Calvin Klein Ads

So, after viewing several of the Calvin Klein ads in class, I decided to search for more ads online. I was suprised to find so many ads with celebrities endorsing the brand and I realized how powerful it is for a company to attach a celebrity name/photo. This is one of the images I found:

In this ad, the clothes really aren't important, but the fact that Jimmy Fallon (and his name) appear in the ad, makes it very appealing. I also found other images, which were often overtly sexual, where the clothes were also of little importance. These ads are clearly designed to cause the audience to be drawn to the brand and make it impossible to forget the brand name.

Tuesday, January 22

Chapter 3 Reading Notes
-This chapter looks at the role of the spectator of the image and the ways that the gaze (of images, subjects, and institutions is a fundamental aspect of the practice of looking.
*Subjects- a term that defines those aspects of human individuals that individuals are not in control of and that are actually shared among humans.

~Psychoanalysis and the image spectator~
*spectator- a term derived from psychoanalytic theory that refers to the viewer of visual arts such as cinema.
-The spectatorship theory does not refer to a flesh-and-blood individual viewer or a member of a particular viewing audience- instead the spectator is an “ideal subject”

*subject position- a term used to define those ways that images, whether as films or paintings, etc., designate an ideal position for their intended spectators.

-Metz and other French theorists who wrote about film in the 1970s described the process of spectatorship as: the viewer suspends disbelief in the fictional world of the film, identifies not only with specific characters in the film but more importantly with the film’s overall ideology through identification with the film’s narrative structure and visual point of view, and puts into play fantasy structures that derive from the viewer’s unconscious.
-Early theories of spectatorship were based on psychoanalytic theories from Freud and Jacque Lacan (French psychoanalyst)

*mirror phase- a stage of development, according to psychoanalytic theorist Jaques Lacan, in which the infant first experiences a sense of alienation in its realization of its separatness from other human beings.
*alienation- In general, it refers to the sense of distance from nature, separation from others, and helplessness that is an effect of modern existence. In psychoanalytic theory, it refers to the split subjectivity and the discovery of the fact that one is not in control of one’s thoughts, actions, and desires because of the existence of the unconscious.

~The Gaze~
Lacan used the term “the gaze”

In common parlance, the gaze is to look or stare often w/ eagerness or desire, but in psychoanalytic film criticism, the gaze is not the act of looking itself, but the viewing relationship characteristic of a particular set of social circumstances.

-Laura Mulvey released “visual pleasure and narrative cinema” in 1975 where she proposed that women were represented in films as subjects of the “male gaze” and thus images were for male viewing pleasure. She used terms such as scopophilia and voyeurism.
*Scopophilia- In psychoanalytic terms, the drive to look and the general pleasure in looking.
*Voyeurism- the erotic pleasure in watching without being seen
*exhibitionism-the pleasure derived from being looked at.

To her, the camera is used as a tool of voyeurism and sadism.
“Rear Window” with Jimmy Stewart was used as an example.
However, this male power is not without limits.
This is also seen in art where women are often nude and are clearly objects of the male gaze.
-John Berger also wrote on this topic and said that in the history of images, “men act and women appear”

~Changing concepts of the Gaze~
-The concept of the male gaze is changing as female roles are changing and men are also becoming subjects of the gaze.
-In “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, both women and men were subjects of the gaze

In contemporary images, there is a broad array of gazes and implied viewers.
-The desires that spectators have in looking and being looked at are caught up in relationships of power.
-Traditionally, the spectator was perceived to have more power, but this not always the case. For instance, in many ads, men are often shown as either confronting the gaze or turning away from it, which gives them a great deal of power.

~Discourse, the gaze, and the other~
-images are elements in the functioning of institutional power (they can both exert power and act as instruments of power)
*discourse- generally, it is the socially organized process of talking about a particular subject matter. Michel Focault (French philosopher) used the term discourse to describe a group of statements which provide a means for talking about particular topic at a particular historical moment.
-To him, discourse is a body of knowledge that both defines and limits what can be said about something.

