Year 2: Viewers make meaning.

I have been reading a relatively small section of this paper in order to understand it. The overall theme of the text is about how people create meanings from images such as paintings and film that are sometimes completely different from what the creator or producer of the image originally intended.

In the text the author suggests that images are not just placed waiting for the viewer to find them, that there is in fact other factors to bring into account. The author describes ‘complex negotiations’ and describes the codes and conventions that structure the image, how viewers understand it and the context in which the image is shown. Therefore the producer has to understand political, social, cultural and economic influences of the viewer. Also understand how the viewers will react to the image and in what context they receive the image. The author refers to the viewer as an individual rather than as part of an audience. He aims to engage and cause a reaction from the viewers’, rather than mould a collective audience.

The author introduces the concept of interpellation, I understand this to mean, engaging the viewer and allowing them to respond and question. In order for the viewers to understand the meaning of an image the producer has to understand the codes and conventions of the social group he is addressing. In advertising producers seek to interpellate viewers/consumers by implying they are within the advert, allowing viewers to associate with the message portrayed by the image. Some viewers may not relate to the advert directly, but may associate with it in an indirect manner, for example I may not wish to buy the perfume, however, my sister would really like it.   

Producers can evoke feelings within their audience, to engage or interpellate, this can be achieved in the style of the photograph or image. An image may have close-ups, blurred perspective or use of warm colours to portray a nostalgic, traditional view of childhood, as seen in Wethers Originals. Alternatively, emotions of disgust or sorrow can create a personal response to charitable advertising for donations. Therefore by knowing the codes and conventions the producer can reach targeted individuals within their intended audience.

Producers Intended Meanings

A producer can be an individual, organisation or a collective of artists. The theorist Roland Barthes in ‘the death of an Author’ (1967) suggests that when a piece of art is published it no longer belongs to the original creator, but to the public domain. Barthes suggests that the producer does not have authority, it is the critical, analytical reader who interprets the work from a perspective relevant to time and situation in which it was read. An example of this would be Tolkein’s ‘Lord of the rings’ which originally was not received well by critics, later, after the cultural changes of the sixties, the book became more relevant. Barthes’ idea that the viewer observed art and produced the meanings, caused the death of the author, is less relevant today thanks to photoshop and other editing software.

Michel Foucault in 1979 raised the question who is the author, when organisations produce an advert the author is sometimes not even recognised but the brand is. Organisations may intend to give a direct message, however, it all depends on the context that the viewer perceives the image and this cannot be predicted by the producer/organisation. Sometimes the meaning is received in a way that the original creators never intended. In the case of the movie, Titanic, viewers enjoyed the film for diverse reasons; the history, social history or its romantic themes, this was the intended message. However, for middle aged Chinese viewers the subtext was that of regret in regards to the loss of socialism and their youthful dreams.     

Year 2: Death of the author

I have been reading a text called The Death of the Author by Roland Barthes. In this post I will be attempting to draw meaning from this one paragraph at a time.

The first paragraph opens with a sentence from Balzac that says "It was Woman, with her sudden fears, her irrational whims, her instinctive fears, her unprovoked bravado, her delicious delicacy of feeling". Then Barthes asks a question whether or not this sentence comes from Balzac’s own experience or knowledge or if it is universal wisdom or romantic psychology. Authorship provides freedom to be many people at once. The whole first paragraph suggests that the literature exists independently from the original author. It is hard to know where the author ends and the story begins.

The second paragraph backs this statement as it talks about how primitive societies undertake narrative. The narrator's performance is admired but not his genius. The text goes on to explain that the author is a modern concept and how much the person is appreciated through magazines, biographies, entries in literary history books and many others. Everyone remembers the author's personality, ideas and passions. Society tends to remember the author but not the person with his quirks and imperfections.

Ideology

In this post I will be talking about ideology and the effect it has on people.  Unfortunately I was unable to attend the session in which we discussed this subject so I will be relying solely on the presentation that was uploaded on the college resource page.

Ideology refers to the thoughts, beliefs and social values of individuals or a collective that help to provide context and meaning in everyday life.  This basically means that ideologies are what make up everyone's social and moral compass.

The very first slide in the presentation talked about Jeremy Bentham's panopticon.  A circular prison with a tower in the middle, this is where the guards would monitor the prisoners.  In their cells, the prisoners would be unable to see the guards in the tower but the opposing party would still be able to see them.  This would mean that the guards wouldn't have to be on duty all the time and the prisoners would feel under constant scrutiny which in turn would encourage the inmates to behave better.

