Seeing Differently

One of the assigned readings for mass communications was ‘Ways of Seeing’ by John Berger. Before reading this book, I judged it as boring to my 21st century mind.

As I read, I was not interested about how oil paintings have revolutionized how the world is seen. I understand that it is defiantly a critical part of history that has helped shape the way modern day art and photographs are thought up. It may just be that I am one of the many who are used to seeing reproductions of classic artworks and therefore cannot appreciate the real talent and meaning behind it (in the original). I may have developed my “…own act of looking at it…” (31). Although this is a topic that seemed uninteresting to me at first, the language and concepts in the chapter was compelling.

When I reached chapter 2, the photo essay of women, I thought it was about how women are portrayed in society. The evolution of housewife to superstar is interesting. “…A woman’s presence expresses her own attitude towards herself and defines what can and can not be done to her” (46). When I first read this, I definitely disagreed. I feel that a woman in the media, such as the women in the essay photos, only represent what they are selling. They do not look independent and in control of themselves in comparison to women in the media today, Madonna for example, but the way this concept was told in the book made it enjoyable. It showed the photo essay first, to let me gather my own thoughts and draw my own conclusions, and than it shot out the text in a sophisticated manner making me think about different interpretations of the essay.

I found it very interesting to see how many modern day images have roots from old paintings and stories. The different versions of Adam and Eve were very interesting to read about because it illustrated the many interpretations of media and the classic bible story, and it also shows how images and models have changed through time.

The part about publicity in the book, the final chapters, was definitely my favourite part and is most relevant to this time because “no other kind of image confronts us so frequently” (129). No other image attacks us so frequently. Publicity and advertisements force their way into everything we do. They are on the subway, the radio, and magazines. These images do not confront us but overtake us. Berger is right in saying that these images create a new person, one that we envy and are jealous of (134). I have never thought of advertisements like that before nor have I thought that glamour is the outcome of being envied.

If you attain all that is advertised, are you happy? If you have passed the level of self-envy and jealousy because you have bought or received all that are advertised, is it worth it? In the first thirty seconds of the following interview from Entertainment Tonight, 'the material girl' speaks of materialistic happiness.



This makes me wonder, if none of these advertised products truly bring happiness, why is everything advertised so thoroughly? I would suppose the answer is to make money, but for the people who create ads that make the money, they are only going to spend their money investing in products that are advertised, and it will just follow a pattern. Advertise, buy into, make money, and buy into.

In conclusion, a half-picture book has taught me more about the medium of images and advertisements than I would have expected. I learned that all of the advertisements out there have a different impact on us as humans. We absorb so many ads on a daily basis and we hardly recognize the cultural and historical backgrounds of them. I love art. I love analyzing painters’ techniques, discussing colour, shape, and texture: but now I have a deeper understanding and appreciation of arts history and impact on current culture. I now witness the impact of publicity in my life, and how the simple act of purchasing something that I see on TV contributes to the ongoing circle of advertisement. Now when I buy something, I will ask myself, is this worth it? Will it make me happy?

Cited Work:

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 1972.

Tonight, Enteratinment. Personal interview. 2003. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIfO_3MU5Xo

Visual Culture Through Visual Means

Group Assignment 1 - Image Curation

To start off, group work is a completely different category than the assignment itself. At first, I was in a stable group who had thought up ideas and had started to research and brainstorm how our slide show would come to life. The time came to do the actual slide show, and some members of the group had decided for themselves that we were changing out topic. News to me! At first I was open to the idea, but than I did not understand their new topic, nor did I see why they wanted to change topics. Robert felt the same way, so our group for this project split. The girls did a photo essay on the culture of Canada, while Robert and I focused on the original fashion topic.

Robert and I spent hours looking up photos of fashion through the ages. Our plan was to convey the message of how fashion in different cultures has changed throughout the years and how media has influenced the changes. We made a short video displaying the photos in order of culture, past to present. Through this I saw the many differences that had occurred, as well as the similarities that kept each fashion unique to its culture. We both thought up different cultures and key words that would find what we were looking for. I was the technical one in the group and I used computer software to make the video. At the end of it all, we both forgot to cite our pictures. I had to go to work, so Robert looked up all our photos again and completed correct citation for each. In the end, I was not too satisfied with our video. As it stands, it is hard to see what the topic is and what we were trying to portray.

Through looking at our slide show, I notice a racial tension. Our minds had thought up, what we though were the most common fashion cultures, and as it turned out, only 1 of the image sets are of black people. Another thing I noticed was the emotions portrayed from the photos. All of the photos of white people have a certain ‘Power’ to them, as if they are in control. The photos of the African people look like they are saddened, unattractive, and being used. This may be because of the photos we chose, but I think the photos chose us because of the limited availability of African culture fashion photos. The black people may think that they have a power to their photos as well, but as a white male that was raised in this multimedia world, I see differently.

Another detail I notice is the ending. When we were making our slide show, we decided to end with a photo that represents modern western fashion at its best. We wanted to show the ultimate fashion in 2007. Without thinking about this, the photo ended up being a male. I learned a lot about how society and the past has influenced how we think. By watching the slide show, it shows the white male in power because he is the last shown and illustrates the successful fashion, reinforcing the gender roles of the past.

Cited Work

Fashioneista Image

"Fashion Gallery." Leicestershire County Council. 7 September 2007. Leicestershire County Council. 25 Sept 2007 .

African Old Fashion

"African Fashion Apparel." African Fashion. 2006. 20 Sep 2007 .

