Week 14

We watched one of Buster Keaton's short films, "Cops," in class. I think it’s great that films such as this one are still viewed by us to be funny. We can look back on shows such as "I Love Lucy" and other movies dating back to Charlie Chaplin and the beginning of film and still laugh appropriately at the plot. I'm not so sure that looking back on some the "comedies" of our time, generations to come will be able to find the humor. The type of humor that is most prevalent in films today is more grotesque. The humor of earlier films and TV is timeless. The humorous events are innocent and things that even today 50 or 100 years later we can still relate to and find funny. I have my doubts about the timelessness of some of today's humor. Will teenagers 50 years from now think that "Knocked Up" is funny? I'm not so sure. Many people are turned off by old, black and white films for some reason, but if they would just sit down and watch one, I’m sure they would probably enjoy it. Early filmmakers seemed to have an incredible sense of what would entertain audiences. I have watched many early films both in this class and Intro to Film Art and don’t think that there has been one that I didn’t like. The clothing and settings may not be the same as what we see in the world around us today, but the concepts of the movies are unaffected. Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin are hilarious regardless! The visual elements play a large role in these films (such as Chaplin’s oversized pants), but we are able to look past the differences between the film and our lives.

Week 13

We have begun our final unit on film! Hard to believe that the semester is nearing an end. Film is the most like reality and how we experience our day-to-day lives, so it could be argued that it is one of the most powerful forms of visual culture. We can more easily identify with the medium. There is a strong narrative that is usually reasonably easy to follow and the illusion of reality is created. As film as a medium has evolved it has become more and more “life-like” and audiences have begun to incorporate the images they see in films into their lives. Our emotions come into play when someone dies, falls in love, or reaches a seemingly unattainable goal. Some people even quote movies and television regularly and we undoubtedly discuss what happened on last night’s episode of a popular show. When we see the character in a film or on television dressing a certain way or doing their hair a particular way, we are strongly influenced by that. This could be the result of one of two things. The character played by an actor may seem to be a regular, down to earth person or we may become wrapped up in the “star” and want to be more like him/her. The effect of seeing interaction and movement which models reality has a strong effect on people mostly because we feel we get to know a person through film. Their lives and emotions are seemingly opened up to us and we are able to relate to them.

Thoughts on Photography

I am one of those people who likes to take pictures of just about everything. It is crazy what an impact photography and pictures have on our lives. They basically serve 2 purposes: memory aids and aesthetically pleasing decorations. I like to have pictures of my friends and family at various events, but I also take pictures of monuments and non-human elements that I find interesting and/or pretty. For instance, I really like to take pictures of flowers. The significance of taking a picture of a flower is seemingly meaningless to my life because the flower does not necessarily have to have importance to me. I also do not necessarily think, "This picture will look pretty framed in my room." So I'm not 100% sure why I take pictures of such things, but I do. I enjoy photography and capturing a variety of things with a camera is fun to me. On the other hand, there are images that I have taken that I would like to enlarge and frame for my home. Interesting shots of landmarks as well as...you guessed it....flowers. There is one particular image that has been manipulated in Photoshop that I did of a group of flowers that I really like. I have pictures all over my room of all the important people in my life and they serve as constant reminders of good things that have happened in my life. Especially for someone like me who has a TERRIBLE memory, photographs can be useful as well as fun.

Week 11

Part of our study this week focused on photomontage. It is so hard to imagine how early artists interested in photomontage were able to create their images. The tradition can be traced back to photographers as early as Henry Peach Robinson in the 1850s. In the beginning two negatives were put together to form the image. Later artists such as Hannah Hoch actually cut images and carefully placed them together, then photographed the arrangements. Each of these methods must have been extremely tedious and time consuming. In more modern times, these techniques still take some time to put together, but are undoubtedly MUCH easier to work with do to advancements in technology and the proliferation of software such as Adobe’s Photoshop. Regardless of visual appeal, one must have a great appreciation for the works of early “photomontagers” due to the extreme amount of time and effort put into each project. I personally prefer John Hartfield to Hannah Hoch. They were working around the same time, but Hartfield’s images are better put together (smoother). Obviously the works of contemporary photographers are event more streamlined (if they so choose) as a result of the technology.

