Thus far in the world of Images

The content we've covered so far has been fairly varied, coming from various sources and times.  To me I see  the collection of readings as painting a larger picture.  A picture professor Cacoilo would like us to see.  I remember thinking to myself on one of the first days of class "she needs to be careful with what she says".  This thought, like the readings tells a story beyond itself.  The story of Hegemony (that's one down.)  Perhaps my fears are well founded, I would hate for professor Cacoilo to be hauled off hood on head to some government installation where she'll be reprogrammed and returned to Rutgers Newark to teach a more a corporate friendly brand of semiotic analysis. 

Unfortunately the story told by these readings coalesces into the reality we live in.  We live in the world of images.  The problem being, all the images are filthy lies.  If post-modernism has taught us anything (which it hasn't) we can appreciate the multiplicity of this whole mess.  Images abound but so do interpretations.  Herein I have an issue with Le Bon's view of the crowd.  He has the total view, but what of the unique individual where does that come into play?  My question is how to rectify the sensibilities of crowds and of individuals simultaneously.  I suppose this problem has been solved by enterprising people namely Edward Bernays.  The crowd is impressionable and it takes cues from on high.  I'm not a fan of psychoanalysis but apparently this guy was on to something.  This crowd we're a part of has a "history" and a "culture" to help it define itself.  It's got TV "types" to help you find your way in society.  To me that's the score, we're just along for the ride, watching image after image narrative after narrative roll by.  Sure there's a degree of interpretation but that's also boxed in by a limited palette that we've come to have. 

How do you undermine the mind-f*#!ing powers of mass media?  Go to college?  Move to a 3rd world country?  What do you do?  I think the idea of imagery and culture studies is essential (I prefer the broader term semiotics).  Children should be warned growing up that silent persuaders are everywhere and they're cooking up a dream world for them to get lost in.  But then again even our educational model is a representation (image) of our societies over-arching interests.  College sure is expensive.  I realized I'm supposed to be defining terms so let me take care of that quickly. 

Power:  potential force that someone is going to bring down on you (or if you're lucky you'll be dropping on someone else.  Leverage.

Hegemony: Rich white guys

Sexism: The unwarranted bias towards a particular sex

The Gaze:  Recognition of this concept arises when an individual feels themselves as an object to be viewed in the world.

Object: something to be owned or possessed

Pedagogy: a teaching strategy or method

Popular Culture:  What the mainstream media distributes, that which appeals to the lowest common denominator

Spectacle: The notion that we no longer live in a reality but are viewing a reality.  A side effect of a consumerist culture obsessed with commodity.

Ways of looking: The different techniques of analysis/appreciation we take when looking at imagery, my personal concern is that this is for too many this is an entirely tacit experience.

Representation:  the limited vignette of a total concept delivered in an abridged symbolic form.

Consumer/Consumption:  Who we are and what we do.


All cynicism and crassness aside, I think the important things is the overarching message that these readings are pointing to.  You have to appreciate your position in this whole thing.  Remember the movie The Matrix?  I'm hoping very much the internet will implant in my peers a new sense of self-confidence that will allow them to usher in new era of collective sensibilities.  We'll see.  Why we're not caring people are dying, and the environment is going down the tubes.  This is why the world of images is horrible; it can't and won't recognize this.

Ian