African New Fashion

Christine, Yemma. "African Austrailian Online Resourse." Hair & Fashion . 2006. 25 Sep 2007 .

Asian Old Fashion

Huynh, Nancy. "Fashion and Accessories." Beauty and Style. 2005. 25 Sep 2007 .

Asian New Fashion

Hung, Jeff. "Style Watch." People. 2007. 25 Sep 2007 .

Victorian Fashion

Ruscelli, Al. "Victorian Fashion Photographs." Weddings Portraits and Event Photography. 2006. 20 Sep 2007 .

Modern English Fashion

Munro, Gordon. "Gordon Monro: Welcome." Godon Monro. 2006. Live Books 4.0. 20 Sep 2007 .

French Old Fashion

Adelyn, Lee. "A Room with a View." Caffe Cambrone, Rose Bakery, and Marie Antoinette, and More Macarons. 2007. 21 Sep 2007 .

French New Fashion

"People's Daily Online." French Fashion Show in Tokyo Japan. 2005. 20 Sep 2007 .

Greek New Fashion

Flores, Robert. "Robert Flores." At Home Portraits. 2006. 25 Sep 2007 .

Old Greek Fashion

Alexander. Dir. Oliver Stone. Perf. Colin Ferrell. DVD. Warner Brothers, 2004.

Italian Fashion

Madeira, Marcio. "Haute Concept- The Mens Wear Fashion." Archive for the 'J.Lindeberg' Category. 2007. 21 Sep 2007 .

A Thousand Pictures

“A picture is worth a thousand words, but a word is worth a thousand pictures,” (Lipton).

This statement sprung a revolution in my mind. It is amazing. I have never, ever thought of this before, and when I heard it in class I was amazed. I do not know why the simplicity of reversing an age-old statement boggles my mind so much, but it does.

I agree with the statement 100% and I have a new outlook on the power of language, not only language, but also interpretation. Look below at my table;

I interpreted the word “table” a certain way in order to produce that result. My interpretation is made up of my life experiences, exposure to media and tables, and my sense of language and communication. It truly amazes me thinking about how many different kinds of tables were drawn in class and what elements enabled the different interpretations.

It also amazes me how similar everyone’s tables must have been, how much the word table can influence our thoughts, even though it just a word. The meaning of the word table is actually nothing, but our minds give the word so much meaning and this meaning is common among many different cultures and peoples.

Creative Project

Making and Marketing the Media Autobiography

For my Media Autobiography, I chose to combat the stereotypes portrayed in the Media. I chose five stereotypes that have affected my life in some way. I illustrated the stereotypes in the form of finger puppets. I put them all on a glove to represent the relationship between them as well as the carious forms of media that portray the stereotypes. I decided to make a short film that would re-enforce the stereotype puppets I made.

I was very impressed with the work of my classmates. The projects were truly creative and some of their explanations blew my mind. For example, my new friend Katrina's media bar was outstanding. The way she related the media and images portrayed to that of a bar and a beer bottle was pure gold. I was also very impressed at the work put into some of the projects. I do not remember her name, but she sang and played guitar. Her skill alone was outstanding, but the words she was singing had depth and meant something. I also really liked all the collages. It was interesting to see how different they were; knowing they all had the same assignment.

Through this project, I learned the importance of creativity in the media. Having new material is one thing, but having new material that means something makes it worthwhile. This project also illustrated the importance of interpretation. If this project was able to produce so many different outcomes, than how many different interpretations of the media are there. I now believe that I respond differently to media than my classmates, and the world.

Truth

"We know about the world if we accept it as the camera records it" (Susan Sontag, Postman 73).

As I was reading Postman's book, this line stood out to me. As an Image Arts student, the discussion of photography really left an impression in my mind. Do we only know the world as the camera records it? As Postman says, a photograph does not require a context, so there are no means to argue its content or truth. There is no beginning, middle, or end of photographs (73, 74), there is just the one moment in time captured on film. It depends on how the moment in time is interpreted.

A photo of a dog sitting on a couch can illustrate many stories about how the dog became a couch sitter, if the dog always sits on the couch, and other assumptions we can make about the dog. Are any of them are true? We do not know what was really happening when that dog was on the couch. Only the photographer does, and it was their choice to make what we know about the dog available to us. The photographer chose to crop out the man yelling at the dog, to cover up the dogs’ footprints with a floral blanket. The photographer chose to make this moment in time as visually appealing as possible, to tell his story, through his eyes.

This makes me wonder about life. In every photo, TV show, song, advertisement, game, etc, are we really seeing the big picture? Are the professionals leaving out important details? Is what we know really true? Or is it true because we have accepted what the creator chose to include?

Mark Lipton is his name...

Well, my first Mass Communications class was yesterday. It was not what I had expected. There were about 150 students in that room. Intimidating for sure. Than the professor came and walked in. His smooth strut and clam tone encouraged participation and excitement. After all, this was my first media course. My first class was an elective, so this is my first exposure to the program that I had worked so hard to get into.

Mark Lipton is his name, and Mass Communications is his game. He seems to be very well educated and is definitely different from all my high school teachers. His laid back personality and teaching style (from what he has told us so far) is one of a kind. He cares that we learn, not that we do the work. When he mentioned his partner, my mind went wild. Do I really have a gay teacher? Wow! This is pretty amazing. Coming from a religious background, and being exposed to discrimination throughout my high school years, this is comforting. It is empowering knowing that our society has come so far with the issue of homosexuality, even to the extent of having a gay professor. I like it!