*modernity-refers to the time period and world view beginning approximately in the 18th century with the Enlightenment, reaching its height in the late 19th century and early 20th century, when broad populations in Europe and North America were increasingly concentrated in urban centers and in industrial societies of increased mechanization and automation. Modernity is a time of dramatic technological change that embraces a linear view of progress as crucial to humankind’s prosperity.
*The Other-a term used to refer to the category of subjectivity that is set up in binary opposition to dominant subjectivity. The other refers to that which is understood as the symbolic opposite to the normative category, such as the slave to the master, the woman to the man.

~Power, Knowledge, and Panopticism~
*power/knowledge- a term used by Foucault to describe the ways that power impacts what gets to count as knowledge in a given social context, and how in turn knowledge systems within that society are caught up in power relations.
*biopower- a term used by Foucault to describe the processes through which institutional practices define, measure, categorize, and construct the body.
*panopticism- a theory used by French philosopher Michel Foucault to characterize the ways that modern social subjects regulate their own behavior.

Foucault wrote that modern societies are structured on a basic relationship of power/knowledge. (modern societies function not through coercion but cooperation)
Foucault explained that expertise is a fundamental aspect of power relations.
-Modern power produces knowledge.
*docile bodies- citizens who participate in the ideologies of the society through cooperation and a desire to fit in and conform.
-photography helps produce docile bodies.
-We internalize a managerial gaze watching over us that causes us to conform.

~The gaze and the exotic~
-The person looking is often thought to possess more power than the person being looked at.
*binary opposition- the oppositions such as nature/culture, male/female, etc. through which reality has been traditionally represented.
*unmarked-the norm
*marked-other
ex) male is unmarked and female is marked
*Orientalism- a term defined most recently by cultural theorist Edward Said that refers to the ways that Western cultures conceive of Eastern and Middle-Eastern cultures as other and attribute to them qualities of exoticism and barbarism.
-Seen in political policy and pop culture (ex- films where Asian women are highly sexualized)
*Aura- a term used by German theorist Walter Benjamin to describe the quality of unique works of art that exist in only one place.

Key Words
*Gaze- (from Artlex) To see steadily, intently, and with fixed attention. Or, any looking done in this way. Artists typically put effort into anticipating the gaze of those who will view their work.
(from textbook) In common parlance, the gaze is to look or stare often w/ eagerness or desire, but in psychoanalytic film criticism, the gaze is not the act of looking itself, but the viewing relationship characteristic of a particular set of social circumstances.
(from Wikipedia) The concept of gaze (often also called the gaze or, in French, le regard), in analysing visual culture, is one that deals with how an audience views the people presented. The concept of the gaze became popular with the rise of postmodern philosophy and social theory and was first discussed by 1960s French intellectuals, namely Michel Foucault's description of the medical gaze and Lacan's analysis of the gaze's role in the mirror stage development of the human psyche. This concept is extended in the framework of feminist theory, where it can deal with how men look at women, how women look at themselves and other women, and the effects surrounding this. Laura Mulvey criticized such gaze (in films) as "male".
*Elements of design/Elements of Art- The basic components used by the artist when producing works of art. Those elements are color, value, line, shape, form, texture, and space. The elements of art are among the literal qualities found in any artwork.
*Principles of Design/Principles of Art- Certain qualities inherent in the choice and arrangement of elements of art in the production of a work of art. Artists "design" their works to varying degrees by controlling and ordering the elements of art. Considering the principles is especially useful in analyzing ways in which a work is pleasing in formal ways. How any work exhibits applications of these principles can further or modify other characteristics of a work as well.
*Sally Mann- an American photographer born in 1951. Her photos have appeared on The New York Times Magazine and she was Time’s photographer of the year in 2001.
Many of her photographs are of her children nude.
*Laura Mulvey- Mulvey was born in 1941 and is currently a professor of film and media studies at the University of London. Mulvey is most famous for her article “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” in 1975 where she uses psychoanalytic theory to propose that women were represented in films as subjects of the “male gaze” and thus images were for male viewing pleasure.
*Michel Foucault- was a French philosopher who lived from 1926 to 1984. Michel Foucault is best known for his critical studies of various social institutions, most notably psychiatry, medicine, the human sciences, and the prison system, as well as for his work on the history of human sexuality. Foucault's work on power, and the relationships among power, knowledge, and discourse, has been widely discussed and applied.