This concept has made its way into today's society in regards to the amount of CCTV cameras there are in the country watching our every move.  This draws parallels between the panopticon and real-life in reference to behaving under the notion that we are being monitored constantly by authority regardless of whether or not if anyone is on duty.  I honestly think that this is a bit excessive because everyone is being scrutinised even if they are innocent.  We have learned to accept this.

We then moved on to Karl Marx.  He talks about how ideologies are imposed upon the working classes by those that have a major influence who in turn legitimates their position.  Legitimate powers can't just be thrown aside on a whim.  Afterwards we looked at Gramsci who says that ideology provides each class with an identity despite being part of the system.

We next looked at hegemony which refers to an ideology becoming part of everyone's common sense and understanding.  Gramsci says that hegemony is enforced not by force but by consent.  Building up alliances is what helps the concept of hegemony survive as a means of maintaining power.  I personally think that hegemony is a very difficult thing to get over in regards to the amount of time it has been in effect.

We moved on to Althusser.  He talks about methods of imposing ideologies on people which are Repressive State Apparatuses and Ideological States Apparatuses.  RSA refers to government administrations, the police and the army who function by violence to force people into the dominant ideology.  ISA entail schools, churches, family and belief in the law to gently nudge people towards the dominant ideology.

A quote from Tony Benn, a member of the British Labour Party says “If democracy is ever to be threatened, it will not be by revolutionary groups burning government offices and occupying the broadcasting and newspaper offices of the world. It will come from disenchantment, cynicism and despair caused by the realisation that the New World Order means we are all to be managed and not represented.”  I personally like this statement as it says that democracy will be threatened once governments start to dictate and monitor their people instead of existing for the people.

We then looked at a few dominant ideologies such as liberalism and social democracy.  Afterwards we looked at radical ideologies such as socialism, communism and Marxism.  People sometimes use ideology as a means of liberation against the struggle of the status quo.  Ideologies are most prominent in political and religious movements.  James Scott puts forward the thick and thin theory in regards to enforcing ideologies on people.  The thick theory explains that people who believe actively in values that justify their own subordination and the thin theory which refers to the thought that conditions the individual is living in is natural and inevitable.

I personally think that ideologies can both be a good thing and a bad thing.  It's good that people hold on to certain values that help them through their life but it’s dangerous when people believe in their own values too much that they must enforce it on everyone else and anyone who disagrees will be savagely and brutally punished.  Religious fundamentalists are a prime example of my second statement.  Ideologies are what define people as individuals.My

My thoughts on Utopia and Dystopia

In this post I will be discussing the subject of Utopia and dystopia.

The word utopia is derived from the Greek word which means "no place" and "good place".  The word basically describes a society or civilisation that lives under perfect and ideal conditions.

Utopia is also the name of a book written by Thomas More in 1516.  This work of fiction takes place on an island which is named after the title.  On the island the people have collective ownership over food stored in warehouses where everyone takes only what they need.  Men and women do the same amount of work on their farms to provide food for the collective society and some widowed women may also become priests.

More's fictional island also introduces the concepts of a welfare state with free healthcare for all and with state sanctioned voluntary euthanasia for the elderly or infirm.  Priests are allowed to marry and divorce is allowed.  There are no lawyers and the law is presented transparently to the people in order to understand right from wrong.  There is no crime.  Women must also confess their sins to their husbands once a month.

The lifestyle of the islands inhabitants this isn't a Communist or socialist state.  The households elect a leader to rule over individual states but the whole island is ruled by the King.

On the surface this way of life is seen as absolute perfection but deep down there are some concerning factors.  Each household on the island has two slaves and women must, once a month tell their husbands of any misdeeds.  Equality doesn't seem to exist here despite the fact that this island is a supposed to be a utopia.  The law of the land is made easy for the inhabitants to understand in order to stop crime from ever happening but, in my opinion an understanding of the law won't prevent crime but only make it worse.  The subject of euthanasia that is state sanctioned is a very prickly topic as it entails the concepts of people voluntarily ending their own lives and the fact that it is legal to do so.

Utilitarianism means that happiness is the most desirable end that all men strive for or, to quote Jeremy Bentham "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong".  This basically means that whoever has the most votes, wins.  John Stuart Mill however takes into consideration the fact that one ideal may be the most desirable could also be the worst option for everyone else who disagrees.  The options must be considerably weighed up for the greater good.  I strongly agree with John Stuart Mill because it encourages critical thinking in the process of deciding the best course of action instead of just enforcing laws that only enrich the lives of the majority.

