Post 1

                The readings that we have done so far all seem to work together in various ways. Power is represented throughout all the readings in different ways. Power is authority, control, the ability to produce a desired outcome whether positive or negative. In Hooks Guide the power is in critical thinking about our society. Debord views power as being produced for consumption politically, economically and conceptually, it can be produced and used in various ways for various reasons. Lippard’s power comes from her interpretation of a photograph; she has the power to interpret its meaning however she wants. LeBon sees power en mass, the power is in numbers. Berger’s power is an illusion created by imagery to satisfy our need for acceptance.    

Popular Culture is the mainstream cultural media of a society including, music, fashion, television and publication. Hooks says “Popular Culture is where learning takes place.” Each author is writing in their own cultural context, but each reading can be applied to the current time. The pedagogy, the art of teaching about popular culture and imagery is what each author is doing in in their works.  Representation is a key aspect of popular culture. Representation is a symbol or depiction of a group. It can hold good or bad implications depending on who is trying to depict the group. Representation can create racism and sexism, discrimination based against an individual based on their gender.            

Objects are tangible items that can be a person or thing. As a society we purchase objects that are essential and frivolous. Items are consumed and people can be objectified. We are consumers of objects, services and media. Consumption is our hunger to obtain these objects. Our need is driven by images in popular culture and advertising. In Arts& Leisures , Kruger states “Our bodies, the flesh and blood of it all, have given way to representation: figures that cavort on TV, movie and computer screens. Propped up and ultra relaxed we teeter on the cusp of narcolepsy and believe everything and nothing.”  The spectacle is society, a society meant to be seen and heard. The spectacle is driven by production of objects to consume.

                                  

Popular Culture, power, sexism, and objectification seem to play into The Gaze. Jacques Lacan coined it to describe the anxious state that comes with the awareness that one can be viewed. The psychological effect is that the subject loses a degree of autonomy upon realizing that he or she is a visible object.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaze   Berger’s Ways of Seeing touches on the media’s influence on our awareness of The Gaze.  We are conscience that we are being seen by others and we want to put our best foot forward. “It proposes to each of us that we transform ourselves, or our lives, by buying something more. This more it proposes will make us in some way richer…”

                                                 

Ways of looking is the contextual and conceptual way of viewing what is around us. In Doubletake Lippard is influenced by stereotypes when she looks at an old photograph of a Native American Family. The hegemony (social influence exerted by a dominant group in various areas) that effected Lippard’s views of how Native Americans were treated at the time made her subjective instead of objective to what she was seeing. Doing research on the photo she realizes that they were not being exploited by a rich socialite but captured in a moment by a friend. She had to alter her way of looking to see past what was on the surface.