Analysis Of John Berger's Visual Pleasure And Narrative Cinema

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Laura Mulvey wrote the article, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” in 1973 and later it was published in 1975. During this period, the Western society was highly patriarchal and was constructed along the lines of stereotypical gender roles and representations. This was a time when men were independent, women were dependent on men, and this gave men absolute supremacy over women, an issue Mulvey addresses in her article. Mulvey is not the only one who spoke about this matter. John Berger, an author, wrote about the sexual imbalance that existed in society and about gender roles in his book, “Ways of Seeing” which was published in 1972. This essay will look at Berger’s ideas and Mulvey’s ideas regarding gender representations in Western society.
John Berger writes about how females behave and the status they hold in a male dominant society in chapter 3 of “Ways of Seeing.” He says that in a patriarchal society men symbolize power and control whereas women represent weakness, they are under the control of men, they obey him and do whatever they can to satisfy their needs. Berger further says that a woman is a symbol of beauty and because of this she is always looked at and surveyed by men. She displays herself in front of men and thus, “she …show more content…

He says that Indian art “shows the active sexual love between two people in which the woman is as active as the man, the actions of each absorbing each other.” (53) One main difference between Indian art and European art is that Indian art gives equal respect to men and women, it views women equal to men and hence portrays them “as active as the man.” On the other hand, European art gives men leverage over women, portrays women as weak and delicate creatures and has one distinct role for women; to flatter men. The relationship between men and women in European society is also seen in Laura Mulvey’s article “Visual Pleasure and Narrative

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