The class started with discussing the previous reading, where we explored how Laura Mulvey spoke about the Male gaze psychoanalytic theory: scopophilia, exhibitionism, and voyeurism.
To support this theory, we watched a clip from an old movie displaying the theory in practice, and a male-female dynamic that can be harmful to teach. In the Star Wars excerpt, this video explains how this scene has been read in an incorrect way, viewers were supposed to infer that even though Leia said no repeatedly many times to his advances, she secretly was interested. This is a bad example of how it shows society that even when women say no and show disinterest, that it’s okay to keep trying and pushing her boundaries until she gives in.
Movies really shape how people perceive relationships, “ a no is not a real no”, this sets an expectation for the viewers that this is how you flirt, so they skip the step of being decent. It’s accepted as a global issue that this is what’s taught and shown to people, films shape people’s views and values without even having intended to learn new things, because one goes into a film to be entertained.
“Intersectionality” -Kimberle Williams Crenshaw
It is a crucial term that acts as a tool to look at oppression in a more nuanced way. All forms of oppression overlap and intersect each other and this is an important aspect of feminism.
Everything is cultural, the way we dress, drive, cook, speak, and look. Stuart Hall discusses in his text the approach of racism and race in general in cultural studies. He discusses two different approaches around black culture: the essentialist vs. the dialogic.Point made by Erica: “The way cultures are perceived are usually through the western lens”
Trends and movements overlap each other and cannot begin or be described without the other preexisting. The approach was inevitable and an important part of black culture expression, the approach would force people to stay within the boundaries of what’s seen as appropriate in their recognized race, and those who didn’t conform and comply with their assigned race, they would be ridiculed and seen as unacceptable. Race is a historical category, not a biological or absolut one.
“The Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” an H&M ad that is seemingly racist, because how could no one in the whole chain of command think that this was a problem. The photo shows a black child wearing a hoodie with a slogan, but it can be perceived as racist.
Avatar analysis about how it’s a racist form of revisiting history. There are many references to native and indigenous people, and they are represented as primitive people. In the movie, the whites have a savior complex and try to “fix” their way of life.
Scandal of O.J. Simpson was perceived as an American hero prior to his crimes. During his trial, Time Magazine and News Week both released pieces about Simpson on the same day; both using the same photo, however one was clearly manipulated to make his skin appear much darker. It was said that this editing interfered with the trial because now there was a scandalous case of racism.
Photography:
Early photographs in the 1840’s were discovering the act of staging photos, and using photography as a fictional storytelling medium. There were even early forms of editing, to receive the best picture closest to human eyesight. An example was multiple photos collaged together, each photo used different camera settings to get optimal results and the most coherent image.
London Tube Attack, July 2005
There was a bomb attack underground where there were four explosions, there was no way for people to get out, or for journalists to come down there to take photos. There were no images except one photo that someone took. This was the only photo that was being used and circulated after the attack. There is no headline, or breaking news without images.
Humorous visual culture is a collective understanding of references and the history of the visual, is different from the ones we have in books. Memes are collective and anonymous, it mixes fictional and historical aspects together in a humorous way using people, photos, ideas and jokes that we understand because we all have these images saved in our heads that we just automatically understand.
“Conversational Image” André Gunthert
The web 2.0 was a digital revolution where now we could upload things ourselves on the internet. Photos used to be for art and media, yet now with them being able to be manipulated, it has become a new universal language that has.
