The Vitruvian Man

you may not know his name, but you've seen him plenty of times before. You know, that multi-limbed man in the square and the circle. This master piece is probably known by everyone, hence I guess no-one knows it has a name! It was drawn around 1492 by Leonardo da Vinci and is about architecture and the proportions of the human body. The man is called after the Roman architect Vitruvius, who believed — like Leonardo — that the proportions of the body should be taken forward into architecture. The drawing is now located in the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice, Italy. There is a nice article about “The Vitruvian Man and the plannng of temples”

The "Male Gaze"

when we look at a specific object, what we are seeing is more than the thing itself : we are seeing the relationship between the thing and ourselves. Some objects are made to be looked. an image is formed, and everyone can own it, so the person can own the image of the object. the gaze is a term used for anaylsing visual culture that deals how an audience views the people presented; however, the gaze are primarily categorized by whho is doing the looking.

the image of the female nude has been alwayn inactive, traditionally reclining,or sometimes even showing admiring her image in a mirror, and all this to nurture the spectator owner's sense of ego and possession. the painting of femal beauty offered up the pleasure of her appearance for the male spectator owner's gaze. but the spectator owner's gaze sees not merely the object of the gaze, but sees the link between the object and the self. He sees her as a creature of his domain, under his gaze of possession -- simultaneously admiring and pejorative, but always as an object of his desire in his domain.
the male gaze is so dominant in ads that it is assumed or taken for granted. Females are showing their feminity for the pleasure of an absent male spectator. "Men act and women appear" states berger.
lately, we have noticed the extension of the male gaze into ads for men's product adressed at male audiences. as you can notice in the pictur above, they have extended to young men the pose of a women aware of herself on display as an object of vision, the picture is a typical of a new genre : men who don't act but merely appear. just as the women who cant never take the position of the absent spectator-owner.

Voyeuristic vs. Imaginistic

we do all watch different movies and series, and we tend to disagree about some television programs. while I like to watch Grey's Anatomy, Desesperate Housewives and House, you may like watch Lost, Heroes and Prison break.
The shows we like are make-believe and that is why they comelling to us. Personally, I dont want to watch "the real stories " drama because I get enough real worl drama every day. Through the news we read or watch we do understand that there is a great amoint of sorrow, sadness, brokneess and dysfunction within the world without having to watch it. this is voyeurism
Does this mean that we are trying to escape reality and built our own little world?No, there is no way to accomplish that outside of mind altering prescriptions. You may call me optimistic, but I do like shows were the characters are pitted against challenges that can relate to, set in creative and imaginative "worlds" where they rise above the pains and sorrows they face, and this to better stimulate our imagination.
some poeple try to read in order to use their imagination to create characters and worlds through their minds-eyes, but some poeple they just can not. why is there a loss of wonder and imagination amongst many today? could it be because we are too much bombarded by the "real world" that we lost the ability and turn to coping mechanism because of strees?
Imagination is the ability of the mind to be creative, innovative or resourceful, it is the action of forming new ideas and concepts, and it help us to reduce strees, it stimulates mental activties, it breaks new ground and help us to look to problems and issues in a creative fun. Imagination is Fun!!!
So what about you? are you voyeuristic or imaginistic?