Week 12 - Commodity fetishism

“Consumerism creates an abstract world of signs and symbols separate from the economic context of commerce and production”

Mass produced goods are emptied of the meaning of their production ( the context in which they were produced and the labour that created them.) then filled with new meanings in ways that both mystify the product and turn it into a fetish object.

Commodities project a sense of personality and untrue individuality. The issue of bad manufactories and bad working conditions overseas is being understood more, and a trend to buy away from this is developing.

An article in an Australian newspaper highlighted the issue of appaling working and living conditions at a factory that produced Apple iPads. The article stated that staff were forced to sign a document saying that they would not commit suicide, because of the bad conditions. People are becoming more aware of what price is being payed by others so we may have our commodities.  Other companies such as Nike, Nestle and Cadbury have also been put in the spotlight is reguards to this issue, Cadbury now has a range of fair trade chocolate. 

The Apple iPad, manufactured by workers in
appalling conditions

The brand or price of a product can add extra value
and desire for consumers

Cabury's fair trade chocolate.

Week 8 - Advertising

The language of transformation. Companies and advertisements sell the promise that our lives will change if we buy a particular product. They use figures of glamour that consumers can envy and wish to emulate. The attachment of the value of art to a product can give it a connotation of prestige and tradition or authenticity and visual cultural values.

Grey Goose vodka advertisements construct consumers as having cultural knowledge. French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu identified different forms of capital in addition of economic capital, social capital, symbolic capital and cultural capital.

Social capital

whom you know, your social network and the opportunities they provide you.

Symbolic capital

Prestige celebrities

Cultural capital

The forms of cultural knowledge that give you social advantages

It can come in the form of rare taste, connoisseurs and competence in deciphering cultural relation and artifacts.

Commodity culture

Commodity fetishism

Commodities are emptied of the meaning of their production (the context in which they were produced.

Marx was a social theorist who was the first to write about capitalism as a social structural element. 

Grey Goose Vodka

Week 7 - Mad Men

Mad men is a current American TV series about a Top Madison Avenue Advertising agency Sterling Cooper, during the early 1960s. It looks at an era when men were men and women were what men let them be. In looks at a subculture where play is part of work and sexual banter isn't yet harassment. “You need to know what kind of man they are, so you know what kind of girl to be”. Mad Men has a lot to say about identity, gender and ambition. The show follows the lives of the top employers of this company, especially creative director Don Draper, played by John Hamm. The show has received critical acclaim for its historical authenticity and visual style.  Mad Men makes a very bold statement about many of the values of the 1960s. The show has a very strong visual and historical impact on viewers with a range of historically accurate sets, props and costumes. The show even involves the characters dealing with real life events such as the assassination of president Kennedy and the threat of nuclear war. Many of the episodes finish by playing a popular song from the time. 

Mad Men presents a number of themes such as smoking, drinking, sexism, adultery, Homophobia, Racism, Feminism and Anti-Semitism. This reveals strong mindsets in early 1960s New York such as sexism and smoking and the beginnings of change such as feminism and the danger associated with smoking. The relationship between men and women in different situations is one of the main themes looked at. Joan Holloway, played by Christina Hendricks is the office manager for Sterling Cooper and is a representation of the sexist 1960s mindset that women can only achieve success and status through their femininity and sexuality. Joan enters a sexual relationship with her boss to achieve a higher status in the company. At the beginning of the series Peggy Olson played by Elisabeth Moss is a women in her early 20s who begins working as Don’s secretary. Peggy symbolizes change with the beginning of the feminist movement. Peggy also gains higher status in the company, but achieves this through her clever thinking and hard work. Others at Sterling Cooper advise her that she might be more successful if she uses her femininity and sexuality more. “You have great legs, i’m sure Mr Draper would like them more if he could see them.” said by a female employee. “If you pull in your waist you might look like a lady” said by a male account executive. Peggy finds if difficult to resist the pressure to become more feminine in the workplace. The relationships between husbands and wives and parents and children is also a social and cultural shock for younger viewers. Children had a lot more respect for their parents and wives had a lot more respect for their husbands. The presentation of the relationship between husbands and wives in the show is similar to the presentation of the modern day relationship between parents and their children. In one scene, Don scolds his wife, Betty for letting an unknown salesman in the house while he is at work. The way that Betty responds to Draper is similar to the way a child would respond to their parents. Betty Draper, played by January Jones is a glamourous housewife who stays home and looks after the children. Betty also reinforced the theme of women aiming the please men. To other characters, Betty is seen as Don’s perfect and glamourous wife. Although Betty is actually a troubled women and suffers from anxiety.In the 1960s the idea of conditions such as anxiety and psychiatry was new and were not taken seriously by many, including Don. All the characters in the show are very much set in their ways.

