Return to Syllabus   Dr. Andrew Wood
Office: HGH 210; phone: (408) 924-5378
Email: wooda@email.sjsu.edu
Web: http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda

 

Chapter One: Images, Power, and Politics

Reading:

Sturken, M, & Cartwright, L. (2001). Practices of looking: An introduction to visual culture. New York: Oxford University Press.

  Note: These comments are not designed to "summarize" the reading. Rather, they are available to highlight key ideas that will emerge in our classroom discussion. As always, it's best to read the original text to gain full value from the course.  

Consider this 1936 portrayal of a California migrant whose sad expression illustrates the Great Depression to many Americans. As an example of documentary photography, the image portrays in stark detail the suffering of "Okies" who struggled to survive in the fields of California. Yet, the edited image expresses almost as much about the photographer, Dorothea Lange, as it does about the so-called "Migrant Mother," Florence Owens Thompson. How does this image receive its power? Historians recall that the image was one of six, each offering a different perspective of Thompson, some images even portraying a different number of children. Several researchers suggest that the selection of this image served to appease conservative newspaper editors who imagined that their readers would not identify with an impoverished woman caring for more than two children. One may even argue that the image - whose composition makes subtle reference to the "Madonna and Child" motif - appealed to cultural myths about motherhood even as it sought to affirm Roosevelt's New Deal programs. Clearly, "Migrant Mother" illustrates the power of the visual image to convey the intersection of technology, identity, and culture.

Chapter One (pp. 10-44) explores the technology of image production and reproduction, claiming that this technology resides within a network of social, economic, and cultural forces. The authors begin by differentiating the acts of seeing and looking - the former referring to a largely unconscious and often random process, the latter suggesting a process shaped by conscious intent. The authors further differentiate mimetic and social constructionist approaches toward representation - the former referring to representation of the "world as it is," the latter suggesting that an image's meaning resides in human sense-making apart from the objective world. This notion of image-as-text adopts a postmodern approach toward images, labeling them as processes rather than products through which humans make sense of the world.

Each image gains a measure of authenticity through its means of production. Thus, in certain cultures, photographs contain more truth than paintings, while television coverage of an event might be more valid than a snapshot. Intriguingly, images are frequently dislocated from their media of origin, placed in alternative media and imbued with new meanings. Even within its own medium, an image may be manipulated, however. The unretouched "Migrant Mother," for example, clearly depicts a thumb of a hidden child, while the retouched photo removes the offending thumb. The authors further illustrate this claim by comparing two mass-market magazine covers of O.J. Simpson's infamous mug shot, one portraying the accused murderer in a manner as having a darker complexion than the other did. Given the cultural studies approach taken by the authors, one should not be surprised to learn their conclusion: The "truth" of an image, regardless of the technology employed in its production, resides in the context of its reading as much as in the intent of its creator.

The authors propose semiotic analysis as a means to interpret images. To that end, they explore images as signs containing a signifier and signified. The signifier refers to an object depicted in the image while the signified refers to a meaning that the object conveys. Drawing from the writings of Roland Barthes, the authors note that signifiers and signifieds cannot be separated from one another; the meaning of an image resides within the interplay of object and context. Of course, certain images acquire mythic power to convince viewers that the connotations they contain are, in fact, denotative. These mythic images, often called icons, even may appear to be universal when they are, in fact, representative of a localized and limited context. In other words, some images are crafted to convince you that their idealized vision or clever critique portrays the world "as it is." As such images often serve to perpetuate ideologies, largely unspoken value statements that define appropriate action. Of course, just as an image may appear to be inviolate, its ideological power unchallenged, individuals and groups may easily appropriate it for creative and even revolutionary purposes.

Activity

Select a magazine advertisement which appears to affirm a certain ideology. What are three specific signs that construct a particular message for how one should live in the world, what values one should adopt?

Off-campus webpages

Note: These pages exist outside of San Jose State University servers and their content is not endorsed by the page maintainer or any other university entity. These pages have been selected because they may provide some guidance or insight into the issues discussed in class. Because one can never step into the same electronic river twice, the pages may or may not be available when you request them. If you have any questions or suggestions, please email Dr. Andrew Wood.

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