Post 1 by Nikolaos

Through my reading of the five assignments which we have reviewed so far, I have deciphered the meanings of certain key terms and understand how they relate to each other, and what they mean in regards to media and image making. The definitions of these key terms and their correlation with one another and with imagery and culture are presented in the following paragraphs. 

An object, as per Berger, may be any of the following: a short used product such as a bottle of coke, an oil painting representing singular ownership of private property, and even a woman’s body in the sense that it is a physical object to be enjoyed by the senses.  The latter definition of object ties in with the gaze, in which the viewed object, for example a painting of a woman, loses a sense of autonomy when there develops the awareness by the subject that the lady is being viewed.  There then exists a hierarchal relationship between viewer and viewed, in which the viewer holds the upper place over the viewed.  As you look at the above pastel by Degas, you are giving the girl the gaze and the girl is slowly morphing from persona to object in time. 

A representation is like a sign of a thing signified, or a copy of an original, as per The Society of the Spectacle.  It is an illusion, and not the real thing.  Yet, illusion can be considered more sacred than reality.  Some of the he best examples would be fine oil paintings that informed publicity seeking advertisements, such as the Manet painting of a picnic in the forest.  Due to the sacredness of illusion over truth, it is worthwhile to create representations of reality.  In Remote Control, it is said that when we watch television we are elsewhere, immersed and living through representations of real blood and flesh, representations that prance and dance across the TV, movie, and computer screens.  Lippard thinks photographs are representations that become spirit snatchers of the Native American subjects in them, their lives now captive on a flat piece of paper. 

            Remote Control also touches on popular culture, and gives examples such as The Simpson’s and Jungle Fever, depictions that shut down the deluded fantasies of family life that exist in America.  Salt-n-Pepa, and Queen Latifah, are two rappers that are a part of popular, telling it like it is, Yo-Yo!  Popular culture then is music, TV, and cinema, and more, that is contemporary and real, based on the context of the reading.  For myself, Michael Jackson is one of my favorite stars of popular culture of all time: http://www.michaeljackson.com/us/home

            A method of hegemony described in Lippard’s article has been to isolate the Other, such as the Native American, in another time and place, to distance them from Another.  The purpose of hegemony is to establish one country or social group over others, and it is attained not only through violent devices such as force used to conquer Native Americans, but via more tricky means such as the effects on the mind and imagination of blacks as detailed in Representations of Whiteness in the Black Imagination. And for more on hegemony, check out the interesting Noam Chomsky at this link:  http://www.democracynow.org/2003/10/22/noam_chomsky_on_hegemony_or_survival 

 
Hegemony in essence is a form of power, power being the ability to influence and rule and direct others.  Power needs to be wielded by a singular figure with an understanding of the culture he is dealing with.  For Napolean won France but lost power in Spain in Russia when he misunderstood the culture and mindset of the people in Spain and Russia.  And power, when in the hands of the masses and hordes, according to the  The Era of Crowds,  is destructive, as large groups develop a barbarian mentality and behave unreasonably.  Money too is power, and the more buying power an ad agency has the bigger presence it can have on imagery and culture.    
                                      

Sexism is stereotyping or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex.  We see many examples of sexism in Berger’s article, the most predominant one being, in the pictures, and descriptions, of advertisements, that of the role of woman playing the sex object nymph, large areas of naked flesh revealed.  The type of sexy woman, in leg design and dress and taste, is a stereotype that the media was and is putting out in their image making.  Sexism then is a device used by men to maintain power.  Sexism towards woman can exist in numerous forms, not just the lustful kind. 

 

 Ways of Looking is the way we look at things, through the lens of our experiences and notions.  For example, the media and image-makers of Berger’s article had experience with art of the museums and were influenced by the style and liked to give pictures to the public that contained many similarities such as the devices of gesture, poses and luxurious materials. 

 Consumer/ Consumption is written about in reference to the society that Berger describes, one where imagery is consumed and publicity presents to the consumer lifestyles and objects that are desirable and keep one on the move, ever consuming to satisfy a desire that will make a life feel higher.  Consumption can of course also apply to media and TV watching and the consumption of representational imagery, as written about in Remote Control.  There is consumption of both goods services and media and ideas and imagery in the sum of all the readings.  The Spectacle meanwhile as an economic entity has trapped man in devotion to working and even his free time is free with reference to work and having to be somewhere.  

The age of conspicuous consumption:  www.vam.ac.uk/page/g/gothic/  

Pedagogy is the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject, and each one of the five articles reviewed is part of the pedagogy of our Professor to reveal to us the mechanisms underlying the production of imagery and culture. 

The spectacle, as described in The Society of the Spectacle, is a concrete inversion of life, and is a social relation between people that is mediated by images.  The images are produced in abundance on a variety of platforms such as news, propaganda, entertainment, and advertising.   The spectacle also has more unique characteristics, such as the fact that it cannot be questioned and demands passive acceptance.  And the spectacle is nothing other than the economy developing for itself.