The concept of a flawed paradise is displayed in a painting called the Garden of earthly delights by Hieronymus Bosch.  Underneath the utopian imagery there is an uneasy and sinister undertone.  In my honest opinion I think that all utopia's are flawed because not everyone thinks alike.

A utopian ideal is shared by people who agree with it and those who disagree are shunned by the majority.  A real-life example of this is from Levittown, built by William Levitt and his family in 1948.  The town consisted of houses built with the same materials, in bulk and all looked exactly the same inside and out.  The housing was intended for soldiers that had returned from the recent war and their families.  The Town capitalized on the post war depression.

When a black family tried to buy a house in Levittown, nearly all the residents who had lived there since the beginning protested against the purchase.  This was due to the fact that in those days if the community went black they would be massive financial problems.  This still came down to racism.  In my opinion a utopia is only a utopia from the perspective of whoever created it and whatever the creator detests will be considered undesirable to whoever agreed to this in said utopia.

A dystopia is the polar opposite of Utopia where everything is terrible and destructive.  A dystopia is most disturbing when it appears beneath a sugary coating.  I had a look at a clip from the movie Blue Velvet.  The footage introduced us to a seemingly perfect town complete with children holding hands on their way to school.  We then focus on a man watering the garden who in turn accidentally cuts of his ear.  It lands on the grass and is then devoured by insects.  I believe this best describes what a dystopia is.

More examples of dystopias came from books such as The Beach by Alex Garland and Island by Aldous Huxley.  As mentioned in a previous post the game mirrors edge also portrays a dystopia.  More explicit dystopias are depicted in The Road by Cormac McCarthy and the movie Children of Men directed by Alfonso Cuarón.

Village of the year

Recently i have re-watched Edgar Wright's Action comedy Hot Fuzz and i have decided to talk about it and how it ties in with our Utopia and dystopia studies. The movie is about a top London police officer Nicholas Angel who is transferred from the city to the quaint fictional village of Sanford, Gloucestershire (Wells, Somerset in reality) after being too good at his job. Now in the country he has to apply his experience towards enforcing the law.

After settling in to his new surroundings Nicholas is shown around the police station in which he discovers that the squad is incompetent and ill-equipped. He is also introduced to the neighbourhood watch and to a local supermarket owned by a shifty manager Simon Skinner. Things begin to get bloody when a couple get decapitated by a road sign after speeding into it. Suspiciously the brakes weren't applied. After the death of two men and a woman caused by a gas explosion, falling church masonry and a pair of hedge clippers in the neck Nicholas begins to delve into the cause of the deaths.

When putting the murder cases towards his disbelieving colleagues, Nicholas is told that the alleged murders were only accidents much to his disbelief. Angel starts digging through the local papers to find evidence, presenting his evidence and an arrest warrant to Simon Skinner, Nicholas is proved wrong.  After hearing a suggestion from a corner shop keeper alluding towards a ring of killers Nicholas insists to his superior that Angel was right, he is let down easily and is told to sleep on it until tomorrow.

When Nicholas arrives at his hotel room he is assaulted by the hulking yet simple trolley boy. Nicholas defeats him by smashing a plant pot on his head, dropping a walkey-talkey on the floor. He heads towards the castle mentioned by the man on the radio. Nicholas finds out that the Watch were behind the deaths. The chief tells Nicholas that the neighbourhood watch murdered the victims because they posed a threat to the village of the year competition, killing anyone who would jeopardise their track record. When being chased Nicholas discovers "the problems" that were dealt with from under age drinkers, a shoplifter, living statue and gypsy caravans.

When Danny pretends to stab Nicholas in the heart he drops Angel on the outskirts of village, telling him to return to London and never come back. Nicholas returns to the village to enact justice upon the neighbourhood watch. After rallying the police force to his cause they assault the supermarket to arrest Skinner but he escapes. After pursuing Skinner and Frank Butterman via police cars, Nicholas engages and overcomes Skinner and arrests Frank, restoring order to Sanford.

There is the exchange between Nicholas and Frank that involves the lines "This is the best village, Nicholas" and "They're [the towns people] living in a dream world". This best sums up a dystopia being flawed".

