| In critical theory, sociology, and psychoanalysis, the gaze (translated from French le regard) is the act of seeing and being seen.
Numerous existentialists and phenomenologists have addressed the concept of gaze beginning with Jean-Paul Sartre. Foucault elaborated on gaze to illustrate a particular dynamic in power relations and disciplinary mechanisms in his Discipline and Punish. Derrida also elaborated on the relations of animals and humans via the gaze in The Animal That Therefore I Am. The concept of a male gaze was originally theorized by feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey, and has since been applied to many other forms of media and technology, such as advertisements, the work space, and video games. |
