Present a detailed, critical analysis of a cultural text.

Rachael Guilfoyle,

Student number: 12033787

Critical Perspectives [UA1APQ-15-1]

Year: 2013-14

 

Present a detailed, critical analysis of a cultural text.

 

The documentary film “Blackfish” has created a social media storm since its release in July 2013, with more and more people reacting to its message that the use of animals as entertainment is wrong, especially at the theme park SeaWorld. The main reason I chose this cultural text to analyse is due to my long standing passion for animals, and after hearing so much about how this film has impacted people’s perceptions of SeaWorld- somewhere I have had issues with since watching the film Free Willy (1993) as a child, I had to watch it for myself. Thankfully it is available to watch on Netflix, a popular film and TV streaming website, which, having around 31 million viewers in America alone (Mattera, 2013), was the perfect platform to spread Blackfish’s anti-SeaWorld message.

This intense message portrayed to the audience is done so by the composition of information, for the interpretation of information depends largely on how it is conveyed, and by using raw footage and evidence, film creators are able to produce an argument that is organized to suit their ideals and therefore can put across any message to the public that they want.

For this reason, the focus of this essay will be primarily on how the documentary is composed; looking at the use of narrative, structure, themes, interviews, raw footage and also the combination of image and audio to create atmosphere, and influence the audience to believe what they are being shown. By choosing to analyse this cultural text, I hope to gain knowledge about how information can be arranged to portray a particular message-“Craft is about wielding the unique tools of a chosen medium to the full and best advantage, without going too far.” (Bernard, 2010:4) The book gives an insight into how documentaries can be presented as stories to convey a message, and Marxist ideas, that explain how a text reflects and challenges established cultural values and social relationships will be used to accomplish my goal of analysing the film, and ultimately be able to provide a thorough analysis, as required.

 

The beginning of the film is very dramatic; with the opening scene setting the tone and atmosphere immediately. It is very sinister and dark, with white text of a date and time shown over a slightly dark, blue screen. This is followed by a montage of clips showing killer whales acting in a friendly manner in between the film credits. These clips seem to be recorded by amateurs, most likely by SeaWorld spectators, as the cameras are shaky. A screenshot showing an example of this camera work is displayed to the right. This suggests that the videos were taken without SeaWorld’s knowledge, and therefore implies it is real footage, and not staged. Furthermore, after actually watching the film, looking at this screenshot is rather sad; for on one side of the glass there are people staring at this magnificent creature, marveling at its enormity all the while being ignorant of the reality for these whales in captivity. The audio over these clips is a couple of recorded emergency phone calls, which adds a great amount of drama as you are hearing quite emotional accounts of incidents at SeaWorld involving a killer whale and a trainer. It starts of with only a minor incident being described, but then escalates to another, which is much worse. This dramatic introduction to the film instantly builds suspense, as straight away you are emerged in drama.

 

The structure of the documentary is very story-like, with the main protagonist being an Orca named Tilikum. Looking at the documentary from a dualist approach, it is initially suggested that the SeaWorld franchise are evil, and Tilikum the captive Orca is good- despite killing over two people. Moreover, from a Marxist approach, the theme of classism is hinted at slightly, with the viewer feeling as though all people who work at/have been to SeaWorld are evil, and are lower classes seeing as they need animals to provide entertainment for them. Another initial question of classism in the film is how the trainers who are being interviewed are presented; they sound quite unintelligent and naive to be frank- and as stated in the film, didn’t need much training before jumping into the tanks with the massive whales at all, and furthermore were unaware of trainer deaths that had occurred before. On the other hand, as the film escalates, it is implied that all who allow this cruelty to happen are immoral, not just people who have directly abused the whale, or even gone to see his shows. This leaves the viewer feeling guilt, shame and anger, no matter who they are or where they come from. A quote taken from an article by Brian Clark Howard (National Geographic, December 2013) reveals how a 10-year-old girl reacted to a proposed school trip to SeaWorld, after watching Blackfish “she didn’t want to go, after seeing how the film depicted the park’s treatment of whales.”

