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Reflection
Reflection
framingthesubject is a capstone project that began in spring 2024 at the University of Hawaiʻi--West Oʻahu. Pre-capstone research on the sexual objectification of women in music videos and how women could be represented as subjects instead, led to a search to define the concept of female gaze. While male gaze has been defined by media, the aspects of female gaze, and its possibilities, remain obscure. After completing pre-capstone research on gaze and the ways women are sexually objectified within music video culture, I sought to determine a definition for female gaze that is applicable to all creative mediums with framingthesubject. Art reflects culture and its values. This project asks us how we want to be represented and what we, as individuals, want to be known for.
As can be seen from the slideshow presentation, the final project proposed changed completely. It was only upon beginning the project in fall 2024 that the shift toward a website became more clear. If I wanted awareness brought to female gaze, I first needed to define what it was. And to define female gaze, one needed to define the aspects, like empowerment and sexual-objectification, that contextualize the concept. I went into the topic matter with my own biases, but eventually realized the only way to address how people think was to ask them what exactly they thought. Hence, the survey was created to gauge the understanding of the topics and their definitions from an array of people with different backgrounds and interests. As a website, the project displays information from my research and the survey participants as a collection. It brings awareness to how a subject is framed in media, while also letting viewers develop their own conclusions on the definitions of each term. This website can remain as a time capsule of the project's results. When it comes to creating and consuming content, I leave a question to consider:
How do you want to be seen?
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