The male gaze exists in both genres - note how ludicrously the women are drawn in those comics? ;-)
The difference is in the romance genre - women use the male gaze against the man, to manipulate him. Not sure you've ever watched Marilyn Monroe films..where she did the same thing. She is oddly the most powerful character in many of those films. It's similar to how the female gaze was used by Whedon in Buffy, where Spike manipulates Buffy by her lust for him. Is it successful - no. There's a definitive price.
In truth? It depends on how you want to see power played out? I've grown tired of watching it or reading it through the veil of violence. But people have different buttons. And what bugs me changes constantly. Three years ago - Dollhouse didn't bug me at all, thought it was fascinating. Now? I find it unwatchable. I know why. But I also understand why I didn't three years ago...I think, what I've come to appreciate is that there are multiple ways of perceiving the same thing? And I think...the problem, and I share this and am trying to fight against it in myself, is a stubborn tendency to believe our perception is the correct or only one. (ie. That seduction is "demi-rape" and connotes a view that she secretly wants it" - Not everyone sees it that way. That doesn't make them naive or wrong or sick, their life experience is different is all.)
I just read one novel that yes, feels very much like a commentary on demi-rape and male gaze. Very odd story. In some ways felt like a horror tale. And it's ending surprised me - it did not go the way I thought it would. Never sweetened it. You can learn a lot from this much maligned genre - the reason it is maligned and the male dominated sci-fi/noir genre isn't is men rule the world. Romances in a way are a commentary on it.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-11-27 02:18 pm (UTC)The difference is in the romance genre - women use the male gaze against the man, to manipulate him. Not sure you've ever watched Marilyn Monroe films..where she did the same thing. She is oddly the most powerful character in many of those films. It's similar to how the female gaze was used by Whedon in Buffy, where Spike manipulates Buffy by her lust for him. Is it successful - no. There's a definitive price.
In truth? It depends on how you want to see power played out?
I've grown tired of watching it or reading it through the veil of violence. But people have different buttons. And what bugs me changes constantly. Three years ago - Dollhouse didn't bug me at all, thought it was fascinating. Now? I find it unwatchable. I know why. But I also understand why I didn't three years ago...I think, what I've come to appreciate is that there are multiple ways of perceiving the same thing? And I think...the problem, and I share this and am trying to fight against it in myself, is a stubborn tendency to believe our perception is the correct or only one.
(ie. That seduction is "demi-rape" and connotes a view that she secretly wants it" - Not everyone sees it that way. That doesn't make them naive or wrong or sick, their life experience is different is all.)
I just read one novel that yes, feels very much like a commentary on demi-rape and male gaze. Very odd story. In some ways felt like a horror tale. And it's ending surprised me - it did not go the way I thought it would. Never sweetened it. You can learn a lot from this much maligned genre - the reason it is maligned and the male dominated sci-fi/noir genre isn't is men rule the world. Romances in a way are a commentary on it.