~Reaction to Reading~
-This chapter, which primarily focuses on “the gaze”, is extremely interesting. Firstly, I found Mulvey’s arguments very persuasive and there are a number of clear examples to back-up her argument. I found the example of “Rear Window” very persuasive. I have seen this movie several times and I actually noticed the fact that the woman was often objectified and Mulvey’s argument provides me with greater understanding. I also agree with the fact that “the gaze” has expanded to include both men and women now. It is nearly as easy to open a magazine and find a picture of a nearly-nude male as it is a female. I also found the section on “the gaze and the extoic” to be quite interesting because there are so many pictures, still today, where persons from other cultures are objects of the gaze and are made to look exotic.

~Reaction to Images~
-I must admit, I was initially surprised when I looked at Sally Mann’s images simply because our society is so insistent on assuring that “child pornography” is regulated. This has resulted in any image of a child nude being questioned. However, Mann’s images are in no way sexualizing the children and are simply an accurate portrail of the human body.

Thursday, January 17th

Chapter 2 Notes from Reading
-meanings of images are produced through a complex social relationship that involves: 1) how viewers interpret or experience the image and 2) the context in which an image is seen.
-Just as viewers create meaning from images, images also construct audiences.

~Producers Intended Meanings~
-most images have a meaning that is preferred by their producers, but this is not always how images are actually interpreted.
-meanings are created in part when, where, and by whom images are consumed, and not only when, where, and by whom they are produced.

*Text-a term extended by French theorist Roland Barthes to include visual media such as photography, film, television, or painting, to suggest that they are constructed on the basis of codes in the same way that language forms a text. Texts can be broken down into their component parts through work of analysis.

-meanings are affected by the social orientation of the viewer and by the context to viewing. Thus, meanings are not inherent in images. Rather, meanings are the product of a complex social interaction among image, viewers, and context.

~Aesthetics and Taste~
-All viewer interpretations involve two fundamental concepts of value- aesthetics and taste.
*Aesthetics- a branch of philosophy that is concerned with beliefs and theories about the value, meaning, and interpretations of art. The aesthetic traditionally referred to concepts of the beautiful, but today refers to what is valid and valuable in the arts.
-The quality of beauty is dependent on individual interpretation.
*Taste- In cultural theory, taste refers to the share aesthetic and cultural values of a particular social community or individual.
-Taste is informed by experiences relating to one’s class, cultural background, education, and other aspects of identity.
-Taste in our culture can be a marker of education and an awareness of elite cultural values.

*Connoisseur- A person who is particularly skilled at discerning quality in a particular art.

-taste is learned
-Pierre Bourdieu (French sociologist who studied taste in the 1970s) He discovered that taste is not inherent in people, but is learned through exposure to social and cultural institutions that promote certain class-based assumptions about correct taste.
*habitus- a term popularized by Bourdieu to describe the unconscious dispositions, strategies of classification, and tendencies that are part of an individual’s sense of taste and preferences for cultural consumption.

*high/low culture- terms that have traditionally been used to make distinctions about different kinds of culture. High culture distinguishes culture that only an elite can appreciate, such as classical art, music, and literature, as opposed to commercially produced mass culture presumed to be accessible to lower classes.
-The distinction between high and low culture is becoming blurred and is sometimes now viewed as upper-class snobbery.

*Pop Art- an art movement in the late 1950s and 1960s that used the images and materials of popular or “low” culture for art. Artists took objects of popular culture, such as t.v., and reworked them as art objects.
*Postmodernism- used to describe particular styles in art, literature, architecture, and popular culture, to define particular aspects of contemporary theory, and to designate a particular way of viewing the world. Often seen as a time period in the late 20th century, following modernism.
*Kitsch- art or literature judged to have little or no aesthetic value, yet which has value precisely because of its status in evoking the class standards of bad taste.

