For class next week, you will be submitting your final draft of your critical analysis as well as your reading response on the third chapter of Berger’s Ways of Seeing.
Some reminders for your final draft:
- Please make sure you refer to the “formatting guidelines” on the syllabus. Check your paper for MLA formatting, page numbers, and double-spacing, and make sure to include a word count at the end.
- Please also attach the copy of your discovery draft and first draft with my notes.
- In your final writer’s letter, you should specifically reflect on the comments I emailed to you on your first draft. How did you address them? How did they guide your revision process? For more guidelines on the final draft writer’s letter, refer to the assignment sheet.
Please also read Chapter 3 of John Berger’s “Ways of Seeing.” In your response, you can write about whatever you wish. However, I ask that at the end of your comment, you come up with 1-2 questions that you can bring to class discussion. As a reminder, your responses are due at midnight the evening before class.
In Chapter 3 of John Berger’s “Way of Seeing,” Berger starts by indicating a difference in viewpoint between men and women. Men act as the surveyor, while women acts as both a surveyor and surveyed. Women by her identity is confined to the actions of men and views her appearance as one of the most fundamental elements. An example used in the article was Adam and Eve. Once they bit into the apple, they viewed each other differently and Eve became “subservient” to Adam. We can see a myriad of paintings, some of them are European while others are non-European. The European paintings mostly show nude women as a sign of submission. Berger describes a difference between the idea of nudity and nakedness. By being naked, you are revealing yourself to others. In being nude, you are being viewed as a “form of art” and part of a display. Using other paintings such as Ruben’s second wife’s, Berger describes the effect of banality as a disguise. I don’t quite get the idea that he’s trying to convey. But I believe that the imbalance between men and women is being in the process of being resolved. With current trends contemporary times show, there’s a shift in the way women are being viewed as. More and more women have gone to college, pursing major degrees and establishing themselves as equal to men. And even later on in the chapter, Berger indicates that artists question the way women see themselves and has used some paintings to convey this certain viewpoint at the end. Would Berger react differently if he wrote this chapter in the 21st Century? Women judge a lot of men these days, and men have to be the surveyors and the surveyed now. This change has questioned the very notion that Berger establishes with men and women. Cultural has a large part to play in the process and is extremely hard to change once something is rooted into place.
From Chapter 3 of John Berger’s “Ways of Seeing” it is easy to see that certain nude paintings from European history are far more complex then how they simply appear to ones eye. Berger showed that the emotional aspect of the woman in the painting wasn’t as nearly as important to the details in how she presents herself. When looking at the women in the paintings Berger mentioned that, ” Often she looks away from him or she looks out of the picture”( pg 56). When there is a painting that presents a barely clothed couple the woman doesn’t look at her supposed lover. Instead she faces the “surveyor” or the man who is analyzing the painting, because she understands that she will be heavily scrutinized by the viewer and society, and the way she is portrayed will reflect on what others will feel about her or even treat her from there on out. The woman in the painting is there to please the male audience first which is an unfortunately common aspect in both the society of the past and present.Berger even pointed out that If the woman in the picture has her hair flowing it symbolizes her power in the scene of the painting, then compared to if the woman had her hair wrapped up which expresses a more subservient characteristic. So,the confidence factor plays a huge role in the nude paintings which portray the woman as the ” sight” they know they are. For example, it was stated by Berger that , “She is naked as the spectator sees her”(pg 50), from a painting which portrayed Susannah naked, it seemed as if she still had her dominance factor because she looks right at the viewer with straight confidence. However, will we as a society/culture keep upholding the portrayals of women as we have had for ages? Aren’t men just as limited as women in the ways they should act/behave?
In Chapter 3 of John Berger’s “Way of Seeing”, Berger discusses women nudity in paintings as well as their submissiveness. He starts off by describing the difference in men and women “presence”. A man’s presence depends upon his power which he exercises on others and can range from moral, physical, temperamental, economic, social, and sexual. A woman’s presence however, is solely based upon how she presents herself in her gestures, voice, clothes, and much more. Berger also talks about women being the surveyed and surveyor. They survey themselves to make sure they appear appropriate to others, specifically men. Therefore, women survey themselves and are also being surveyed by the people around them . Men on the other side, are only the surveyors and survey women before treating them. This puts an emphasis on women’s appearance at all times. Due to all these acts, women are “an object of vision”, in which they are always being looked at and judged. Berger then talks about nude women in European oil paintings. He believes Adam and Eve had a significant role on nude paintings, and described how Eve being ruled over Adam created a submissive image of women which translated over in to nude paintings. Women became an object of pleasure, nothing more and nothing less. Berger concluded the chapter by saying how women are still being judged by their appearance and objectified. Although women’s role has greatly changed for the better in today’s society, are they still being seen as objects? If so, will we ever be able to get rid of this depiction of women?
