The Tonight Show is one of my favorite late night talk shows, mainly because Conan O'Brien is an intellectual whose comedy usually transcends societal grey areas like sexism, racism, elitism etc. However, last night's episode with Olivia Wilde changed my opinion drastically.
Jim Carrey (also a guest on the same episode) is described as "amazingly talented", while Olivia Wilde is introduced as "the very beautiful". In her introduction, no reference is made to her talents as an actress; her looks and sex appeal are made to be our main base for judging her. I have also noticed that talk shows almost always show women's skimpy magazine photo shoots (eg: Olivia Wilde, Eva Mendes, etc), while males aren't alluded to in that manner. Men are not overtly shown as "objects" to be coveted, but as people to be admired and respected. Women, on the other hand, are made to be worth their dress size and how much skin they are willing to show on TV (whether blatantly through sex scenes, or subtly by advertising their photo spreads in magazines). Conan O'Brien also lets Jim Carrey talk and interrupt him, while he is the one interrupting and talking over Olivia Wilde. I realize that this is an issue that has be addressed several times by several different people, but it is particularly pertinent to understand that Olivia Wilde plays a doctor on television, while Jim Carrey is primarily a comedian. Therefore, is he given more respect on this show because he is a man?
Another pertinent point about the male gaze (that is not related to the Tonight Show) can be seen in advertising. The brand Axe always advertise their personal care products in relation to women (and famously portray women as mindless sex objects): They sell their deodorants by saying that women will (quite literally) be attracted to you, their shampoos by using the tagline "Get girl approved hair", etc. However, it is interesting to note that the company that owns Axe, Unilever Co, also owns Dove, a company that was made famous by its "Campaign for Real Beauty" that we discussed in great detail in this class. Can be assumed, then, that Axe is aware of its exploitation of women and emphasis on the male gaze and wants to counter that with Dove?
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