Undergraduate Fellowship in Digital Humanities (UFDH)

My research, Vision Through Films: Women’s Internalization of a Surveyor Male under Men’s Promise of Power, examines the internalization of the “surveyor male,” a concept stemming from the pervasive “male gaze” that influences women to evaluate themselves through a lens shaped by male expectations. The project blends psychoanalysis, film theory, and feminist theory to explore the complexities of women's representation in visual culture, particularly in the context of contemporary media. The research comprises three parts: psychoanalysis fundamentals, a Knightlab timeline, and a short video collection. The first section introduces Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema by offering a quote from the original essay, along with explanations of key terms and overall meanings. The timeline traces the evolution of male gaze, anti-male gaze, and female gaze, and psychoanalysis in film from the 1960s to the present, showcasing how social awareness has altered and subverted former gender hierarchies. The final section emphasizes how these dynamics manifest in contemporary short videos, where women influencers often conform to societal beauty standards to gain popularity, reflecting the enduring influence of the male gaze on women's self-perception and worth. Through the integration of traditional cinema and new media, this project investigates how women continue to self-objectify and prioritize external perceptions over their intrinsic sense of self, as social media and short video platforms like TikTok and Reels continue to perpetuate the internalization of a surveyor male image, even amid the rise of feminism in a seeming sexually liberated era.