In these week’s reading response, its about Chapter 3 of John Berger’s “Ways of Seeing.” Last time I read this book was chapter 7, in how ads or how publicity influence or affect the views of society. In chapter 3, its about how society view people’s body, more specifically on women’s body shape and look, especially nude paintings and magazines. As stated in the text, “To be born a women has been to be born, within an allotted and confined space, into the keeping of men. The social presence of women has developed as a result of their ingenuity in living under such tutelage within such a limited space.” It doesn’t matter what women do, as society puts them as an object especially for men. This is the main issue as all the picture show semi-naked female as art, in a religious representation, or as body-shaming. But times as change as modern art “category of the nude has become less important.” But it has some social effect as these nudes are made by painters and spectator-owners were usually men and the persons so deeply embedded in our culture that is still structure the consciousness of many women.” Even as time and culture is changing, as women are equal to men, the effects of inequality is presented in these pictures. The portrayal of people has always been part of human society, but there is a few questions that should be brought up in discussions, such as why has it been male that has been able to dictate what is the perfect body for females, and over the pass few years has this change in anyway that society has scaled back on this form of portraying women?
In Chapter 3 of John Berger’s “Way of Seeing”, Berger talks about the women nudity in paintings and the relationship between women and men. Berger points out that woman is both the surveyed and surveyor. And he talks about the difference between being naked and being nude: being naked means being without clothes, but being nude means that you become a form of art. We can see from the paintings, woman without clothes are not for herself, it is for the men, the viewers, and she is trying to please them. There is a painting of a family ( I guess) on page 7, the woman does not look at her lover, she is looking at the outside of the painting, the viewers. And Berger also uses an example of Eve and Adam, Adam is always taking care of Eve which means men would take control of women. I think it is wrong, and our society is improving a lot. Women now have more power and rights than before, but there are still some sexism happening, and I don’t know will it be better.
In John Berger’s “Ways of seeing” in Chapter 3, you see a strikingly familiar social concept. Berger discusses here how in society, there are the “surveyors” and the “surveyed.” The surveyors tend to be men and the surveyed tend to be women. He then however, throws a wrench into what seems to be a clear and cut two system society. Berger states that women also tend to be surveyors as well, but in a different context. As opposed to it being men surveying women and women surveying men, it’s actually men who survey women and women who also survey women too. Women could be surveying other women or themselves, but women tend to have this habit to survey their selves. Berger dives into this concept more as he discusses that in society; a woman surveys herself in order to “see who she is because what she looks like determines her success in life.” Instead of something along the lines of both parties surveying each other in order to determine what each can bring to their respective parties, one party evaluates the other as the other evaluates their selves. Although we currently live in a progressive society in comparison to the rest of the world, this message is all too real in our simple minded youth. This stems to the question of what will it take for women to be seen in the same light as we see men? What would happen if the roles were switched? What effect would that have when you factor in testosterone and how men are more aggressive?
In Chapter 3 of John Berger’s “Way of Seeing”, John Berger focuses on the nudity of women in paintings. He also explains how women tend to “survey” and watch themselves being looked at by men. Berger also introduces an even larger problem, the inferiority society sees women as opposed to men. This issue he introduces is still relevant in today’s society. One major example of this problem is the pay gap women face today as opposed to men. This problem stems from a long history of women being subservient to men for thousands and thousands of years. Berger also explores the female psyche, as he explains it’s split into two categories, the surveyor and the surveyed. He explains how the surveyor is male but is actually the female’s own mind surveying themselves. He also states how women have to always survey themselves in multiple ways to see how others would see them and judge them, thus being the surveyed. “Her own sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being appreciated as herself by another”. This quote expresses how women have to survey everything, and in the end, they appreciate being surveyed by men and peers. A strong symbol Berger reveals is the mirror, which represents strong pride in a woman on her appearance. This shows that women who are more secure about their exterior appearance are more likely to have or use a mirror. However, Berger also explains that by putting a mirror in front of a woman, you’re ultimately objectifying them as they now also see themselves as an object and reflection of their exterior. Women’s nudity in paintings was a symbol of insecurity and objectification of women, who are equal counterparts to men. Women have been objectified and treated unfairly for thousands of years even today, women are still objectified and treated as inferior to men.
In chapter 3 of Ways of Seeing, John Berger discusses how men and women are viewed in society. According to Berger, a man’s image can be fabricated, his actions do not affect his image. However, a woman must always be conscious of the image she is presenting to the world or more specifically, to men. Everything she does reflects back on her image. The woman, then, must identify with both roles, she has to assume the part of the surveyor and the surveyed. This dual role comes to measure her success in life, as opposed to a man’s success which comes from his exertion of power. John Berger goes on to discuss the image of women, as they’ve been portrayed in oil paintings throughout history. I found it interesting how the idea of a woman being the lesser of a man goes all the way back to the Bible and the creation of the world. It would appear that since the dawn of time, women was given the role of serving men. Women became on object that was scrutinized by men. Throughout history, the paintings show women subjecting themselves to their male spectators. Time are changing and I wonder, will men eventually assume the role women have been playing since the dawn of time? Can both men and women be equal or does one gender have to always dominate the other?