~Reading images as ideological subjects~
Karl Marx- much of the way ideology is conceived today originates with its formulation in his theories.
*Capitalism- an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth are held primarily by individuals and corporations, as opposed to cooperative or state-owned means of wealth.
-Marx felt that those who own the means of production are also in control of the ideas and viewpoints produced and circulated in a society’s media venues.
*Subjects- a term that defines those aspects of human individuals that individuals are not in control of and that are actually shared among humans.
-Marx thought of ideology as a kind of false consciousness spread by dominant powers where those who are oppressed by a particular economic system are encouraged to believe in it anyway.
*False Consciousness- the process by which the real economic imbalances of the dominant social system get hidden and ordinary citizens come to believe in the perfection of the system that oppresses them.

-There have been two major challenges to the Marxist definition of ideology
Firstly, Louis Althusser (French Marxist theorist in 1960s) argued that ideology represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence.
To him, ideology is the necessary representational means through which we come to experience and make sense of reality.
*Psychoanalytic theory- a theory of how the mind works derived originally from Freud that emphasizes the role of the unconscious and desire in shaping a subject’s actions, feelings, and motives.
*Unconscious- A central concept in psychoanalytic theory that indicates the phenomena that is not within consciousness at any given moment.
*Spectators- a term derived from psychoanalytic theory that refers to the viewer of visual arts such as cinema.
*Interpellation- a term coined by Althusser to describe the process by which ideological systems call out or “hail” social subjects and tell them their place in the system.
-To Althusser, ideologies speak to us and we are always defined as subjects.

*Agency- The quality of having the power to act or to make meaning.

Another challenge came from Antonio Gramsci (Italian Marxist who lived and wrote primarily during the 1920s and 30s)
*hegemony- a term associated with Gramsci that rethought traditional Marxist theories of ideology away from ideas about false consciousness and passive social subjects. There are two central aspects to his definition of hegemony: that dominant ideologies are often presented as “common sense” and that dominant ideologies are in tension with other forces and constantly in flux.
-No one group ultimately has power, but rather power is a relationship within which classes struggle. (relationships are constantly changing)
*Counter-hegemonic-the forces in a given society that work against dominant meaning and power systems, and keeping in constant tension and flux those dominant meanings. (arise to question status-quo)
-Within visual studies, his concept of hegemony has been useful among critics who want to emphasize the role of image consumers in influencing the meanings and uses of popular culture in ways that do not benefit the interests of producers and the media industry.

-IMAGE- Barbara Kruger’s 1981 photo of the atomic bomb that reads, “Your manias become Science” (functions as a counter-hegemonic statement about the dominant ideology of science)

~Encoding and Decoding~
-All images are encoded and decoded.
*encoded- the production of meaning in cultural products.
Stuart Hall has written that there are 3 positions that viewers can take as decoders of cultural images and artifacts:
1.Dominant-hegemonic reading: They can identify with the hegemonic position and receive the dominant message of an image or text in an unquestioning manner. (the least common)
2. Negotiated reading: They can negotiate an interpretation from the image and its dominant meaning.
3. Oppositional reading: Finally, they can take an oppositional position, either by completely disagreeing with the ideological position embodied in an image or rejecting it altogether (for example, by ignoring it).

~Appropriation and Oppositional Readings~
*Appropriation- the act of borrowing, stealing, or taking over others’ meanings to one’s own ends. Cultural appropriation is the process of “borrowing” and changing the meaning of cultural products, slogans, images, or elements of fashion.
-IMAGE- Gran Fury’s “Read my lips” 1988/ is an example of appropriation as it changes the meaning of Bush’s slogan.
-Artists often use this technique as is seen with the “last supper” paintings.
-Viewers also appropriate images and texts to alter their meanings to suit our purposes.

*gender-bending- bending the traditional codes of gender roles and sexual norms.
*trans-coding- the practice of taking terms and meanings and re-appropriating them to create new meanings.
For example, the term queer which was once derogatory has now been embraced.
*Bricolage- “making do” or piecing together one’s culture with whatever is at hand. As a cultural practice, it refers to the activity of taking consumer products and commodities and making them one’s own by giving them new meaning.
*Subcultures- distinct social groups within wider cultural formations that define themselves in opposition to mainstream culture.
-Often done with clothing for youth subcultures.
-Also, low rider cars change the meaning of cars so that they function as a cultural and political statement.
*Textual poaching- defined by Michel de Certeau (cultural theorist). Viewers of popular culture can inhabit that text by negotiating meanings through it and creating new cultural products in response to it, making it their own.
-de Certeau saw the relationship of readers/writers and producers/viewers as an ongoing struggle for possession of the text- a struggle over its meaning and potential meanings.
*Strategies-defined by de Certeau as the means through which institutions exercise power and set up well-ordered systems that consumers must negotiate.
*Tactics- defined by de Certeau as the “hit and run” acts of random engagement by viewers/consumers to usurp these systems, which might include everything from using a remote to change the “text” of tv to creating a web site that analyzes a particular film or t.v. show.
-Fan cultures are an example of textual poaching

