John Berger and Michel de Certeau present two distinct arguments concerning the existence and societal impact of power relationships within consumerism and consumption. Although their opinions and theories significantly differ from one another, they each provide insightful and thought-provoking explanations and conclusions.
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At first glance, there is an explicit similarity amid the two images displayed on the left: both of the women depicted are clearly unclothed. However, there exists a much more significant parallel between the representations which can be unveiled and understood through analytic exploration of John Berger’s “theory of the gaze” presented in Ways of Seeing, a book based on a BBC television series.
The extensive research and findings of this British novelist, art critic, and painter considerably examined “the operation of ideology in Western art history and visual culture” (Gendered Looking Relations lect.). Focus on pieces of artwork, such as the painting shown above on the left, enabled Berger to consciously uncover implicit gendered looking relations which were created, defined, and upheld through the socially constructed ideas and beliefs concerning men and women’s societal positions and the power differences underlying their life experiences and self-identity. And it was through this momentous awareness and understanding, that the “theory of the gaze” came to be.
“According to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome, the social presence of a woman is different in kind from that of a man” (Berger, Ways of Seeing, 45). The presence of the male is primarily associated with the power he embodies and aims to reveal what he is capable of doing to or for you. Therefore, the male gender is linked to action and control. In contrast, the female presence is highly dependent upon her own attitude towards herself and expresses what can and cannot be done to her (Berger, Ways of Seeing, 46). Everything a female does or says contributes to her presence encouraging her to remain constantly aware of how she is being perceived by others, specifically males. This vital need to always watch and monitor their every move is a product of socialization defined as the “process by which normative cultural expectations, including appropriate gendered behavior, are learned and internalized” (Thomas-Williams). Males judge or survey females before they decide how to treat them and because females are aware of this power the opposite gender possesses, they relentlessly fulfill the role of the surveyed as well as the surveyor. “One might simplify this by saying: men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object –and most particularly an object of vision: a sight” (Berger, Ways of Seeing, 47).
The binary opposition of male dominance and female inferiority which encompasses the “theory of the gaze” is strongly evidenced through Berger’s analysis of past European artwork, such as oil paintings, which often depicted the female body without any clothes on. It is important to note the significant difference between naked and nude. “To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen naked by others and not recognized for oneself” (Berger, Ways of Seeing, 54). In other words, to be nude is to be merely an object put on display for others to visually enjoy and constantly gaze upon. “To gaze implies more than to look at-it signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze” (Jonathon Schroeder, Gendered Looking Relations ppt.).
In this painting, the female body is presented as a physical object to be gazed at by the male spectator, the subject who is viewing the image (Thomas-Williams). It is important to note that “the ‘ideal’ spectator is always assumed to be male and the image of the woman is designed to flatter him” (ibid., 64, Gendered Looking Relations ppt.). This relationship between the male viewer and the female image being viewed supports the dominance and power the 
male gender has over females. As previously mentioned, the superior constraint men have over women even influences the female viewer to view the presence of themselves through the eyes of a male. This idea of the female taking on the male’s role of the surveyor is depicted in the image on the right. The woman is not only acting as the surveyed in which she is being gazed at by male spectators but is also viewing herself in a mirror through the male “focus of the lens-which is always imbued with power” (Thomas-Williams).
The “theory of the gaze” is also extremely prevalent and visible in consumerism advertisements and depictions of the female gender in today’s society. It is not rare at all to flip through a magazine and see numerous portrayals of women wearing barely any clothing and presenting themselves in a clearly sexualized way. Even advertisements which are meant to be viewed by females seem to support the dominant 
gaze of the male gender. “So the women who look at these ads are being invited to identity both with the person being viewed and with an implicit, opposite-sex viewer” (ibid., 44, Gendered Looking Relations lect.).
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Michel de Certeau’s perspectives and conclusions concerning the power relationships within consumerism and consumption differ significantly from those of John Berger. While Berger believes that the consumer world and structure creates a binary opposition in terms of power experienced by the genders, de Certeau argues that both males and females have the opportunity to achieve agency, “the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own decisions” (Thomas-Williams). He disagrees with the notion that people are drones and play passive roles when it comes to consumer culture. In contrast, he thinks that individuals in society are able to fulfill an active roles and explains and supports his thoughts through the theory of the practices of everyday life which underlies the “strategies of the producers of culture and the tactics of ‘ordinary people [who] subvert the dominant economic order from within'” (Practice of Everyday Life ppt.). Through the use of creative and tactical use of consumer culture, individuals are able to use consumerism and all it entails to their advantage. Although these benefits are often hidden and unable to easily recognize, de Certeau argues that they are there and need to be revealed and brought to the surface. Furthermore, he does not agree with Berger’s conclusions supporting the passivity and inferiority experienced by the female gender through consumerism. Instead, de Certeau feels that the ability to achieve an active role in consumer culture can ultimately shape lives and relationships.
Citations:
Berger, John. Chapter 3. Ways of Seeing. Viking Press, New York, 1974
Gendered Looking Relations PowerPoint and Lecture
“General Introduction and ‘Making Do’: Uses and Tactics,” by Michel de Certeau, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
Practice of Everyday Life PowerPoint and Lecture
Thomas-Williams, Critical Terms in Gender Studies, accessed January 27, 2011: http://g205atiu.wordpress.com/critical-terms/
lg3088 
Good analysis and good incorporation of images throughout. I really like how much you expanded on Berger, but it would have been interesting to connect any images/media to your de Certeau arguments as well. I think even though he doesn’t directly address gendered relations, he does have a lot to say about power structures, which is relevant to gendered relations. For example, I might connect the roles of the male gaze (men act and women appear) to the fact that men, often the producers/ones in power in advertising, are able to act and create things, while women generally play the roles of models and simply appear however the director instructs them to.
I like your mix of older “big C” artistic portraits with the newer “little c” images of commercial advertising; the way you combined them captured Berger very well and also reminded me of many of the connections we watched in “Codes of Gender” in class (I know that many of the arguments from that video were based off of similar authors, but it is still good to note how much your blog connected to things we’ve seen in class). I took a very different approach in my blog and centered my arguments around one single show/commercial, so it was nice to read how you took a broader approach and incorporated a lot of different images. It really speaks to just how prominent the male gaze is in our society. I thought your line about how even female-based audiences are confronted with these images really connected to our discussions of hegemony as well.
I meant to say (in reference to my de Certeau connection) that those men in power (directors, producers) use strategies, while women (both the models and the female readers) have an opportunity to use tactics in their own interactions. I realized above I was basically just making another Berger argument!