Many of the assertions of the film are supported by interviews with those involved, video footage, or reference to autopsy reports and court testimony. “If you were in a bathtub for 25 years, don’t you think you’d get a little psychotic?” Jane Velez-Mitchell, a CNN anchor, wonders in a clip that’s used in the film. The interviews in the film are extremely powerful, due to the raw, overwhelming emotions of the interviewees, in particular the ex-trainers, who feel great remorse for their involvement in the SeaWorld franchise. Furthermore, this use of interviews gives the viewer a sense of realism, because the filmmakers’ views are shared with others-the interviewees, and thus makes them more valid. This technique provides the film with a type of narrative; there is no main narrator, it is simply a montage of people describing their own experiences and knowledge of the same events and feelings.

 

A few themes came to mind while watching the film, one is tragedy, for Tilikum plays a “tragic hero” role- despite the fact that he has killed people, and left others injured. The film makes the viewer sympathise with the animal, and feel guilty for how it has been treated. It portrays Tilikum as an abused whale who was harshly taken from his family at a very young age, was “bullied” by other whales whom he shared a tank with, and only behaved as he did due to frustration. This in my opinion is quite understandable, it is just interesting to see how experienced trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was killed by Tilikum, and who, according to the film, was the most experienced trainer and had the closest bond with Tilikum, wasn’t portrayed with a stronger tragedy theme. After watching the film, you feel sorrow for the trainer, Dawn, but the sympathy for Tilikum is almost overwhelming.

 

To conclude, Blackfish is very effective at conveying it’s message to the world through it’s creators use of filmmaking techniques; interviews, archival footage and among others to convey the core message. Furthermore, by taking on a dualist approach, the filmmakers were able to create a personality for the whale Tilikum, and from there humanize it. This generated a greater feeling of sympathy for the whale, which adds to the success of the film, as the audience would come away feeling responsible for the situation presented to them by the film. Moreover, the film challenges established cultural values and social and economic relationships, by reflecting on how humans interact with sentient creatures. It forces us, as the human race to acknowledge our behaviour and hopefully make us realise change is needed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

1. Bernard, S.C. (2010). Documentary Storytelling: Creative Nonfiction on Screen. 3^rd Edition. Amsterdam Boston: Focal Press.

 

2. Brown, M. (2007). UNCP. [Online]. [Accessed 7 April 2014]. Available from: http://www.uncp.edu/home/monika/artslit.htm#closeread

 

 

3. Catsoulis, J. (2013). Nytimes. [Online]. [Accessed 7 April 2014]. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/19/movies/blackfish-a-documentary-looks-critically-at-seaworld.html?_r=1&

 

4. Howard,B.C. (2013). National Georgraphic. [Online]. [Accessed 7 April 2014]. Available from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131220-seaworld-blackfish-boycott-field-trip-musicians-animals/?rptregcta=reg_free_np&rptregcampaign=20131016_rw_membership_r1p_intl_ot_w#

 

 

5. Jones, R. (2014). Cbslocal. [Online]. [Accessed 8 April 2014]. Available from: http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2014/04/07/blackfish-protesters-gather-at-california-capitol-before-assembly-hearing/

 

6. Mattera, S. (2013). Fool. [Online]. [Accessed 8 April 2014]. Available from: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/12/22/after-you-watch-this-on-netflix-youll-never-go-to.aspx

 

7. Mohamed, S. (2014). Indie Judge. [Online]. [Accessed 2 March 2014]. Available from: www.indiejudge.com/film-theory/documentary-film-theory-john-grierson

 

8. Netto, J.A. (2000). Nettonet. [Online]. [Accessed 8 April 2014]. Available from: http://www.nettonet.org/Nettonet/Film%20Program/theory/marx-theory.htm

 

9. Shepherd, S. (2013). Ecowatch. [Online]. [Accessed 8 April]. Available from: http://ecowatchorg.tumblr.com/post/70928956829/sea-world-responds-to-blackfish-documentary-sea

 

1. Turner, P. (2009). Slideshare. [Online]. [Accessed 8 April 2014]. Available from: http://www.slideshare.net/pturner1010/marxist-film-theory

 

 

 

1. Wilson, M. (2009). University Of Sussex. [Online]. [Accessed 7 April 2014]. Available from: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/s3/?id=129

 

2. Zahavi, G. (2010). Documentary Filmaking. [Online]. [Accessed 7 April 2014]. Available from: http://www.albany.edu/faculty/gz580/docfilmshistory/

 

 

Poster and Essay

My poster is arranged to show killer whales jumping out of water in their tanks at SeaWorld, due to the cultural text I have chosen- Blackfish the 2013 documentary film. I chose this text because I have always been passionate about animals and their treatment in captivity, and after seeing this incredibly moving film, my mind was set immediately. 