*Counter-bricolage-the practice used by advertisers and marketers of manufacturing and selling as commodities aspects of bricolage style.

READING IMAGES
-A systematic approaches to reading images assumes the following skills:
Examine - to see and distinguish the composing parts that build the imageDescribe - describe the composing parts, without giving a meaning to themDesignate - give a proper name to the elements and the whole of the pictureCriticize - connect a judgment to the preceding activitiesDetermine - the place that is given to the image in history and education

To help read an image systematically, asking the five following questions can help: What do I see? What do I describe? What do I think? What do I think about it? What do I know?
Key Terms:
*Aesthetics- a branch of philosophy that is concerned with beliefs and theories about the value, meaning, and interpretations of art. The aesthetic traditionally referred to concepts of the beautiful, but today refers to what is valid and valuable in the arts.
*Appropriation- the act of borrowing, stealing, or taking over others’ meanings to one’s own ends. Cultural appropriation is the process of “borrowing” and changing the meaning of cultural products, slogans, images, or elements of fashion.
*Bricolage- “making do” or piecing together one’s culture with whatever is at hand. As a cultural practice, it refers to the activity of taking consumer products and commodities and making them one’s own by giving them new meaning.
*Form- In its widest sense, total structure; a synthesis of all the visible aspects of that structure and of the manner in which they are united to create its distinctive character. The form of a work is what enables us to perceive it.
*Semiotics-a theory of signs, sometimes called semiology, concerned with the ways in which things (words, images, and objects) are vehicles for meaning. It is a tool for analyzing the signs of a particular culture and how meaning is produced within a particular cultural context.
*Sign- A semiotic term that defines the relationship between a vehicle of meaning such as a word, image, or object and its specific meaning in a particular context. In technical terms, it means the bringing together of a signified and signifier to make meaning.
*Structure- Something made up of a number of components that are put together in a particular way.
*Symbol- A form, image or subject representing a meaning other than the one with which it is usually associated.
*Johannes Vermeer- was a Dutch Baroque painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of ordinary life. He lived in the mid 1600s. One of his most famous works is “The Girl with a Pearl Earring”.
*Edouard Manet- was a French painter who lived between 1832 and 1883. He was a pivotal figure in the transition from realism to impressionism. One of his works is “Olympia”.
*Herb Ritts- Lived from 1952 to 2002. He was a famous American fashion photographer who focused on black and white photography and portraits in the style of classical Greek sculpture. As a result, many of his subjects are nude.

Reaction to Reading
Firstly, I must say that I have already greatly expanded my vocabulary because I was not familiar with several words from this chapter! I definitely agree with the notion that each viewer takes away a different meaning and that it is greatly dependent upon a viewer’s characteristics (social, etc.). The information on ideology was somewhat confusing, but I found it interesting. I also found the information about textual-poaching interesting as I had never really thought about how viewers really do “make it their own”.


Reaction to Images
*Girl With a Pearl Earring- When I first looked at the painting, I was immediately drawn to her eyes because they are so realistic. It appears almost as if she is looking into the viewer’s eyes. I’m not sure of the significance of the painting, although it is very beautiful. I read several of the interpretations and they mostly just confused me.
*Olympia- Undoubtedly, this painting created controversy because it is of a nude woman. However, I think that it is a realistic view of the human body and is a clear example of an artist pushing the norm.
*Images by Herb Ritts- I am fascinated by all of his photos. Each photo displays a great deal of emotion. It is amazing how he can turn a body into a piece of art! Although the subjects are sometimes nude, it is extremely tasteful.

