The "White Gaze"

I found it interesting that in both the Coleman and Havens pieces, the idea of pride in a positive image of distinctly African American society were prominent.

In the Coleman reading, it was women in particular who praised the depiction of strong, black women in black sitcoms. In the Havens essay, it was a more general pride in the way that The Cosby Show portrayed the modern African American family to all of the US and the world. It draws attention to the fact that television helps to formulate people's perceptions of others and that a positive image translates to a positive viewpoint.

The Havens piece also eluded to the idea of a racial lens through which society sees television and media in general. It seemed to me like the idea of the "male gaze" could be translated to race as the "white gaze." I did some research

and it turns out that the "white gaze" is a legitimate term in cultural studies. The articles I found all credited the whitewashing of American history with this "white gaze," and I can definitely see its effects in the comments from the two articles.

In Western art the influences of the "white gaze" are o

bvious. Caucasians are shown as the subjects of paintings and all others are merely background or a figure of interest only because of their "exotic" nature.