As discussed by Berger in Chapter 3 of “Ways of Seeing,” we could trace back to where the idea of perfect femininity has originated. With the emergence of nude paintings, especially in Europe, we could argue that this was the first time where feminine aspects were applied to artwork. And as stated by Berger, many artists, like Durer “believed that the ideal nude ought to be constructed by taking the face of one body, the breasts of another, the legs of a third, the shoulders of a fourth, the hands of a fifth – and so on” (62). I believe that with these aspects being implemented in society of creating the “perfect” woman has been prolonging into today’s society. However, I believe that this is now more advanced than it ever was before because many women in today’s society are very insecure about their bodies, especially when they compare themselves to celebrities. And with today’s advances in medicine and technology, many women if they have the money they could invest in creating what society perceives as a “perfect” body. As a result, this brings up many questions like what is considered a “perfect” woman? How could a woman be considered “perfect”? Who decides these factors in women? And many other controversial questions arise as well. Ultimately, I believe that with the emergence of these nude paintings in Europe, the ideas that were assembled about femininity and appeals have translated to modern day times. And that these nude women that were presented in thoxe paintings are modern day celebrities who are considered “perfect” because of the money that they are willing to invest to enhance their physical features. Therefore, the insecurities that women started feeling about themselves through these nude paintings lived on and will most likely continue living on because the media will always portray celebrities as these “perfect” human beings with the most amazing body’s and physical features which causes the spread of insecurities not only in women but in men as well.
John Berger’s chapter three is very direct and to the point on the concept of female thought and sexuality and how it relates back to the male counterpart. It speaks that from an early age women are taught to always survey themselves, to envision their appearance to others and essentially the appearance to a man. Berger states that, “her own sense of being in herself is supplanted by a sense of being appreciated as herself by another,” and that, “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.” It’s almost as if he is claiming that the objectification of woman is to be blamed on the female herself. That it stems on how the female has turned herself into an object because of the fact that the female must search for some kind of male approval. While the comment seems sexist at first, he also seems to contradict by bringing up nudity as an art form. He speaks of a painting called Vanity, in which the mirror symbolizes some form of narcissism on the woman. The mirror, an object of no significance, now puts the woman in a window for criticism, that it is justified to condemn her because she is vain. However, is the woman truly the only one to be criticized when it is the artist who painted her for his viewing pleasure? Why is the male’s mind disguised under the shame of women?
By reading Berger’s “Ways of Seeing” I look at Berger a different way. I appreciated Berger’s views on publicity and I found them somewhat accurate and worthwhile to write an 1800 word essay on. However as I read this article I sort of become disgusted with his views on woman. Berger states how men are powerful especially with their presence. But how woman are the total opposite; to Berger woman are not as powerful as men. Berger states, “there is nothing she can do which does not contribute to her presence.” Berer is basically stating that a woman is useless in her presence. This is shocking because as a woman it is crazy to believe that this is what many men believed back then.
Berger states how women care more about their looks then other important things because they only try to get a man’s attention. He basically is saying that women are symbols of lust. I just know this article was written a long time ago because this article today would receive a lot of backlash. I look at this article and think about how far women have come from being oppressed. Woman these days should not view themselves as being useless because they have the power to be who they want and today’s society has made it that way.
In Chapter 3 of “Ways of Seeing”, John Berger starts off by distinguishing between men and women’s presence and how each is portrayed differently. He sates that a man’s presence is indicative of what he expect to do or what he can do, while a women’s presence is only indicative of what she expects to be done to her and how she expects to be treated. He then goes on by using this example “If a woman throws a glass on the floor, this is an example of how she treats her own emotion of anger and so of how she would wish it to be treated by others. If a man does the same, his action is only read as an expression of his anger”. He adds to this by saying that women have a sense of being appreciated by another, and in turn are considered a “sight”. What I think he is trying to say is that women are being objectified because of themselves, which is an extremely sexist way of looking at it. I don’t want to call Berger a sexist though, because he uses the representation of women in nude as an art. He makes a claim that when you are alone you are considered naked, but when being viewed by others you are nude. I never thought about the difference between the two, but now it males more sense to me. However I still have some questions that I think he doesn’t really address. Why does he believe a man’s actions are just what he can do, but a woman’s are what she expects people to do to her. Why has to norm in society been to fault women for the wronging of men? It is in fact men who intend to receive pleasure from women who were the target audience of the nude paintings, yet people still find a way to blame women for posing nude. Why so?
In chapter 3 of John Bergers “Way of Seeing”, Berger discusses women nudity in paintings and his take on the relationship roles of females and males. Berger states that women are both the surveyed and the surveyor while men are simply the surveyors. In his own words he states “To be born a women has been to be born, within an allotted and confined space, into the keeping of men. The social presence of women has developed as a result of their ingenuity in living under such tutelage within such a limited space.” Meaning that women were meant to conform to the needs of men. At this time in human history words like that are simply unacceptable, but back then it was understandable to have this sort of view. Now many people I have noticed in my class were calling him sexist, misogynistic and such but we fail to realize that he simply lived in a different time than the time we live in now. With the ever growing influence women have on today’s society of course this point of view would be seen as absurd and rude, but to truly analyze this work we must analyze it as someone’s point of view at that specific time period. So although he does have a very interesting and quite derogatory take on the relationship between man and woman but we have to take into consideration that during his time period it was respected and possibly ideal.