In his essay ‘Ways of seeing’, Berger asks why the
social presence of the genders differs so much. He focuses on the nude genre in
European art tradition and conclude that the representation of women as passive
objects is to please the ‘ideal’ spectator who is presumed to be male.
Dyer, also looks at the
bodies of male that have been placed on display. Unlike female bodies, he notes
that this objectification is never truly realised. Different methods are
applied to subvert the violence caused by placing the male body on display and
male dominance is re-established.
The 2017 ESPN body issue offers us the site to examine Berger’s and Dyer’s
assertions as ‘nakedness/nudity’ is expressed through female and male athletes.
The editorial consists of 16 sets photo-shoot, but 2 photos have been chosen to
be showcase the extreme differences in women's representation.
“To
be naked is to be oneself and to be nude is to be seen by other and yet not
recognised for oneself”, writes Berger. After much criticism of the previous
editions, the 2017 editorial is much different. Most of the pictures falls into
the first category described in Berger’s quote. Both female and male athletes
are positioned within the elements of their respective sports: on the courts or
on ice. Time and movements are captured by the lens. In addition, most athletes
do not meet the viewer’s gaze. As a result, the viewer is denied ownership and
the powerful position associated with looking. Rather, the viewer is guided in
following the action taking place in the picture and to witness the incredible
capability of the body. Nevertheless, ESPN still falls in traditional trap
where the muscles of the male athletes are emphasised, whilst softness emanates
from the female athletes.
Two
pictures representing women quickly stand out where one picture not only departs
from the traditional form of women’s images, it also includes what Dyer termed
phallus symbols. In this picture, MMA athlete Michelle Waterson is photographed
with a sword, with a daring glint in her eyes. The sword, a symbol of power which
is traditionally photographed with men as a way of enhancing their masculinity.
But in this case, Michelle possessing this ‘paternal power’ disrupts our ideas
about women. The ‘ideal’ male spectator, which is certainly in the case of ESPN
audience, is denied the chance to objectify her, to own her. She is not empowered
but rather empowered. She is not an appetite to feast on and her body
positioned as if she is ready for combat, might materialise at any attempt to
feast on her. In this photograph, the viewer see Michelle as the fighter that
she is. She is asserting her own identity, rather than the viewer projecting
their ideas and values unto her body. She is naked
Unfortunately, ESPN does offer a different female athlete as
an appetite. In this photograph featuring Caroline Wozniacki, the tennis player
is lying on the court, flirting with the ‘ideal’ spectator. Although there are
pictures of her in motion and her muscles defined, it exemplifies Pollock’s
notion of reading “meanings signified by women in images in reference, for instance to man
in images”. She is the only
athlete in a passive position, inviting the viewer. Her image reeks of the
re-production of the blond bombshell. She is stripped of her virility, present
in her other photographs and reduced to an appetite. She has become a nude.
This
is a continuum which ESPN adopt for the women athletes. On the one hand it focuses
on their strength as athletes to objectifying them. In between these extremes,
they manipulate and negotiate with female and masculine attributes. In the end they try to
appease both the critiques and the ‘ideal’ spectator. This appeasement of the male spectator means that women may be allowed to venture here and there, but they will always be fixed and split in that confined space Berger noticed, to please the male surveyor.
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