The focus of my essay, as described in my poster, will be how information is presented to the audience to convey a message, by doing this I hope to gain knowledge of different techniques and methods that can be used to achieve different effects on people. I will look at the use of narrative, archival footage and the editing that can be done to this footage to achieve a purpose.

Poster

Whose reality is it anyway?

• We live in a postmodern, post industrial society
• a growing “information economy”
• advances in transport and communication technologies have lead to a “shrinking” of the world
• We can travel safely from one side of the planet to the other
• despite there being more people in the world than ever before, we are arguably part of what Marshall McLuhan (1964) called a “global village”
• a collapsing of space and time has occurred in part thanks to electronic mass media

 

Fusion or homogeneity

 

• global village has benefits; cultural fusion being one example
• where two cultures meet, new cultural forms can be produced, e.g. Chinoiserie
• theme in European art and design styles since the mid late 1700s peaking in the 1800s
• “MacDonaldization”
  • term coined by sociologist George Ritzer
  • idea of society taking on characteristics of the fast food industry:
    • efficient, predictable, controlled, standardised, limited options

 

• Cultural imperialism
  • this occurs when one culture is dominant and subsumes (incorporates) others into itself, discarding any parts of the others and do not conform to its ideological position
  • e.g. British Empire
• Contemporary American cultural imperialism has been discussed extensively

Reality?

 

• “we” can communicate with people in any part of the world almost instantly- digital divide between those who can access technology and those who cant
• we can send and receive images and films from any part of the world
• because we can “see” what’s happening in different parts of the world, we run the risk of believing that we “know” what is happening
• when we stop “seeing” images of events we risk thinking that they are no longer an issue
• we are at risk of confusing what we “see” with reality
• the cultural industry helps to keep consumers/workers passive
• we are constantly being presented with mediated versions of reality
• arguably our every engagement with the world is mediated at some level
• our ‘real needs’ are being/have been eclipsed by ‘false needs’  ‘symbolic value’ is relational and arbitrary:  e.g. pink=feminine, blue= masculine 
• ‘false needs’ are created by capitalism and perpetuated by the culture industry 
• we have experienced ‘the death of the real’ 
•  we are currently experiencing the realm of the ‘hyperreal’ 
•  ‘simulacra’ are hyperreal copies of real things, we only have ‘simulations’ of reality 
• we are now living in ‘the desert of the real’, where simulacra have replaced the reality they once referenced 
• digital or virtual worlds offer an obvious illustration of the lure of the ‘hyperreal’: 
  •  “Second Life affair leads to real-life divorce for David Pollard, aka Dave Barmy”

Conclusion

 

Our understanding of the world (and the things and peoples in it) is 

largely mediated, i.e. interpreted and framed for us, by other people 

and cultural bodies 

•  the representations that we receive are selective, edited and sometimes created anew for specific consumers, e.g. Chinoiserie, on-line dating profiles, etc. 
•  seemingly transnational cultural forms walk a fine (& often unclear) line between cultural fusion and cultural imperialism 
• how do we define what is ‘real’ today? How “should” we? 

Creativity: definitions and histories- Clare Johnson

Different models of the creative practitioner:

• celebrated sole author 
• collaborator 
• facilitator 
• consumer 
• hybrid manager 
• conceptual thinker 
• maker 
• culture jammer 

 

The idea of creativity is central in art and design 

education and  considered an important part of what makes 

us employable. Creativity is recognised as a driver of economic growth. 

 

The creative industries have been the fastest growing 

sector of the UK economy in the last 10-15 years. 

 

The term is also used by: 

 

• computer scientists 

• chefs 

• tourism managers 

• engineers, 

• marketeers 

• sports professionals 

• economists 

• management consultants amongst others 

 

 

• Even within the area of art, media and design our understanding of creativity (and what the creative practitioner does) has changed historically. 
•  It has meant different things at different times. 
•  No definition of creativity is universal or straightforward. 
• Modern form of creative arts is European and about 200 years old. Prior to this other activities were considered creative eg. sport, medicine. 

Art as a separate activity, different to everyday life, emergence of galleries 

and museums to make this distinction clear; idea of aesthetics. 

