I suspect that the main problem with objectification is when it’s the only way that certain people interact with certain other people. It doesn’t seem to be entirely avoidable, in any case, but recognizing that a person has agency and all that when it’s important makes it okay to focus on other things at other times. It’s also an issue when people are, or feel like they are, only treated in objectifying ways—socially-normal neurotypicals seem to have an innate need for validation of themselves-as-people that being treated in objectified ways interferes with.
As to the two pictures, the framing of the first, both in the sense of how it’s composed and in terms of the caption, seems to me to make it more problematic than it would be on its own, and more problematic than the second picture. There are many fewer contextual and body language cues, and we’re specifically prompted to see the subject as a body to be judged and (in a fantasy sense) used. The second picture has no such prompting, and it’s entirely possible to read it as a group of individual people, wonder about what they’re doing, try to guess at what they’re thinking, and so on. (What are those people at the top of the picture looking at? That guy on the bottom near the right, is he helping that person up, or about to headbutt them? The woman in the upper right with her hair in a bun looks like she’s having fun, and maybe just made a friend, and I hope that person next to her doesn’t fall!)
You may want to see if you can find a good explanation of the term “male gaze”. Unfortunately I don’t have one—in fact if you do find a good one I’d appreciate it if you shared—but it seems highly relevant from what I’ve gathered.
You may want to see if you can find a good explanation of the term “male gaze”. Unfortunately I don’t have one—in fact if you do find a good one I’d appreciate it if you shared—but it seems highly relevant from what I’ve gathered.
The framing allows everyone to turn their mind killers off, and the mission statement of entertainment means that concepts have to be presented so clearly that understanding them takes almost no effort at all, while there simply is no incentive to try to make anything sound profound.
“Pretty” in particular is a word that gives me a lot of trouble—I’ve never actually been able to pin down a coherent, consistent meaning for it. Assuming that you’re trying to get at a message of “the only interesting aspect of this picture is its aesthetics”, though, I suspect that I would indeed find it objectionable, particularly if the picture itself was also edited to remove any bits that might be interesting for other reasons or to put focus on some particular aesthetic aspect at the expense of allowing other interpretations. (I’m more of a visual thinker than a textual one, so I find the composition of pictures to be more relevant than the captions, which I often don’t even read. Some people are the opposite, so both are important in general.)
I suspect that the main problem with objectification is when it’s the only way that certain people interact with certain other people. It doesn’t seem to be entirely avoidable, in any case, but recognizing that a person has agency and all that when it’s important makes it okay to focus on other things at other times. It’s also an issue when people are, or feel like they are, only treated in objectifying ways—socially-normal neurotypicals seem to have an innate need for validation of themselves-as-people that being treated in objectified ways interferes with.
As to the two pictures, the framing of the first, both in the sense of how it’s composed and in terms of the caption, seems to me to make it more problematic than it would be on its own, and more problematic than the second picture. There are many fewer contextual and body language cues, and we’re specifically prompted to see the subject as a body to be judged and (in a fantasy sense) used. The second picture has no such prompting, and it’s entirely possible to read it as a group of individual people, wonder about what they’re doing, try to guess at what they’re thinking, and so on. (What are those people at the top of the picture looking at? That guy on the bottom near the right, is he helping that person up, or about to headbutt them? The woman in the upper right with her hair in a bun looks like she’s having fun, and maybe just made a friend, and I hope that person next to her doesn’t fall!)
You may want to see if you can find a good explanation of the term “male gaze”. Unfortunately I don’t have one—in fact if you do find a good one I’d appreciate it if you shared—but it seems highly relevant from what I’ve gathered.
Male Gaze.
… I continue to be surprised by and impressed with TVTropes’ usefulness when it comes to social issues. Thanks!
The framing allows everyone to turn their mind killers off, and the mission statement of entertainment means that concepts have to be presented so clearly that understanding them takes almost no effort at all, while there simply is no incentive to try to make anything sound profound.
Also.
What would you think if the Muddy People photo was accompanied by the caption “Mud fights make for pretty pictures”?
“Pretty” in particular is a word that gives me a lot of trouble—I’ve never actually been able to pin down a coherent, consistent meaning for it. Assuming that you’re trying to get at a message of “the only interesting aspect of this picture is its aesthetics”, though, I suspect that I would indeed find it objectionable, particularly if the picture itself was also edited to remove any bits that might be interesting for other reasons or to put focus on some particular aesthetic aspect at the expense of allowing other interpretations. (I’m more of a visual thinker than a textual one, so I find the composition of pictures to be more relevant than the captions, which I often don’t even read. Some people are the opposite, so both are important in general.)