My thoughts on Gender

One of the subjects we have covered in the contextual studies lectures has been gender and the gaze. The gaze refers to how women are depicted in art and film as objects to be looked at and of male desire. Throughout art men have always been shown as active and powerful beings. This is most prevalent in ancient sculptures which tend to present male figures partake in activities such as discus throwing and, in one instance strangling a Python. 

Women on the other hand have been depicted as passive and submissive which is shown in paintings that display women being almost naked and not looking directly at whomever is viewing the painting. In the realm of cinema during the 20th century this didn't change much. The female characters in these movies tended to only fulfil the purpose of being a trophy and an object of desire for the leading male character. The concept of the gaze is most prevalent in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. In this film the male character has a broken leg and has to use a wheelchair, while he is confined the man uses binoculars to look in on the other residents of the apartment's lives.

 In the Alien films, this convention of the female character being passive is thrown out the window. I will only examine the first film in the series. This movie follows the crew of  the towing ship Nostromo as it returns to earth. After unintentionally bringing an alien on board the crew of the ship attempt to destroy it. Warrant officer Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver is unlike the other heroines due to the fact that she is a driving force for good in the story despite the presence of the male crew members. Ripley doesn't run to any of the male characters during the aliens' rampage.

In video games during the early generations of consoles, the theme of a damsel in distress prevails. Mario is a notable example of this. However, Metroid does away with this because the player, unknowingly until the end of the game is playing a female character called Samus. Coincidentally, Metroid was inspired by Alien from the strong female lead character Samus and down to the villan, Ridley named after the director of the first film, Ridley Scott.

During the mid-to late 90s another playable heroine arrives on the PlayStation, her name is Lara Croft otherwise known as tomb Raider. Recently the titular heroine has had a change of character in the recent instalment. She is no longer a sex symbol, now Lara is a more realistic character with proper characterisation and less sexualised. The damsel in distress motif seems to be less prevalent recently, maybe this is due to the rise of a previously small demographic of female gamers. The increase of women as gamers does come with the issue of perception and identity of the gender in gaming as a medium. While there are some very strong and independent female characters, these character traits are usually exaggerated far too much and don't provide a middle ground in which some female gamers can relate to.

Maybe an evenly balanced female character is a step in the right direction for equality of women in videogames.

Dystopia and Utopia

In response to a recent lecture I have been asked to find an example of a utopia and a dystopia from video games.  My first example of a dystopia is from the game Mirror's Edge.  The game is set in an urban environment that is depicted in bright and clean light where crimes are non-existent and the population is a lot more comfortable.  On the surface this may not sound like a dystopia but from playing the game you will discover what goes on behind closed doors.  In the game world information and postal deliveries are heavily monitored by the government, there is an illusion of democracy and any people or groups of people that rebel against the system are brutally dealt with by the police.  

In game the player controls a parkour courier called a "runner" whose job is to deliver important packages without the government intercepting them and, according to the player the government is a malicious, Omni present entity.  The game touches on the theme that if a certain way of life has a lot of benefits and is more efficient it doesn't necessarily mean that it's the only way to live.

Women in video games

In our lecture we have been looking at the role of women in video games. Today i'm going to talk about two games that show women as a trophy for the troubles of the protagonist.

Resident Evil 4

The plot of Resident Evil 4 is about a federal agent, Leon who is sent by the US president to rescue his daughter Ashley. Already we have the basic story about rescuing a damsel in distress. Leon has to fight through infected villagers, giant bugs and other creatures in order to rescue Ashley. At parts in the game the player has to escort Ashley through a few levels, commanding her to hide when the player encounters enemies to reach the end.

 The player must make sure that no enemies carry her off which results in a game over, however, during cut-scenes Ashley sometimes runs away from Lean (for some reason) or gets captured by the enemy (this happens more than once) which in turn results in her being next to useless. This relates to men being active and women being passive.

In contrast to the damsel in distress there is another female character named Ada who is more independent than Ashley. The player first meets Ada during a cut-scene when a gun is pressed against Leon's back, Ada orders him to not move in which Leon retorts "Following a ladies' lead isn't my style". This quote seems to reflect the notion that only men are the ones who give orders.

The Gaze can be applied to Ada in respects to her attire. She wears a red, slightly revealing dress, very odd choice for a secret operative to be wearing. This effects Leon in one instance in which Ada gives the player a lift to the final phase of the game, when the boat pulls up to the island Ada grapple hooks on to the island which distracts Leon causing him to loose control of the boat.

