Web spectatorship differs from cinema in being tactile grabbing rather than gaze
Evidence
But on the Web, spectatorship functions less as gaze than grab. “By ‘grab,’ I mean to clutch with the hand, to seize for a moment, to command attention, to touch—often inappropriately, sometimes reciprocally. To grab is to grasp, to snatch, to capture.” Grabbing occurs over the Web in different ways during each stage of production, consumption, interpretation, and circulation. With respect to production, the date and time stamp on most camgirl sites is an iconic reminder that webcams are generally set to take photos every few seconds or minutes, rather than continuously. With respect to consumption, camgirl viewership is more like partaking in a visual banquet than like grabbing something from McDonald’s. Camgirls are viewed not on televisions but on crowded computer desktops that require viewers to click and drag between multiple windows and, of course, hide non-work-related images should a boss walk by. — Theresa M. Senft, Camgirls, 324
Categorization
- XREF: Contrasts the cinematic ‘gaze’ concept from film theory (Mulvey etc.) with web interactivity, extends to later writing about clicking, liking, and platform affordances. — connects to: Mulvey theorized three layered voyeuristic gazes subjugating women in cinema — Theresa M. Senft, Camgirls: Celebrity and Community in…, 317; Web grabbing is better analyzed as commodity fetishism than voyeurism — Theresa M. Senft, Camgirls: Celebrity and Community in…, 329; Fan reconstruction of camgirl events depends on viewers’ arbitrary screen grabs — Theresa M. Senft, Camgirls: Celebrity and Community in…, 327 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Fan reconstruction of camgirl events depends on viewers’ arbitrary screen grabs
#exemplifies(0.85) — Theresa M. Senft, Camgirls, 327 - Web grabbing is better analyzed as commodity fetishism than voyeurism
#expands(0.82) — Theresa M. Senft, Camgirls, 329 - Immersive staging physically reoriented spectators into a clambering, exposed position
#corroborates(0.78) — J. Hoberman, Everything Is Now, 1668 - Screen-based interaction retains the emotional exposure of bodily copresence.
#qualifies(0.74) — Karin Knorr Cetina & Urs Bruegger, Global Microstructures, 103