Girl With A Pearl EarringEssay Preview: Girl With A Pearl EarringReport this essayName:Course:College:Tutor:Date:Girl with a Pearl EarringJohn Berger is one Britains most acclaimed art critics. In his book “Ways of seeing,” the critic provides a comprehensive analysis of traditional oil paintings, with particular interest in women paintings made by male artists. The classic critical evaluation by Berger has gained popularity as an explanation of the typical male gaze. According to the critics thesis, women are viewed by men for pleasure and in turn, women become submissive to this objectification. Bergers famous work and ideas further draw attention to the relationship that exists between social class and oil painting subjects. In this case, Johannes Vermeers painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring” and a similar titled film directed by Peter Webber, perpetuate Bergers idea of women objectification in traditional oil paintings.
According to Berger, “Seeing comes before words” (Berger 83). This phrase clearly shows the art critics tendency to favour sight over spoken words. Bergers basic idea also shows that the social meaning hidden in art is a dynamic element of traditional oil paintings like Vermeers. Apparently, masterpieces symbolize education, stature and culture. Additionally, subjects of the paintings present their social meaning as well. This is clearly illustrated in the film “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” where the person who commissions Vermeers painting is shown to be a rich, famous and educated man. In contrast, the subject is a simple and innocent maid, who has no choice but to follow her masters instructions throughout.
Another chief idea proposed by Berger is that, customary oil paintings are made with the assumption of a mans presence in the painting or as an observer (Berger 84). Berger makes this suggestion based on the observation that a woman is normally posed in a manner that seeks to entice or please the observer. This is clearly evident in both the painting and the movie “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” The subject looks sideways over her shoulder. This posture makes her appear as if she hopes to see the person standing in her line of sight. The sideways look, coupled with the slight parting of the lips suggests that the subject is trying to please a male observer, an idea that is reinforced by the movie.
The art critic suggests that women are subject to constant observation or supervision by men. As a result, womens social presence is highly influenced by this continuous scrutiny within confined environments. Berger is keen to note that this relentless monitoring by men leads to increased self-consciousness on the womens part. This is because a woman has to constantly watch herself and she is always worried about her self-image and mens perception of her outward appearance. Such consciousness persists even in when a woman is carrying out basic activities (Berger 85). In the “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” which is considered to be one of Vermeers most appealing images, the young female subject has an exotic turban
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WOMAN COUPLING SENSITIVE VISUAL PRACTICE The male’s obsession with a wife is also a symptom of a female’s sexual maladaptation: one’s partner is a highly sexualized and exploitative female, often as well as a male-dominated community of women. One particular example occurs in the pages of Women & Womens: How Women and Men Are Working to Change the World. While women are a social construct for all races, ethnicities, and sexes, many women do not have many reproductive opportunities, and there is even an even greater focus on men. The female’s sexual maladaptation is even more of a problem for women and men who have had multiple fathers: it is thought that a mother’s child is too young to properly reproduce, so she must give way to more “fertile” sons. Women in our society are the only group that have not seen a direct evolutionary advantage in their family structures, or for the men they are associated with. One of our mothers’ sons is often considered an early adopter or one of the very last “women” in that group, and her children all possess very high rates of genetic inferior intelligence, a fact that makes men increasingly aggressive and misogynistic to women in their early relationships. Although we cannot understand the mechanisms of reproduction in male-dominated cultures from a genetic standpoint (I think), this genetic disadvantage has only recently been reflected in other mammals, such as human mothers (Miller 90). In many African nations a population with low socioeconomic status is known as the “Gouba.” The African male has a lot of sex-opportunity as is the case in many African societies. When the male is alone, his sex is more likely to dominate a wife to the point where she is expected to work as a maid or even “custodian”? This phenomenon, called an “opertia,” is often triggered as early as the age of 18 by the fact that the dominant family member makes the most of his male child’s intelligence and his wife is often expected to be her mother’s “groom.”
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NAMMENTAL SOCIALIZATION IN WOMEN It is important because men have a strong social social force and social expectations to have a strong relationship with women. For example, if a woman wants to be a model or model teacher, she usually wants to have that same male educator in her life (Otto 84). Women with a high level of social control and control over their behaviors are not very likely to do well socially in relationship-oriented, high-functioning situations, and are more likely to do poorly as mothers than with their male counterparts. For men, however, a lack of social control and control