Despite being set in the 1960s, Mad Men is popular with an audience of young adults. Young women admire the style and fashion of characters such as Joan and Betty. Joan is portrayed as a very sophisticated and popular character and has an image that is desired by many young female viewers, despite her largely gaining her status through her flirting and sleeping with men, as well as her smoking and drinking. This begins to subtly make old sexist values of the 1960s seem appealing to women of this generation. Research has shown that young female viewers desire to be like Joan and Betty more than Peggy. Viewers are more enticed by the traditional ideas of glamour and sexuality and are not as interested in the idea of feminism, and working hard to achieve success. 

Mad Men also educates a younger audience about the values of the 1960s and invites them to compare what they see with what values we have today. One of the most culturally shocking part of the show to a younger audience is the excessive amount of smoking and drinking. Businessmen smoked during meetings with important clients and doctors even smoked during medical exams. In the first episode, the creative team are facing the challenges of advertising cigarettes while new health claims are surfacing in magazines and other media. The way they approach the ‘rumors’ of smoking being dangerous back in the 1960s is similar to how we approach the ‘rumors’ of global warming today. Their approach to health claims and conclusive evidence that smoking causes cancer reveals a very strong mindset that can still be seen today. “If this is the same scare you had five years ago, you dealt with it” talking about the smoking health claims, showing a refusal to accept change. The way Don dismissed the health claims linked to smoking is similar to the way he dismissed Betty’s anxiety, showing Don’s refusal to accept any change. In a similar way to smoking, health problems such as anxiety are taken far more seriously now but were laughed at by many back in the 1960s. Many of the housewives on the show see psychiatry as the fun new thing to do, not understanding its real health value.

Man Men is delivered through television in 40 minute episodes. The show has been praised for its historical and cultural accuracy and attention to detail. The writers of the show collected large volumes of research for the period in which the show takes place. Detailed set design, costume design and historically accurate props help create a more powerful and impacting experience for viewers. Man Men is also one of the most cinematic TV series in the last ten years. The creators and directors of the show have really used television as a powerful way of communicating. The choice of shots communicates ideas and themes to viewers in a subtle and open ended way. Cinematography is used to create strong symbolism within the show. Alfred Hitchcock’s film Notorious is the main influence on the style and cinematography for Mad Men. A particular type of shot will communicate to viewers how a particular character is feeling. The show uses a lot of pull in and push out shots that either zoom in our out on a character, often trapping them in the corner or edge of the shot. This symbolizes that they are feeling trapped in their life. Shots of the back of Don’s head are often used, creating a disconnection and distance between viewers and the character of Don, creating a much more personal experience for viewers. 

Mad Men has exposed young viewers to the themes and mindsets of the 1960s. Often culturally shocked, this audience is prompted to look at these themes and compare them with the ones we have today. Viewers can watch the show with hindsight and better understand how our social and cultural values have changed or stayed the same since the 1960s. 

Week 6 - Rosemary Laing

Rosemary Lang is an Australian painter, photographer and performer. She is a well-known artist and has exhibited across the world including the United States, Europe and Asia as well as Australia. She is one of few Australian photographers to have a successful career overseas. Working as a exhibition consultant for top photographers, she was able to see how they chose to represent the country. This was where Laing first began to clearly understand about conceptual concepts. Laing has three major series of “work bulletproofglass”, “groundspeed” and “one dozen unnatural disasters in the Australian landscape”. These photographs create poetic and continuing relationships between the landscape and place. Her photographs show a powerful commentary on society and culture. The conceptual is strong in Laings work. She thinks through themes and plans their execution meticulously. With some of her projects, it took Laing up to 2 years to get the right shot. 

