The Gaze.

According to Wikipedia 'the gaze' is "analysing visual culture...that deals with how an audience views the people presented. Simply its just about who is doing the looking. A key feature of the gaze is that the subject of the gaze is not aware of the current viewer. there are many different types of gaze:

• The spectator gaze- this is the type of gaze where the viewer is gazing at an image of a person, animal or object in the text.
• The intra diegetic gaze- the gaze of a person at another in the world of text, often portrayed in a point of view shot.
• The direct or extra diegetic address to the viewer- a person gazing as if he was out of the frame of the text and gazing at the viewer, with certain gestures.
•  The look of the camera- the way the camera appears to look at people photographed.

Advertisements aimed at women use the mirror affect, where the women is encouraged to view themselves as the photographer views the model, therefore by buying the product the model is advertising they think they become more like the model.
As well as theses gazes Marjorie Ferguson found four types of facial expression in the cover photos of British women’s magazines:
1. The chocolate box: this is where women pose with a half/full smile, with their lips not visible. The mood they are trying to achieve with this is a pleasing warm perfection.

2. Invitational: this is where the emphasis on the woman is on the eyes, mouth (slightly smiling), position of head (tilted to one side or looking back at the camera). The mood they are trying to achieve with this is mystery or mischief .



3. Super-smiler: this is a full face, very smiley type of pose with the head thrusted forward and the hair wind swept. The mood is shown as slightly aggressive but innocent and demanding that they look at them.

4. Romantic or sexual: this includes a male and female with the pose of dreamy expression, with heavy lids and unsmiling faces. the mood comes across as sexual or 'available'.


Facial expressions of females in advertisement:

1. Soft/introverted
2. Cool/level
3. Seductive
4. Narcissistic
5. Carefree
6. Kitten like
7. Maternal
8. Practical
9. Comic
10. Catalogue

Facial expressions of males in women's advertisements, theses are similar to the woman's facial expressions:

• carefree
• practical
• seductive
• comic
• catalogue

A female model typically averts her eyes, expressing modesty, patience and a lack of interest in anything else but a male model looks up. His look suggests an interest in something else that the viewer cannot see; it doesn’t suggest any interest in the viewer like they are barely acknowledging the viewer. In the cases where the model is looking up, this always suggests spirituality, he might be there for his face and body to be gazed at, but his mind is on higher things.  Male pin-ups more often than not do not look at the viewer. When they do, what is crucial is the kind of look that it is, something very often determined by the set of the mouth that accompanies it. When the female pin-up returns the viewer’s gaze, it is usually some kind of smile, inviting. The male pin-up simply still stares at the viewer.