 

 Creative industries 

 

• Combines the idea of the creative arts with an interest in commerce and the marketplace. 

 

• In European traditions these ideas have often been opposed setting up distinctions between elite/mass, art/entertainment, high/low 

 

Culture Industry 

 

 ‘culture industry’ is a term associated with a group called the Frankfurt School in the 1930s and 40s, a group of German intellectuals linked with the Institute for Social Research at the University of Frankfurt. Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer emigrated to the US where they mounted a scathing critique of standardised popular cultural forms such as Hollywood movies, magazines and music. Their criticism of mass entertainment stemmed from a hatred of fascism, which they argued had successfully used entertainment media as propaganda and mass ideological persuasion. 

 

 They argued that mass made these products were: 

 

Homogeneous (standardised, uniform, all working in 

the same way) and 

 

Predictable (we know what form the song will take 

from the first few bars, or how the tension in a 

Hollywood film will be resolved) 

 

In their view the culture industry continually 

reproduces the same thing. 

 

Binaries then established the divide of ‘authentic culture’ from ‘mass culture’: 

 

 Real / false 

 

Art / entertainment 

 

European / American 

 

Multidimensional / one dimensional 

 

Active consumption / passive consumption 

 

Imagination / distraction 

 

Individual creation / mass production

 

Active consumers  

Instead of understanding consumers as docile and susceptible to 

manipulation by others, the term ‘creative industries’ is sometimes used to 

present a more optimistic view. 

 

Consumers as unpredictable, innovative, interactive, critical collaborators 

in the production of culture (eg. participatory media such as social media, 

open source, culture jamming, flash mobs, online gamers). 

 

Adorno and Horkheimer’s view of the ‘masses’ as passive and easily duped 

has always been problematic. 

 

Adorno and Horkheimer’s view of producers (as proponents of standardised 

ideological values) and consumers (as passive) has been challenged: 

 

• idea of knowingness (eg. pastiche, parody, appropriation) 

• resistance to capitalist values (eg. Occupy movement) 

• culture jamming (eg. Adbusters) 

 

 Consumption needs to be understood as action. 

 Emergence of ‘creative industries’ 

 

Recent idea of creative industries combines creative arts with cultural industries. 

 It transforms these ideas by suggesting that we can move beyond distinctions such as elite/mass and 

art/entertainment. Often discussed in the context of new media technologies and (inter)active consumers. Relates to the decline of manufacturing industries and rise in consumer industries eg. Bill Gates  who made his fortune through controlling an operating system, not manufacturing computers. 

 More recently Google’s success was in providing connectivity, which increased the opportunity for 

content, which requires a creative solution. 

 

There is a hope that creative industries might rejuvenate cities that have 

seen a decline in manufacturing eg. ‘cities of culture’. 

 

Political interest in creativity as enterprise

 

Conclusion 

 

 

Throughout history there has been different and changing understandings of creativity.

 Importance of earlier idea of ‘culture industry’ 

 Challenges to this idea (eg. positive attitude 

towards consumers) 

 Emergence of ‘creative industries’ 

 Relationship between creativity and commerce 

remains both contested and fascinating. 

Let’s talk about sex, and gender.

1.  Why is “sex” still an issue?
2. Why should you care?
3. What is a man?
4. What is masculinity?
5. Conclusion

 

Part one

 

Equality Act 2010 (UK) replaced precious anti-discriminitation laws with a single act

• Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• Race Relations Act 1976
• Disability Discriminations Act 1995

Legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society

 

UN Declaration of Human Rights 1948

• Article 7: “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.”

Equality of the sexes still not achieved.

 

A few global statistics:

• 2013 “based on country data available, up to 70% of women experience physical or sexual violence from men in their lifetime- the majority by husbands, intimate partners or someone they know .”
• Among women aged between 15 and 44, acts of violence cause more death and disability than cancer, malaria, traffic incidents and war combined.
• ‘civilians account for the vast majority of victims in contemporary wars; those least empowered suffer most.’
• ‘women and girls are targeted as a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instil fear in, punish, disperse and/or forcibly relocate members of a community/ethnic group.‘
• ‘women’s participation in peace negotiations remains ad hoc, not systematic […] Fewer than 3% of signatories to peace agreements are women.’
• ‘as of 2008, 18.4% of national parliamentarians were female (as opposed to 11.6% in 1995), and 17 heads of state or government worldwide were women’

 

Some UK statistics:

 

• 2011: UK gender pay gap for hourly wages = 20.1%  i.e. for every £1 a man gets paid a woman gets paid 79.9p for doing the same job

• 2013: ‘Official figures analysed by the TUC show the hourly rate of pay for 

  men is £26.54 and for women £18.32, with the disparity even wider in part-time jobs’

• ‘Women working full time still earn almost £5,000 a year less than their male colleagues, they are paid on average 15% less than men. The difference is even bigger for women working part time, who earn 35% less per hour than men working full time…’

Part two: Why should you care?

