Gaze

"T-Rex, as soon as you place the camera somewhere, you're making a value judgment about what's worth seeing and what's not. You're privileging what's in front of the camera over what's behind it: that's political!"

—Utahraptor, Dinosaur Comics, April 26th, 2005

The Gaze, a theory about filmography originating in The Seventies that has since been expanded to fit all visual media, describes the relationship between the media, especially visual media, and how it is observed and meant to be observed.

• The Spectator's gaze: That's you. The gaze of the one reading the book, watching the movie, or whatever.
• In-universe gazing: How objects and characters are represented by the perceptions of the story's characters.
• The direct address: When the work, well, adresses the audience directly. See also, Breaking the Fourth Wall.
• The camera's gaze: The framing, position of the camera, amount of time spent on an object, all presenting that object in a certain light.
• The editorial gaze: The reason a shot made it to publishing is because it was deemed relevant or notable enough to be included in the first place.
• The Male Gaze: The often unconscious assumption on the part of a creator that the audience is male (and, generally, heterosexual). This frequently applies even in works intended for women. The comparatively rare converse is Female Gaze.