Ch.1, p.9-26

In this blog entry, I will be summarizing the important terms and concepts from our course text. (AKA any stuff that I thought was interesting, looked important, or think will be needed later in this class) All future blog entries that are similarly titled will be about the same book.

Sturken & Cartwright, Practices of Looking: an Intro to Visual Culture, 2nd ed, Oxford Univ Pess, 2009

tenkkay.deviantart.com

Practices of Looking: Ch.1, p.9-26

Chapter 1 of Practices of Looking (PoL) involves Images, Power, and Politics. In the first section of this chapter, the authors described the importance, implication, and action of "looking." They followed this section by more sections in which they elaborated on "representation" in images, the myth of photographic truth, and images and ideology.

The things that I found most interesting in this chapter were:

1. Representation- The authors write that "the material world has meaning... only through representations." This brought up the question: Do representations reflect the world as it is, or do we construct the world and its meaning through representations?

The answer to this, I believe, is entirely philosophical, and as such, I choose not to dwell on it. (In other words, I have no idea.)

2. The Myth of Photogenic Truth- The authors spend a long time discussing this in the text, and we spent a LONG time discussing this in class, so I can only assume that this must be somehow important. Essentially, this idea translates into "Are photographs really objective, as they are taken through mechanical means, and if so, can we take them as 'truth'?"

One side of the argument involving this question was that images that are mechanically or digitally recorded (photos, film, etc) can never be truly "objective", because there is always a person behind the product (ex: the photographer, the camera programmer/designer, the person who planned for that camera to be positioned where it is and the picture taken when it was). However, if I were to take this argument further, can humans in general (or things produced by humans) ever be truly objective?

Important Terms:
1. Representation- use of language and images to create meaning in the world around us
2. Mimesis (pronunciation guide for the pronunciation impaired- like me- "mim-ee-sis")- imitation, idea of reflection
3. Positivism- holds that scientific knowledge is the only authentic knowledge
4. Roland Barthes
--studium- truth function of the photograph; joining of now (image) and then (event)
--punctum- ability of certain photographs to pierce the heart with feeling
5. Ideologies- systems of belief that exist within all cultures
6. Denotative meaing- literal, explicit meaning
7. Connotative meaning- culturally specific associations and meanings