 

• Your sex effects how you have been treated, how you are treated, how you will be treated and what’s expected of you
• Understanding how your identity is constructed and perceived will help you understand and communicate with the audience/consumer of your work more effectively

Part three: What is a “man”?

 

• The answer to this will vary from person to person
• Definition of an “adult” male is difficult to pin down
  • age of consent in the UK is 16 ( for male and female)
  • but can’t vote till 18
  • can join the army at 16
  • age of responsibility is 10
  • sexual maturity now reached around 13 i.e. voice change etc occurs 
  • not the same as reaching emotional or psychosocial maturity
• Biological definitions:
  • chromosomes (X-Y)
  • Primary sex characteristics
  • biological deterministic understanding of gender roles unhelpful
• Culturally specific definitions:
  • e.g.1. Maasai boys must undergo rituals, ceremonies and circumcision before they can be considered a warrior/adult man
  • e.g.2. Jewish Bar Mitzvah (at 13 for males) after which the individual takes on the religious responsibilities of an adult
• “natural attitude” towards gender is that there are only 2 sexes, founded on assumption that gender is determined by an individual’s reproductive organs
  • e.g. it is an essentialist understanding of sexual difference
  • assumes being masculine or feminine is not a choice
  • assumes any deviation if a pathology; that it is the norm to be either male or female
• “biological determinism” 

 

Cultural definition of “man” particularly that evidenced by the Western cultural industries, and the different forms that a man can take and yet still embody “masculinity. The dominant representation of a “man” in UK cinema remains that of the white male.

 

Mass media portrays the specifically desirable model of masculinity as :

 

• White
• purposeful
• active
• independent
• heterosexual
• violent and/ or fearless
• powerful
• strong

Part four: What is “masculinity”?

• not femininity, i.e. it can only be understood relationally:
  • not purposeless
  • not an object
  • not passive
  • not dependant
  • not “womanly”
  • not fearful
  • not powerless
  • not weak

The mass  media promotes an exaggerated version of human “sexual dimorphism”, i.e. men appear hyper muscled, women physically weak. 

• It also typically presents a “heteronormative” discourse.
  • it presents heterosexuality as the normal/”natural” sexual identity
  • in doing so it renders all other sexual identities abnormal/ “unnatural”
  • “symbolic annihilation” of other identities 
• to be seen as “feminine” or to have feminine qualities is still framed as a negative and undesirable state
  • part of reason “female” dress has not been “unisexed”
  • and that househusbands are still viewed as anomalous 
  • implies loss of “power”
• Where “power” is equated with sexual and socio- political agency
• desire for power also frequently framed as masculine trait
• framed as unattractive in women
• gendered identities can be understood as “performative”
• culturally understood/defined gendered characteristics can be limited and limiting for all concerned
• gender stereotypes as harmful for men as for women

Part five: Conclusion

 

Why should you care? 

Cultural understandings of gender effects each of us, and can also effect your work’s audiences/consumers. As do the cultural constructions of race, sexuality, ageing, disability, fat, beauty, etc.

 

As a maker/producer of cultural texts I need to decide whether I want to perpetuate or challenge these constructions. I also need to consider:

 

• The (historically and currently) influential practitioners in your field: are they mostly male, female, transgender or an equal mix?
• The practitioners whose work you are most inspired/influenced by: are they mostly male, female, transgender or an equal mix?
• The people represented by these practitioners (i.e. whose images appear in their works): are they mostly male, female, transgender or an equal mix?
•  Now question the same things but consider their race, sexuality, disability, etc.

Image as language – the science of sign systems

Semeiotics- study of language systems relating to sound and text

 

Structuralism-applying these to objects

 

Signs and how they are constructed

 

Text- what is a text? Not just something you read, also objects that surround it, clothes for example

 

Different types of signs, iconic, symbolic etc.