Annie Leibovits photographs are often taken on the go, she will phoograph events as they happen. Leibovitz is also known more for photographing celebrities for commercial purposes.  Even those many of Romemary Laings photographs appear spontaneous, they are all carefully designs and put together in a time consuming process. Laings work is much more artistic and less commercial that Leibovitz work.

a dozen useless actions for grieving blondes #2 2009

weather #10 2006

Laing has captured an impossible shot of a carefully poses bride sitting in mid air 

above the horizon line. Inserting the bride into a canonical Australian landscape

 ‘marries’ her to the bush. 

Week 5 - Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz

Annie Leibovitz is an American photographer who is known for taking many photographs of celebrities, politicians and her family. Leibovitz wanted to show personal photos and photoshoots of celebrities in her exhibition. The collection of photos gives us an image of both her private and public life. The gallery includes photographs of some very personal subjects, including the birth of her children. During her career, Leibovitz worked for Rolling Stones and Vanity Fair and attended art school in the late 60s in San Francisco. She has been creating witty and powerful photographs and documenting American popular culture since the 70s.  She has been well known thoughout her career for her portraits. In her exhibition she wanted to portray what happens to her family over a 15 year period. Some of her photographs show her father growing frail. Many of her works exhibited in the gallery displays dull or muted colours or black and white, however in the 1980s Leibovitz experimented successfully with bold colours.  Many of her pieces have a simple, sophisticated feel to them.

Photograph by Leibovitz of her brother and father, 1988

Photograph of Nicole Kidman by Leibovitz, 2003

Photograph of Mikhail Baryshnikov and
Rob Besser by Leibovitz, 1990

Vocabulary

Authenticity

of undisputed origin

Appropriation

the action of taking something for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission 

Avant garde

works that are experimental or innovative,particularly with respect to art,culture, and politics.

Binary opposites

The oppositions through which reality has traditionally been represented eg male/female and mind/body

Bricolage

A construction made by whatever materials are at hand. Something created from a variety of available things.

Broadcast media

Broadcasting, the distribution of media or video signals which transmits programs to an audience. The audience may be the general public or a relatively large sub-audience such as children or young adults.

Capitalism

An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

Cinema verite

A style of documentary filmmaking, combining naturalistic techniques with stylized cinematic devices of editing and camera work, staged set-ups, and the use of the camera to provoke subjects.

Classical art
 the style, traditions and qualities of ancient times, primarily concerned with geometry and symmetry instead of individual expression.

Code (in visual culture)

Colonaliom

the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting iteconomically.

Commodification

the transformation of goods and services.

Commodity fetishism

Is a state of social relations that occurs in capitalist market based societies. The social relationships are transformed into an objective relationship between commodities or money.

Connoisseur

an expert judge in matters of taste.

Week 4 - Photographers

Robert Frank

Robert Frank is an important figure in American photography and film. Frank was trained by a few photographers ans graphic designers before he created his own book of photographs. In 1947 he imigrated to America from Switzerland and secured a job in New York and a fashion photographer for Harpers Bazaar. Frank ititially had an optimistic view about the US society and culture, but quickly changed his mind when confronted with the fast paced American life and strong consumerism. His idea of American being a bleak and lonely place can be seen in his work. Frank often points out the negative issues and problems with the American culture he is photographing.

Frank’s Trolley photograph shows the segregation of black people in American communities back in the 50s. This is one of the most well known works. This photograph highlights the issue of racial inequality and discrimination of the post war period.

Trolley photograph by Robert Frank, 1955

Denotation

A number of people riding a trolley.

Connotation

Highlighting racial inequality. Flaws in the idea of the ‘American dream’.  The photo has been taken from a few steps back, suggesting that we are not a part of this community.

