The Gaze and the Other: The Effects of Binary Opposition and Relationships of Power in an Increasingly Visual Culture

This week’s reading was on the representation of “other” groups in visual culture, or minority groups that are perceived to be different from an ethnocentric, patriarchal perspective. This chapter focuses closely on the idea of “the gaze”, which is the way that the audience of a visual is intended to perceive the subject of the visual. While this theory can be applied to any person portrayed in any image, it is most frequently perceived as the lens that a group holding some form of power (whether it be racialized, gendered, sexualized, economic, or social status) views the “lower” group through, and the ways that the visual is constructed to influence this. 

Another way of analyzing “the gaze” is through the concept of binary opposition. Binary opposition is a pair of two things that are perceived to be polar opposites. In practice, this can refer to almost any opposite concept, however, for the purposes of this week’s blog, we are focusing specifically on diametrically opposing social groups where one has historically wielded social power over the other, such as male/female, white/non-white, cis-gendered/transgendered, straight/LGBTQ+, rich/poor, and so forth.

For this week’s blog, we want the class to:

1. Either find an image of someone who is binarily opposed to you in some way or find an image where binary oppositions are reflected within the image itself, explain what you perceive to be the intent or message(s) of the image, and how the image you chose is supposed to make its intended audience feel about the subject of the photo, advertisement, etc. Please find recent images to focus on modern visual culture!

2. Explain the deeper social issue(s) being exemplified within the image (racism, classism, sexism, etc.) and what specifically the image does to showcase it. How does the opposition featured within the image exacerbate social issues and cultural stereotypes by portraying certain demographics as other? How does it seek to subjugate, dominate, or marginalize the subject(s) of the image? Are you, the “spectator,” interpellated by the image? These are just a few questions that you can consider as you post your responses and please be sure to reference the reading!

While finding images and examples of binary oppositions within visual culture, reflect on these terms from this week’s reading:

The Gaze: helps to “establish relationships of power, which typically function to represent codes of dominance and subjugation, difference and otherness... In systems of representation, meaning is established through difference” (Sturken & Cartwright 111).

Unmarked: The first category designated by binary oppositions is the unmarked or the “norm”. For example, Sturken and Cartwright state that “the category of white is understood in European American contexts to be the primary category or the ‘norm’” (Sturken & Cartwright 111). The unmarked demographics are perceived as dominant. 

Marked: The second category is the “marked,” or what the authors define as other. Whereas white is understood to be the “norm” in the example above, black (or brown, etc.) is understood as other to that category - what is not white (Sturken & Cartwright 111). The marked demographics are subverted or subjugated by the unmarked.

Interpellated: The authors define interpellation as “A process of interruption through which an individual viewer comes to recognize himself or herself as among the class or group of subjects for whom the message seems to be intended” (Sturken & Cartwright 103).  

Above is a Ralph Lauren Safari Ad from the 1990s, which was featured on page 113 of our reading for this week. It is an example of binary opposition, as it demonstrates Western v. Eastern cultures and Occidental v. Oriental ideals. The "unmarked" would be Western, while the "marked" is Eastern.