 

Introducing these ideas.

 Saying one thing and thinking another, saying “cat” and thinking of the idea of a cat

A phonetic alphabet records sound values

 

An ideographic system uses symbols to represent a thing or idea without indicating any of the sounds in its names

 

Signs

Iconic signs- look like the thing they signify eg. portraits, photos, etc

 

Indexical signs-refer to other knowledges e.g. natural signs: clouds signify rain, footprints feet etc. These are signs that have actually made a physical impact

 

Symbolic signs- have meaning only due to convention e.g words, flags etc

For instance, you are taught which flags are which through association

 

Structuralism- main idea is that everything is a text, from a chair to an item of clothing.

 

Everything we encounter is a “text” that we “read”

 

Langue – the structural rules and conventions of a system e.g. a dictionary

 

The structural rules and conventions of a system: form/frame – medium – tools – the language we choose to work with

 

Parole – the spoken/individual usage of signs within a system e.g a poem

 

Pink – Stupid Girls

 

How many different “languages” or sign systems are being used in the video?

 

 

Costume- same person dressed up, language around costume, showing archetypes and stereotypes.

Used within the video at several points to lead you to conclusion of who the person is, where they are from etc

special effects

Makeup- suggest different lifestyles and identity, different makeup throughout video

Bodies- kind of language, performance and dressing differently in various situations

Extras

Location- several in the video, tanning salon to the gym. Serve as a language, different people go to both, relationship between each other

Props: Used to signify different things e.g. materialistic

Camera angle : shows different perspectives, surveying/ god like view for instance from aerial view

Edits/cut rate: Changes effects of shots, which gives you different emotional states

Lighting

Colour/ film

 

Lots of different aspects of the video effect the way we view it and our final conclusion/ feeling.

 

Still image of the video.

 

Main figure- male, tall, black, muscular. loose fur coat, baggy jeans, t shirt/ vest, gold chain, baseball cap, doo rag

 

– still, facing camera/audience, pointing at audience, eyes are visible, looking at camera/audience not the woman, focus is the face

 

Secondary figure- female, shorter than male, white, slim, short top and skirt/shorts, thigh high stockings/boots, trilby, long bleached hair, “dancing” next to man, side on to camera, eyes concealed by hat, focus on body

 Setting

urban, concrete ( basketball court) , smoke rising in background, natural light – dusk or early morning, artificial light, four visible in background but weak

 

Non representational signs:

 

camera below mans eye line, audience looks up at him

off camera lighting focused on figures

figures cropped

lyrics

music

 

SIGN = signifier ( fur coat) + signified ( functionality)

 Fur coat – keeps you warm ( function) , glamour, old money, pimp, cruelty

 Poststructuralism

Meaning is not contained within a text, it relies on knowledge of other external texts to “make sense” of it.

E.g if the chair is a text, our understanding of it comes from the relationship we have with every chair we have come in contact with

 

Intertextual

 Story only exists when a book is read – Roland Barthes theory- e.g only until someone reads little red riding hood, it doesn’t exist

 Having knowledge about something changes the way you see things, for example you may recognise something due to an event that as already happened- Paris Hiltons sex tape – Pink’s representation in her video

 

What is Pink’s paradigm?

 Pop, her cultural signification is represented by her leather jacket, heavy eye make up etc.

White, blonde pop- punk who operates with the intention of selling records, despite being controversial/critical

– capitalism

Innocence Lost

Part 1- Looking and making as political practises

 Visual images carry ideas and values about the world.

•  Not everyone shares the same opinion and views about things; we all think differently about the world

Meanings produced through a social relationship includes:

• how viewer interprets the image
• how the image is seen

This allows multiple interpretations, however dominant meanings can emerge, partly as a result of visual culture

 

• Euro-centrism; putting the european concerns at the centre of our view
• The political view you start with influences your design
• Relationship between design and power
• Making is not a value free or objective activity, but positioned- geographically and politically
• No “innocent eye”
• Looking and making take place from a position, this changes what we see

Awareness of this helps us to analyse, not describe.

