controversial at that time. I would venture to say that the Calvin Klein advertisement was not quite as controversial when it was first introduced, but for the 1990s, it most certainly employed more sex appeal than that which the average consumer was accustomed.

The Madonna music video we watched in class on Thursday for "Express Yourself" raised some interesting questions in my mind regarding the notion of "the gaze." Traditionally females have been the object of the gaze in art produced for the pleasure of males. In Madonna’s music videos her characters always seems to be in control of the gaze, but she herself has fallen victim to the gaze by producing the music video. A good example of this contradiction can be found in this particular video. Madonna sings “don’t go for second best……make him express how he feels” (Lyrics Search Engine). She is portrayed as a woman who knows what she wants and isn’t going to settle, in other words, she is a woman in control. However she is seen in some scenes of the video dressed in lingerie and dancing seductively. The video makes her the object of the gaze and places her among countless other women who have been subjects of the gaze. Madonna is known for being a rule-breaker and a strong, confident woman, but in this video she is unlike anyone else. She has put herself in the traditional role of a woman subject to the male gaze. If one interprets the video by seeing that Madonna is not a passive subject, it could be argued that she is in control of the gaze. Traditionally, victims of the gaze were portrayed as unknowing subjects who did not look back or interact with their audience in any way. Madonna’s active role in the video can be seen as a result of her exhibitionism, and thus she is still considered a victim of the gaze.