Tuesday, January 15th

Reading Notes from Introduction
-Over the last two centuries, western culture has come to be dominated by visual rather than oral or textual media. For example, t.v. has widely replaced radio.
-Visual culture encompasses many media forms ranging from fine art to popular film and television to advertising to visual data in fields such as the sciences, law and medicine.
-For many decades, universities offered courses in fine arts but ignored popular media. Today, this has changed.
-Cultural studies is a field that emerged in the late 1970s and has offered many ways of thinking about the study of both popular culture and the seemingly mundane uses of images in our daily lives.

What is Visual Culture?
-Raymond Williams- a cultural theorist that has characterized “culture” as one of the most complex words in the English language.
-The meaning of culture has changed greatly over time
-Traditionally, culture was thought of as “fine arts”: classic works or painting, literature, music, and philosophy.
-The philosopher Matthew Arnold defined culture as the “best that has been thought and said” in a society and was reserved for an elite and educated audience.
-Culture was often divided into high (fine arts, classical painting, literature) ad low (t.v., movies, and comic books)
-The anthropological definition of culture is defined as the shared practices of a group, community, or society, through which meaning is made out of the visual, aural, and textual world of representations.
-Stuart Hall- British cultural theorist who states that culture is not so much a set of things as a set of processes or practices through which individuals and groups come to make sense of those things.
*Visual culture= those aspects of culture that are manifested in visual form (paintings, prints, photographs, film, television, video, advertisements, news images, and science images).
-John Berger- published Ways of Seeing in 1972. This book was groundbreaking in bringing together a range of theory, from Walter Benjamin’s concept of mechanical reproduction to Marxist theory, in order to examine images from the history of art and advertising.

Reading Notes from Chapter 1
-Seeing= something that is arbitrarily done in our daily lives
-Looking= involves a greater sense of purpose and direction; is an act of choice
-Looking involves relationships of power…to willfully look or not is to exercise choice and influence.
IMAGE- Photograph by Weegee/ photograph of children looking at a crime scene/ shows their fascination and heightened emotion.

*Means of Production- In Marxist theory, the means of production are the ways in which a society makes use of the natural resources of the world around it to make useful things. According to Marxists, those who own the means of production are also in control of the ideas that circulate in a society’s media industries.

Representation
*Representation- refers to the use of language and images to create meaning about the world around us. Literally defined as the act of portraying, depicting, symbolizing, or presenting the likeness of something.

*Social Construction- a theory that gained primacy in the 1980s in a number of fields that asserts that much of what has been taken as fact is socially constructed through ideological forces, language, economic relationships, and so forth.

-Language and systems of representation do not reflect an already existing reality so much as they organize, construct, and mediate our understanding of reality, emotion, and imagination.
-There is a debate about whether systems of representation reflect the world as it is or whether we construct the world and its meaning through the systems of representation we deploy. (it is difficult to differentiate between the two)
-IMAGE- by Pieter Claesz/ “Still Life with Stonewall Jug, Wine Glass, Herring, and Bread”/ 1642/ a painting of food that shows that the image can appear to be concerned solely w/ reflecting real life, but can also be interpreted to have a much deeper meaning (perhaps religious, etc.). Also shows that representation is a process through which we construct the world around us.
-IMAGE- by Rene Magritte, “The Treachery of Images”/ 1928-29/ is a painting of a pipe that reads, “This is not a pipe”. This image points to the relationship between words and things, since this is not a pipe itself but rather the representation of a pipe. He is warning the viewer not to mistake an image for the real thing.