Founder's Day Convocation

The Founder's Day Convocation held on Thursday, February 21, 2008 in Brown Chapel was a great place to observe visual culture. For starters, the event honored the seniors who will soon be graduating in May. We wore black gowns that distinguished us from the other students present and signified to everyone that we were soon-to-be graduates. We will again wear these black gowns along with our mortarboards and tassels on May 10 because that is the traditional dress of graduates - whether it be kindergarten, high school, college, or graduate school. The colors may vary, but the attire never changes. This is our culture's way of distinguishing those being honored and it must be streamlined throughout the nation and across all educational levels to be universally understood. Not only were we dressed differently than many people in attendance, but we also paraded into the chapel together and were seated as a group at the front. This, again, is a symbol of honor. Those most significant to any event are always seated at the front. At any lecture, the speaker is always at the front of the room. This was also true of the convocation. There were multiple speakers including Dr. Schwab and Dr. Morgan and all were seated at the front facing the audience and gave their respective addresses from a podium at the front of the chapel. At wedding ceremonies, the families of the bride and groom are always seated in the first few pews. The examples could go on and on. Additionally, all the professors were dressed in their robes, caps, and hoods. Each looks slightly different because the colors vary based on their education levels and fields of study. They are clearly distinguished from the upcoming graduates because most have much more ornate attire and they are distinguished from one another by the previously mentioned factors. Although we will still only wear the plain black robes and mortarboards for our graduation, we will also distinguish ourselves from one another based on our various cords and honors. Members of honor organizations and Greek Life will wear cords symbolizing their membership in these organizations. Each set is a different color. Those students graduating with honors will wear gold tassels on their caps rather than the black that the others graduates will be wearing. It is interesting all the many ways that we have to visually distinguish ourselves in these types of events!

Week 8

I enjoyed Richard Avedon's "In the American West" portfolio. I studied Avedon briefly in my Intro to Photography course last year, but was interested to learn more about him and his work. When I look at "In the American West," I see "normal" people portrayed in the images, but in a style more reflectant of Avedon's fashion photography background. The people are dirty, without limbs, wrinkled, and overall just raw. There is nothing about these people that suggests that they have dressed up to play a role in Avedon's portraits (like Cindy Sherman does). They seem to be dressed in whatever they are comfortable in and are sometimes accompained by props, but beyond that they are stripped of an environmental context. The white background takes them out of their natural environment and places them in this photoshoot. Interestingly, they are almost placed on the "same page" as many well known figures who were photographed in the same context in the portfolios "Democracy" and "The Family." Figures such as Ronald Reagan, Jr. and Sr., Jimmy Carter, Barck Obama, and Cesar Chavez appear in these portfolios. They, too, are photographed against Avedon's signature white background and wear their own clothing styles. It is apparant that they are of higher class than the people photgraphed in the American West, but the magnitude of this is greatly subdued by the removal of all the subjects from the context of their worlds. It is important to document and glorify not only the big name heros, politicians, and stars, but also to remember the countless others who have each made contributions to our world and represent the majority of it. In this sense, Avedon could be viewed as a documentary photographer for documenting the lives of so many people and should be praised for recognizing the importance of everyone.

Some thoughts....

I am stating the obvious when I say that appearance matters in society today. I have known that for quite sometime and while I don't condone forcing people to be something they're not or giving good things only to the "pretty" people, I have never been as bothered by this fact as I have recently. There is a certain aesthetic that most people in the world strive to be or want to see. You don't see many unattractive people in advertisement and PR releases by organizations. Humans are naturally attracted to good looking people. I have learned this semester in my Psychology class that if you want to teach someone to follow a rule, one of the things you should do is model an attractive person performing the desired action. Sad, but true that many people pay more attention to or are more likely to believe someone has been blessed with good looks. The thing that bothers me is when we are unable to see the true character of a person because he/she is attractive. It starts with a few people marveling at how wonderful the person is, then it catches on until everyone believes that person to be god-like. The hitch is that none of the credit given to them was ever based on anything other than appearance. Yea, maybe they weren't overtly a bad person, but nobody was looking very hard because they were so wrapped up in the hype. The god-like person may be attractive and dress attractively, but may be scum underneath all that. I am by no means saying that all attractive people are scum, but our society needs to begin looking past appearances and see people for who they really are - good or bad.