Japan has been a significant leading force in the gaming industry since the late 1970s. With the global influence of its game, Japanese cultural impacts can also be seen in other countries. This...Show moreJapan has been a significant leading force in the gaming industry since the late 1970s. With the global influence of its game, Japanese cultural impacts can also be seen in other countries. This study aims to explore the differences in female images between traditional literature and current video games in China as a reflection of Japanese popular culture influences. The study uses a qualitative multi-model discourse analysis on images of Wu Zetian and Cai Wenji constructed between traditional literature and the digital game Honor of Kings. As a result, this research finds that the Shojo concept exists in the image of Wu Zetian in this digital game. Additionally, the existence of Kawaii and Moe concepts is reflected through the image of Cai Wenji with a comparison of traditional literature and art. Moreover, the male gaze can be seen in the reimagination of historical figures in the Honor of Kings. Such influence is not an Asian complex but a global phenomenon.Show less
A Gaze into the Past explores the evolution of Laura Mulvey's influential theory of the male gaze from its cinematic origins to its expansion into broader societal contexts, offering fresh...Show moreA Gaze into the Past explores the evolution of Laura Mulvey's influential theory of the male gaze from its cinematic origins to its expansion into broader societal contexts, offering fresh perspectives on gender, sexuality, and societal hierarchies. Marlieke van der Veer researches through two case studies of collections of erotic art in Pompeii, namely the Lupanar and the House of Vettii, the application of the gaze theory to Roman society, focusing on the second half of the first century CE. The analysis reveals that the dominant Roman gaze was aiming at the masculinity a Roman man was expected to embody, instead of gender itself. Therefore, the Roman male gaze was specified as the masculine gaze. This gaze revolved for a large part around the active versus passive roles in sexual intercourse. The study also explored a female gaze, presenting the idealized image of the "femina bona" in contrast to the antagonist, the prostitute, with women finding subtle ways of resistance. Additionally, she introduces the intersectional gaze, inspired by Kimberlé Crenshaw's modern intersectionality framework, demonstrating how intersecting features of gender, sexuality, age, and class shaped one's position in the In-group or Out-group and highlighting moments of power for marginalized groups. In conclusion, this research offers a comprehensive understanding of how the gaze theory can be applied beyond its cinematic origins, shedding light on the complexities of societal dynamics in Roman Antiquity and potentially other historical periods.Show less
This thesis will examine illustrations of female masturbation in early 19th-century shunga (erotic art), produced by artists Katsushika Hokusai and Chokyosai Eiri. Shunga works reflected a ...Show moreThis thesis will examine illustrations of female masturbation in early 19th-century shunga (erotic art), produced by artists Katsushika Hokusai and Chokyosai Eiri. Shunga works reflected a ‘shungatopia’ that featured all kinds of sexual behavior. Within these works, women are known to be subjected to erotic fantasies imposed by a domineering male gaze in such depictions. In this thesis, I will analyze two erotic books from the late Edo period and utilize earlier academic publications that offer varying perspectives on the central issue of reality versus male-produced erotic discourse in the Edo period. This essay asks what shunga works expose about female masturbatory practices, and what this implies for the role of women within the erotic culture of early modern Japan.Show less
This paper is the first in-depth analysis of the digital artwork ‘Humanoid’ (2021) by Jennie Feyen. By utilizing primarily the theoretical frameworks of Laura Mulvey and Kai Baldwin in order to...Show moreThis paper is the first in-depth analysis of the digital artwork ‘Humanoid’ (2021) by Jennie Feyen. By utilizing primarily the theoretical frameworks of Laura Mulvey and Kai Baldwin in order to unpack the bodily portrayal of the figure in the name of ‘Humanoid’, this paper offers a distinctive reading of the artwork in relation to male gaze theory and the notion of digitized body. Through the multi-sensory analysis, the problematic representation of the female body and also an ideal representation of the genderless body in ‘Humanoid’ will be revealed. This paper will demonstrate the dualism of the digital space by referring to its power dynamics and also proposing an alternative body for representing the self.Show less
