S02 E19: Ways of Seeing: The Politics of the Visual and the Male Gaze

Before you can critique what images show, you have to understand how seeing works. And seeing is never neutral.In this episode, we explore John Berger's revolutionary series of essays, originally a BBC programme, that changed how we think about art, advertising, and visual culture. Berger shows how oil painting served property relations, how publicity images manipulate our sense of lack, and how men look at women differently than women look at themselves.It's short, clear, and illustrated. Berger believed criticism should be accessible. He practiced what he preached.The question he keeps returning to: who benefits from the way we've been taught to see?Source: "Ways of Seeing" by John Berger (1972)