The Myth of the Photographic Truth
-The creation of an image through a camera lens always involves some degree of subjective choice through selection, framing, and personalization.
*Subjective- something that is particular to the view of an individual. Is understood to be personal, specific, and imbued with the values and beliefs of a particular person.
Even in surveillance video, the camera is set up to catch a certain object/area.
*Surveillance- the act of keeping watch over a person or place.
*Black-boxed- refers to the inability of the user to see inside (metaphorically and sometimes literally) a machine and how it functions. What gets “boxed” are the qualities and capabilities of a particular technology that are not visible to its user.
*Objectivity- the state of being unbiased and based on facts, usually referring to scientific fact or ways of seeing and understanding the world that involve a mechanical process rather than human opinion.
-Photography was developed in Europe in early 19th century when concepts of positivist science held way.
*Positivism- a philosophic position that is strongly scientific in inspiration and that assumes that meanings exist out in the world, independent of our feelings, attitudes, or our beliefs about them. Only scientific knowledge is genuine knowledge.
Involves the belief that empirical truths can be established through visual evidence.
*Empirical truth- something that can be proven through experimentation, in particular through the reproduction of an experiment with identical outcomes under carefully controlled circumstances.
-Therefore, machines were regarded as more reliable than humans…The camera was regarded as a means of representing the world more accurately than hand-rendered images. (This is now debated)
*Photographic truth- the myth of the photographic truth means that photographs are understood to be evidence of actual people, events, and objects of the past, even though they are relatively easy to manipulate.
-IMAGE- by Robert Frank/ “Trolley-New Orleans”/ 1955-56/ a photo of a segregated trolley. It is a factual piece of evidence of the past. It also invokes powerful emotions about the changes that were about to occur in the South. Thus, this photo demonstrates the photograph’s capacity to both present evidence and to evoke a magical or mythical quality.
-Roland Barthes- French theorist who described the two levels of meaning that an image can have as denotative and connotative.
*Denotative- In semiotics, the literal, face value meaning or a sign. For example, the denotative meaning of a rose is a flower.
*Connotative- All the social, cultural, and historical meanings that are added to a sign’s literal meaning.
*Myth- Roland Barthes used this term to refer to the cultural values and beliefs that are expressed at this level of connotation. For him, myth is the hidden set of rules and conventions through which meanings, which are in reality specific to certain groups, are made to seem universal and given for a whole society. Thus, myth allows the connotative meaning of a particular thing or image to appear to be denotative.
*Simulation- does not represent something in the real world.

Images and Ideology
*Ideology- the shared set of values and beliefs that exist with in a given society and through which individuals live out their relations to social institutions and structures.
-People often think in terms of propaganda when they think of ideologies, but it is a much more pervasive and mundane process.
*Propaganda- the crude process of using false representations to lure people into holding beliefs that may compromise their own interests.
-Ideologies appear to be natural or given. Thus, they are connotations parading denotations.
-Visual culture is integral to ideologies.
-IMAGE- OJ’s mugshot on Time magazine/portrays guilt
-Newsweek ran the same image but darkened his skin color…this was an ideological choice since dark skin is often associated with evil.

How we negotiate the meaning of images
*Codes- the implicit rules by which meanings get put into social practice and can therefore be read by their users.
*Decode- the process of interpreting and giving meaning to cultural products in conformity with shared cultural codes.
-We read (or decode) images almost instantly.
-IMAGE- sensations napkin ad- places man in female position/ this is a coded message.
-We are trained to read for cultural codes such as aspects of the image that signify gendered, racial, or class-specific meanings.
-IMAGE- Benetton Clothing Co. ad/ denotes a car on fire on a city street/ sets an overall tone of danger and tension/ Since it appears to take place in the 1990s, it could be said that it is meant to invoke the feeling that the company is concerned about terrorism.

*Semiotics- a theory of signs, sometimes called semiology, concerned with the ways in which things (words, images, and objects) are vehicles for meaning. A tool for analyzing the signs of a particular culture and how meaning is produced with in a particular cultural context.

-Charles Pierce- American philosopher/ influenced principles of semiotics in 19th century/ language and thought are processes of sign interpretation.
-Ferdinand de Saussure- influenced semiotics in 20th century. Influenced structuralism. He felt that meanings change according to context and rules of language.
*Structuralism- a set of theories that came into prominence in the 1960s that emphasized the laws, codes, rules, formulas, and conventions that structure human behavior and systems of meaning.

-Barthe has expanded Saussure’s model. In addition to denotation and connotation, there is the sign, which is composed of the signifier (a sound, written word, or image) and the signified (the concept evoked by that word/image)
-The image (or word) and its meaning together (the signifier and signified together) form the sign. For example, Benetton Ad= burning car is signifier and terrorism is signified.
*Sign- a semiotic term that defines the relationship between a vehicle of meaning such as a word, image, or object, and it specific meaning in a particular context. Bringing together of a signified and signifier to make meaning.
*Signifier- the word, image, or object with in a sign that conveys meaning.
*Signified- the element of meaning within a sign, so called because it was what is signified by a signifier.
Ex) Marlboro + Masculinity= Marlboro as masculinity
*Referent- the object itself.