This study analyses the portrayal of women in Turkish films on the Dutch Netflix. With the help of three concepts from feminist film theory, namely male gaze, male voice and female subjectivity,...Show moreThis study analyses the portrayal of women in Turkish films on the Dutch Netflix. With the help of three concepts from feminist film theory, namely male gaze, male voice and female subjectivity, and with the help from earlier studies on the portrayal of women in Turkish films, it finds that women in the Turkish films on the Dutch Netflix are overall portrayed in more passive ways than men, that the female characters often play a supporting role as compared to the male characters and that the concepts from feminist film theorists can still be applied to recently released films. Some films in the corpus however also contain feminist themes and elements, such as female protagonists and female characters that are not occupied with a search for love, but focus on their own personal development. This study concludes that while women are overall not portrayed in a positive way in the corpus, these feminist themes show a promising development that will hopefully continue in the future.Show less
De Ander in Kunst onderzoekt door middel van literatuuronderzoek het debat omtrent gelijkheid en de daarbij ontstane rol van de Ander, naar de theorie van Emmanuel Levinas en Paul Cartledge, in...Show moreDe Ander in Kunst onderzoekt door middel van literatuuronderzoek het debat omtrent gelijkheid en de daarbij ontstane rol van de Ander, naar de theorie van Emmanuel Levinas en Paul Cartledge, in hedendaagse kunst. Door de fotoserie Sculptures Of Ancient Deities And Mythological Creatures (2018-2019) van Oliver Marinkoski als casestudy te nemen, ontstaan verschillende vormen van de Ander, waaronder de hedendaagse cultuur tegenover de Klassieke cultuur. Middels vergelijkende analyses van het onderzoeksobject met diverse kunstwerken die zich in het debat hebben gemengd, komt het belang van de theorie van de male gaze, zoals geformuleerd door Laura Mulvey, aan het licht. Een tweede vorm van de Ander wordt hiermee gelegd op genders. Tenslotte worden de opgedane inzichten verhelderd middels een plaatsing in de tijd van de Klassieke Oudheid. Hiermee wordt een Antieke vorm van racisme ontdekt, het fenomeen van op geografische afstand gebaseerde sociale minderwaardigheidsoordelen. Ook lijkt de serie door middel van antiquisatie iconoclastische toe-eigening te bevatten.Show less
Le Roman de la Rose de Guillaume de Lorris et de Jean de Meung est une oeuvre très connue du Moyen-Age français. Pourtant, elle a aussi été déclencheur d'une grande discussion littéraire sur la...Show moreLe Roman de la Rose de Guillaume de Lorris et de Jean de Meung est une oeuvre très connue du Moyen-Age français. Pourtant, elle a aussi été déclencheur d'une grande discussion littéraire sur la valeur morale de l'ouvrage. Dans ce mémoire, nous chercherons à trouver les signes de la 'male gaze' dans la partie Jean de Meung du Roman de la Rose, au sein des descriptions féminines qui apparaissent dans l'histoire sous une forme particulière : la descriptio puellae.Show less
In this thesis my research question is to find out how the male gaze influenced the relation between representations of female bodies in video games and sexualisation and weakness. Firstly I look...Show moreIn this thesis my research question is to find out how the male gaze influenced the relation between representations of female bodies in video games and sexualisation and weakness. Firstly I look at what other scholars have written about the representation of female characters in video games and note how objectification and the sexualised representation of women implicitly tends to be associated with the negative role stereotyping and passive gender roles. In questioning this, I take a different approach compared to previous research. Drawing from feminist and gender theories, I analyse three female characters that each depict a different relation between the body, male gaze and power. I show how the two characters who appear to be lesser sexualised, Zelda and Samus, appear to suffer more severely from the male gaze than Bayonetta does. Bayonetta, in turn, can be analysed as a critique towards the male gaze and masculine status. From the analysis I will conclud that it is not exclusively the visual appearance that determines whether a character is portrayed as weak or not, but that the gaze plays an important role as well.Show less
