Lecture Eight: The Gaze in Film and Art

The gaze relates to the specific instance of looking, it is a process of looking (or technology) that constitutes a whole web of relationships including power and violence. The gaze gives structure and stability to illusions and fantasies of self and others, and is a mode of viewing and reflecting a gendered code of desire.

In relation to film theory, 'the gaze' is used in a technical manner to explain how the viewers are looking upon the subjects they are being shown. Jacques Lacan, a French psychoanalyst, explored the significance of Freud's discovery of the unconscious, which led to an interest in the unconscious within a dil context and an interest into evidence of the workings of desire. A lot of emphasis was placed upon the importance of the cinema as an apparatus and the relationship between viewer and the screen. It was found that a spectator identifies with larger than life or ideal characters on screen, which confirms the belief that viewers derive pleasure from films through Scopophilia. This is a term used to describe the natural curiosity the viewers have when gazing upon a naked person or someone who id engaged sexually. The term was derived from Freud's theory that the desire to look is an instinct formed in childhood.

We were told that there are four main key 'gazes' within film. The Intra-diegetic Gaze refers to when a character is looking at another and the gaze is often created by a subjective point of view. The Direct Gaze relates to when the character is looking out of frame (or directly at the viewer). The Look of the Camera is when the viewer is looking through the eyes of the filmmaker. And the Spectator's Gaze is the gaze of a viewer an an image of a person in the film.

Through the use of such techniques within animation, we can create a story that is both intriguing and immersive. A great example of how animation has used some of these techniques is Warner Bros. Duck Amuck. The main character of the animation adopts a direct gaze and this allows for a very involving short that makes the viewer feel involved and included. Other 'gazes' can also be used to help aid the story and guide an audience through the visual keys within the story.