After the last boss, Ada betrays Leon by forcing him to hand over the cure he had acquired earlier, but due to his assistance she gives him the keys to a jet ski to escape with. The portrays the notion that woman only impedes the mans' progress in his quest.

Ico

Ico is about a boy whom the game is named after and a young girl named Yorda. The player controls Ico who is imprisoned in a castle due to being born with two horns. The player happens upon Yorda who is imprisoned as well, the player must lead Yorda; usually by the hand through the castle, solving puzzles and defending her from shadowy creatures that can carry her away. This is very similar to Resident Evil in which the male character is in charge and the female character is commanded around.

Ico deviates from this however because of the fact that the player needs Yorda to complete puzzles, activate player sensitive objects and to carry on to the next level. The game allows a bond to be created between the player (Ico) and Yorda which helps to detract away from the fact she is scatterbrained and unable to defend herself.  This reletates to the female being the incentive for the player but this is averted slightly due to the fact that the relationship between the characters is that of friendship. Also Yorda isn't completely useless because of her integral role to the story and gameplay.

Orientalism

In our lectures, we were looking at Orientalism and the Other. The subject of post colonialism was brought up first which was about the impact and aftermath of European domination and colonising of non-European countries and its people along with its culture. Subjects such as art, literature and thought have been effected by the colonisation of other countries because of the idea that westerners want to spread their ideals on the natives which in turn removes its people from its roots and cements the colonists rule.

Next we were introduced to the works of Edward Said, especially his book Orientalism. Here he talks about the representation of the Orient and how it presents the notion that the west is right and east is wrong. For example; the west has its own history while the east has it imposed on them, the west is rational while the east is irrational and the west has masculine demeanour of activity and domination while the east has feminine features of submission and possession.

Afterwards we looked at how the west visualises the east through art and and other media. We looked at a painting by Rudolf Ernst called "A sultan with a tiger". As the title suggests, the painting has a sultan astride a tiger under an archway of an eastern palace. The problem is that the image is a mixture of elements from different parts of the east, the painting is supposed to represent India. This is known as a Pastiche. Another example is from an old P&O poster depicting a decorated elephant with an equally colourful procession. It helps project an exotic impression but falls short in the truth department. From these examples i think that the east lost their identity and tried to emulate what the posters were displaying and advertising.

Then we looked at the "other" which means how the east has helped the west in creating contrasts in image, personality and experience. The other refers to the differentiation between what is familiar to the west and how it perceives the east as different and unconventional. This gives colonists the excuse to pry into the "others" land and changing the east to suit the west's needs. A closing statement from Said mentions how imperialism imposes history on the country and how it destroys the culture and ethics of the land and creates an order that the imposing force finds pleasing. I think this is how stereotypes come around.

We moved from history and art to Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" and how it deals with orientalism, colonisation and agency. Blade Runner is set in the early 21st century where highly advanced robots called Replicants are used as slave labourers and planet exploration. The film is about a squad of special police called "Blade Runners" in which their job is to execute Replicants who have recently been declared illegal on earth. Empathy tests are used to root out Replicants from the crowds of humans entering the country/planet, the examiner asks a theoretical question which will incur a emotional response.

The message the film conveys is about how colonialism creates it own culture from a mix of other cultures, most prominent is Oriental. This is very similar to the colonialisation of America due to the mix of different nationalities such as the Irish, German, English nationalities and many others. In the Film there is character named Gaff who is more or less a physical manifestation of the language in the city. Gaff speaks in a language that is a mix of European and Asian dialects. The culture in this future is what happens when the west changes  the meaning entirely of an eastern culture and amalgamating it into one entity. This removes the original meaning and creates a hollow and meaningless culture. A good example of this is the blue dragon. the west associates it with a Chinese restaurant.

The subject of Agency is brought up in film through the Replicants. Agency refers to how a culture or colony are able self-represent. In the film, the Replicants return to earth to seek out their creator in order to increase their life spans that are 4 years long. The leader of the androids only wants the best for his kind even if it is very violent. I think that agency is best explained in this movie.

Overall i think that Orientalism and post-colonialism theory does somewhat ring true today in the media and society. A good example for Orientalism in society is Chinatown. It is a vision of the east from the west's perspective, it is a form of entertainment at the expense of the east and it is a pastiche of China. To those who have travelled from China to the west probably would find this hodge-podge of Asian artefacts in one small space either hilariously or offensively inaccurate and misinformed.