-Charles Pierce divided signs into different categories (indexical, iconic, and symbolic signs)
*Indexical sign- a term used to indicate those signs in which there is a physical causal connection between the signifier and the thing signified.
*Iconic sign- a term used to indicate those signs in which there is a resemblance between the signifier and the thing signified.
*Symbolic sign- a term used to indicate those signs in which there is not connection between the signifier and the thing signified except that imposed by convention.

The value of Images
-IMAGE- “Irises” by Van Gogh/painting sold in 1991 for $53.8 million/ shows that we determine the worth of something.
*Authenticity- the quality of being genuine or unique.
-Authenticity, uniqueness, and aesthetic style are important for determining value
*Modernism- A term with meanings in culture, art, literature, and music. Refers both to a particular time period and a set of styles associated with that time.

*Dada- a movement that reflexively poked fun at the conventions of high art and museum display conventions.
*Image- student protest at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989/ t.v. image/ important because it is special and displays courage of one student.

Image Icons
*Icon- an image that refers to something outside of its individual components, something (or someone) that has great symbolic meaning for many people. Ex) painting of mother and child show the importance of motherhood throughout human history.
-IMAGE- Dorthea Lange/ “Migrant Mother”/ shows height of great depression, but also hardships of motherhood.
*Irony- the deliberate contradiction between the literal meaning of something and its intended meaning.

Key Terms
*Art- Involves a degree of human involvement (through manual skills or thought). “High art” was traditionally the focus of scholars (classic works or painting, literature, music, and philosophy). However, other art forms, such as movies, and now also appreciated by scholars.
*Culture- expressive life as it is lived daily. The anthropological definition of culture is defined as the shared practices of a group, community, or society, through which meaning is made out of the visual, aural, and textual world of representations.
*Representation- refers to the use of language and images to create meaning about the world around us. Literally defined as the act of portraying, depicting, symbolizing, or presenting the likeness of something.
*Meaning- What is conveyed or signified by something; its sense or significance. It is the viewer who creates meaning in each and every image.
*Ideology- the shared set of values and beliefs that exist with in a given society and through which individuals live out their relations to social institutions and structures.
*Visual Culture- those aspects of culture that are manifested in visual form (paintings, prints, photographs, film, television, video, advertisements, news images, and science images).
*Edward Burne-Jones- An English artist and designer closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in the 19th century. “Depths of the Sea” is one of his unique works of art.
*Calvin Klein- an American clothing company founded in 1968 by Calvin Klein. The company also produces fragrances and is has a number of well-known advertisements.
*Leonardo da Vinci- was a Tuscan polymath who lived from 1452 to 1519. Among his talents, he was a well-known painter. By far, the Mona Lisa is one of his most famous works and has become an icon.

My Reaction to Today’s Readings/Class Discussion
-I found today’s readings to be very informative. Being a political science major, I have not studied a great deal about visual culture. Thus, most of this information was new to me. I found the “myth of the photographic truth” to be particularly interesting. I had no idea why the camera was actually developed, and I will now think about cameras/photos in a totally different way. Quite honestly, I usually just take images/ads for face-value and don’t “decode” them. Now, I find myself trying to figure out the meaning of images. I look forward to the rest of this class!

My Reaction to Today’s Images
“The Depths of the Sea”- This image is clearly open to interpretation, but I believe that the woman/mermaid is pulling the man down. I’m not positive of its meaning, but perhaps it has a feminist theme (the power of the woman to dominate the man). A very interesting image!
“Escape”- I also believe that this image has a feminist theme and is likely geared towards women due to the fact that, much like “Depths of the Sea”, the woman appears to be in control.
“La Giocanda”- The Mona Lisa is clearly an excellent example of the book’s explanation of the power of iconic images. The Mona Lisa is unique, has an aesthetic value, and is authentic.