Emmet till was an African American boy who was tourtured and killed by a white man for flirting with the mans wife. The photograph of Till’s brutally tourtured face delivered a powerful message to viewers of the seriousness of racial equality. This photograph delivers a message in a way that words cannot. 

Emmet Till

Shocking photo of Till at his funeral

 Weegee

Arthur Fellig or Weegee was a self taught photographer and photojournalist known for his black and white street photography. Weegee developed his signature style in the 1930s and 40s by following emergency services and documenting what they saw. Many of his photographs had subjects of urban life, crime, injury and death. He would listen to police radios and often beat the authorities to the scene of an incident. Weegee was able to capture true and powerful emotions and feelings of the people and places he photographed.

"Their First Murder" by Weegee, 1936. Shows the true
emotions and reactions of onlookers

All the social, cultural and historical meanings that are added to a signs' literal meaning. Relies on the cultural and historical context of the image and it's viewers; lived and felt knowledge of those circumstances. Connotation thus brings to an object or image in the wider realm of ideology cultural meaning and value systems of a society.

Week 3 - Culture

Culture can effect the meaning of a product. Culture can be defined as being either high or low. Philosophy, intellectual pursuits and arts are parts of high culture. Examples of low culture are everyday goods and services as well as popular activities, entertainment and sports.

Barbie

The Barbie doll is very famous and is an icon of western culture. The original Barbie from the 60s is blonde with pouty red lips, large blue eyes, very long legs and extreme proportions. With these physical characteristics, Barbie represents power and sexuality. The qualities such as large blue eyes and blonde hair are also found commonly in babies. Barbie’s physical characteristics connote innocence, unquestioning love, manipulation and sweetness. These are qualities often associated with powerless babies and small children. This idea of innocent, submission and compliance will often make the surrounding men feel powerful. Barbies extreme proportions perpetuations the idea of more is more and draws attention to the inbalance between the sexes. 


The same Barbie doll brought to Nigeria would create a different response. As she looks and acts differently to these girls growing up in Nigeria, she would be seen as just a doll instead of a role model. 

Original Barbie Doll with her blonde hair, blue
eyes and extreme proportions.

A current Bratz doll, also with Blonda hair, blue eyes and
extreme proportions. Designed to follow the
current fashion and style

Culture

Culture is the process of societies intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic development. Eg philosophers, poets etc. It refers to a particular way of life of a people, period or group. (the development of literacy, the types of sports played and the celebration of festivals.) Culture also includes works and practices of intellectual and artistic activity such as novels, ballet, opera and fine art.

Popular Culture

Popular culture is a phenomenon evolving out of the consumerist and emerging youth culture of the 60s and 70s. Products of popular culture are accessible and mass produced. Popular culture is produced by industry and is consumed and popularized by word of mouth and the media. 

Week 2 - Visual Culture

The Narrative in Visual Culture

Materiality, Connotation, Denotation

Linguistics

Linguistics views communication as the production of meaning and suggests that one message is going to mean different things to different people, depending on different factors. It focuses on the receiver and the social, political and economic environment in which they live. This theoretical approach to design applies not only to graphic design but to fashion design, product design, illustration and architecture. 

2 Methods of Studying Visual Culture

Semiotics

Swiss linguist Ferninand de Saussure is considered the founder of semiotics. Semiotics is the study of systems and signs as part of social life. The term signs has a broad definition and mainly refers to something that represents something else. Signs can be in the form of words, images, objects, sounds and gestures.  Semiotics is a discipline of communication design that can almost be thought of as a scientific study of how humans communicate with one another and the devices used to achieve this. There are a number of words used to describe how a sign looks and how it communicate in a specific social context

Signifier

A signifier is what the sign looks like. This refers to the relationships between signs.

Signified

This is the meaning or concept connected to a sign and refers to the relationship of a sign to what it stands for. Semantics is another term for this

Interpreter

This is the relationship of a sign to an audience interpreting the sign. This takes into consideration the frame of reference of the reader, as well as the context of the reader in relation to the sign.

When speaking about semiotics there are 4 different types of signs. Icon, index, symbol and metasymbol.

Icon

An icon is a sign where the signifier represents the signified. For example a photo of a leaf.

