This commercial does not portray young females as passive objects of the male gaze.
I would argue that ideas of the male gaze have little to do with the ways in which these images were crafted or received.
Her female 'captives' signal a profound lack of personal liberty, whereas freedom is equated with masculinity and the penetrating force of the male gaze.
Their resemblance to the ubiquitous portrait suggests an alternative to the male gaze/female object.
Much has been said about the historic supremacy of the male gaze and its dominance over our experience of art, literature, and theatre.
One could argue that the male gaze has been attenuated by new subject matter: veiled female figures and female filmmakers.
Such transfigurations, employing allegory and exotic imagery, epitomize the carefully choreographed spectacle of femininity produced for the male gaze in the aristocratic marriage market.
The prevalence of mirrors therefore ultimately reflects the dominance of the male gaze under patriarchy - and the consequences of this gaze for the female subject.