 

Part 2- Ideology: dominant cultural values

 

• Karl Marx argued economics determines culture
• Looks at relation of capitalism to class
• Those who own means of production (eg. newspapers) control ideas
• Idea that consumers consent to these ideas

Ideology of youth : naturalisation of values

 

• societies mask their ideologies as “natural” systems of value/belief

Meanings intended by producer and their ideologies aren’t always received in the same way by audiences. Consumers often reinvest cultural products with meanings not intended by the producer- e.g graffiti

 

Part 3- Strategies of resistance

 

Juxtaposition to create “critical distance”

• Combining two distinct visual languages to make the way we interpret them different.
• group working- collaborative projects- significance of the materials- non hierarchal approach.

Conclusion:

 Viewing and making is not value free, neutral or objective, but positioned.

Cultural production involves the power to perpetuate or challenge prevailing ideas about the world and our place in it.

 

 

Consuming Passions

Part 1- The birth of the modern era

Part 2-The birth of consumer culture

Part 3-Spaces of consumption

Part 4- Conclusion

 

Part 1: The birth of the modern era

 

• The structure of society changed
• Work vs. leisure
• public vs. private
• relationship with our things; we are what we own

Industrial revolution started in England in the late 18th century

• start of large scale industry in UK and US
• Mass production
• things made quicker and cheaper
• society experienced paradigm shift
• radical break with preceding way of life and values
• reduced need for labour in countryside
• most migrated to larger cities
• mass unemployment in countryside
• birth of modern cities
• shift in population

Industrial revolution changed how people related to the world and each other

• Information was passed more easily
• culture vs nature
• mechanisation of warfare (ability to stop uprises faster for example)
• Culture vs culture

Part 2- Birth of consumer culture

 

• Mechanisation of production impacted on every aspect of peoples lives

This resulted in:

• Standardisation of weights and measures
• birth of consumer culture
• alienation of the worker- workers doing the same thing day in day out
• This was compensated for by introducing leisurely activities
• Leisure- distraction from work
• The birth of the designer- the distinction between the ones working in factories making the product, and those deciding what the product would look like.
• material culture arose as a result of technological innovations and mass production was ornate.
• electroplating- cheaper metals could be covered with more valuable ones.
• Truth of materials- false economy 
• roots of debate- relative value of the homemade vs the machine made
• steam powered printing press
• production increased, prices fell, unemployment rose
• typographic design boomed as competition between companies grew
• increased speed of sharing info- poorer classes learnt info faster
• literary levels increased- more affordable books
• birth of advertising industry 
• birth of the brand
• boom in packaging design
• after the industrial revolution, people didn’t have emotional relationship/trust with personal shopkeepers, butchers etc, they became faceless brands
• boom in “lifestyle” magazines
• portraiture became widely popular, even within poorer classes

Industrialisation also resulted in: 

• shift in power on political front
• diffusion of money and hence power to the middle classes
• status became defined by property and wealth not land and titles
• increased separation of the domestic and public domains
• middle class men demanding and getting political rights/power that equalled their new economic power.
• middle class women remained relatively powerless
• they became placards of husbands wealth- symbolic value became most important when shopping whereas the function/use value was less.

Part 3- Spaces of consumption

 

In response to this new kind of consumer, new spaces of consumption were created:

• Shopping arcades
• department stores
• the “flaneur”- Charles Baudelaire- someone who walks the city to experience it, someone who frequently shops
• museums
• theatres
• the entertainment industry evolved

Part 4- Conclusion

• technological innovation massively altered our way of life
• led to the modern era
• saw birth of consumer culture
• peoples identity directly linked with what they consume
• spaces designed and created to promote and facilitate consumerism

Visiting Stokes Croft and Cabot Circus

Fieldwork findings- trip notes and photos

My group and I visited Stokes Croft and Cabot Circus, and recorded our findings, as shown below: 

 

 

As a group we tried to be aware of all aspects of our surroundings, from smells to numbers of people. I think this made us look closer at what was around us and actually notice things we would have simply been oblivious to in another situation.

 

A few things we could have done to improve the visits:

 

• More people show up for the task
  • this would give us more info as more people would be giving opinions, knowledge and insight
  • It would decrease the pressure on those who turned up to get the findings correct
  • We could have had one person to each task, rather than people doing several at a time. 
• Recorded actual videos of the surroundings to give a real display of what it was actually like, rather than us trying to simply describe to the audience.
• Splitting the group up before the visit, so that one half could visit the places at day time and the other at night.
• Visited during non school holidays, which clearly effected the areas as there were more children and families around