Fashion

David Beckham and rise of the female voyeur

By ⋅ June 23, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

David Beckham - Armani advert

Laura Mulvey in her essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema put forward the view that dominant cinema was created to give pleasure to male viewers. How women and men were placed in relationship to each other in the frame, how women were lit. All were done to make ‘woman’ a visual spectacle. She called this the ‘male gaze’.

How things have changed! Now male bodies are under scrutiny and put up for spectacle for the ‘female gaze’ viewers. Recently David Beckham’s pecs and his pack, in the new Armani underwear ad, have been cause for much discussion. His image is no longer the classic imposing manly authoritative pose. He has been framed is in a way classically used for females in cinema/photography of a bygone era. On his back and open legs. The only signal to his male gender is he is allowed to look directly into the lens. He is now in a long line of men starting from Mark Wahlberg whose bodies have been used to sell underwear.

But is this gaze a result of female liberation or the power of another kind of gaze - the queer male gaze? Is this construction for the lustful look of gay men? Has their desire to own those very same pecs and well ‘own them’ been exploited also by the fact that with that manipulation of their desire comes the powerful and lucrative pink pound?

Tags: Armani, David Beckham, desire, England, gay men, Laura Mulvey, male gaze, Mark Wahlberg, pink pound, Soccer, Sports, underwear ad