The camera's gaze

Continuing on the topic of my style of filming from the camera's perspective i will now discuss how the camera eye has an almost ruling presence over its subject. When discussing the idea of the male gaze we talk about how in photo shoots women are told to look at the camera like its the eye of the man. In our culture we are bombarded with images of women adopting conforming poses often like they are at the mercy of the beholder, the camera has authority over them. This tells us how demeaning a camera can be when it has an identity of an eye so by being the phones eye we suggest an entrapment over its user.

Many films like to play around with the idea of the camera's gaze. In Alfred Hitchcocks Rear Window the protagonist uses the camera to incriminate and to expose. Yet also it perhaps has a darker connotation of perverse camera wielder. In Peeping Tom this perverse nature is toyed with when the murder kills his victims on hand-held camera. Not only is the camera a phallic symbol but also a dominating to the point of violence. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5It0nmoYE4

Alfred Hitchcocks 'Rear Window'

                                                Michael Powells 'Peeping Tom'

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