Index

This type measures meaning by an inherent relationship to an object, also known as a pointing sign as the symbol points to something else.

Symbol

In this sign meaning is established from an arbitrary relationship between signifier and signfired.

Metasymbol

A metasymbol has gained meaning beyond a one to one relationship over a period of time. History, tradition and culture can also contribute to the evolution of a metasymbol.

Index

Icon

Metasymbol

Symbol

Week 1 - Non Vertbal Communication

Heirachy of Art Making

Visual Art

visual art refers to art that is to be appreciated primarily or solely for their imaginative, aesthetic or intellectual content.

Commercial Art

Commercial art is used to sell or advertise something. Illustration bridges the gap between commercial art and visual art

Visual Art - Painting by Piet Mondrian

Commercial Art - Rolling Stones CD cover

Popular Culture

Popular culture is a group of ideas, perspectives, attitudes and images that are considered popular with the mainstream of a given culture, especially western culture.

Art can operate as codes within a culture that are easy to decode if you live in that culture. Subgroups have their own individual way of communicating and understanding through symbols. These make the members of these subgroups, who understand these codes feel like they belong.

Gamers

Cosplayers

Hippies

Skaters

Punks

 Analysis of Artwork

There is a 3-part method of analysis of artwork.

Materiality

This refers to the particular materials the artist has used such as different typs of paint, paper, canvas and other materials. Materiality also looks at the form of the artwork such as a painting, sculpture, print work etc. Different cultures have different materials available to them. Designers can only work with materials that are available to them. The time period the artwork was designed in also determines the types of materials available. The modern plastics we see so commonly in today’s western society would not have been as available 100 years ago.

Formalism

Formalism refers to the elements that make up the art such as line, colour, form, shape, composition and many other elements.

Content

This refers to the actual, recognizable things in an image and what meaning these things are representing.

Denotation is the literal or primary meaning of something. In art this means looking at what is in an artwork such as a chair, car, woman etc. A connotation is an idea or feeling that is connected to these things and communicated what these things represent such as a woman representing kindness.

Non Verbal Communication

We can communicate a lot about ourselves without even speaking. People communicate a lot through

• The way they wear their hair
• The car they drive
• Their choice of house furnishings and decorations
• Facial expression and body language
• Tattoos and makeup
• The amount of flesh they choose to show (where our clothes sit on us)
• The gifts we give loved ones

Our culture has produced many media forms for visual communication

• Television
• Cinema
• Magazines
• Films including special effects and animation
• Photography
• Advertising
• Road signage
• Merchandising
• Music videos
• The internet
• Computer games

Advertising

Magazines

Road signs

Cinema

Cinema
Cinema is a unique experience that works on a number of levels and can be thought of as the ultimate social media experience. Cinema delivers a strong sense of togetherness as it encourages us to share our emotions with those around us. We share the happiness or sadness of something seen in a film. Cinema and video is an extremely powerful and widespread medium, with 35 hours of video being uploaded to Youtube per minute. Cinema is the one true international language, communicating to audiences throughout the world and touching their hearts and minds. This form of media can express all of our most important experiences and can tap into our most personal and meaningful moments in our lives such as birth, death, love and family. These things can be captured by filmmakers and presented back to us through film. The actors we see in films are playing us. They portray the way we want to see ourselves and celebrate our common humanity. Film and television are very effective at creating and shaping our attitudes. They can also reinforce or undermine the wider values of society.  Filmmaker Sir David Puttnam believes that cinema can damage or reflect our sense of identify as individuals or as nations. Cinema can cause dislocation, where we start to believe in ideas and values that don’t fit with the culture and society we live in. This dislocation contributes to an environment of misfortune and misunderstanding, which as a result leads to mistrust and misdirection. A positive point about cinema is that is can educate us about things that are far beyond what see in our everyday life and in our culture and society. The movie The Killing Fields educated a large number of children from the Ukraine on the harsh reality of civil war. This film is a good example of how powerful cinema can have a lasting effect. The role of any filmmaker is to unravel the complexities of different societies and to promote tolerance, understanding and to a certain point peace.