OUGD501 - CoP Study Task 4 the Gaze

        This image advertises Christina Aguilera's new perfume. In comparison with 'everyday' women, and maybe even Aguilera herself in real life, this image portrays the gaze of a stranger being returned; 'Those women on the billboards, though; they look back. Those fantasy women stare off the walls with a look of urgent availability'. This in many people's opinions would be considered fictional and therefore offensive as it assumes that the usually perverted, unwelcome stare of a stranger is in fact not only OK, but of the norm - creating a spectacle of the female form.

        But it could be argued that this fictional setting will remain fictional because of the real-world women still refusing the gaze (in a general sense). This kind of imagery could be considered an escape and opportunity to practice the gaze without the real-world awkward social situation. People, in this case, a sexually compatible audience, can stare without hinderance or hesitation and this is a lot more comfortable: 'Perhaps this sex-at-a-distance is the only complete secure relation which men can have with women. Perhaps other forms of contact are too unsettling.' Could this have a negative affect on real life situations; does this alienate real-world relationships, one where the woman might refuse to comply with your intentions or with your gaze? 

        'Voyeurism is a way of taking sexual pleasure by looking at rather than being close to a particular object of desire. Peeping Toms can always stay in control': This comfortable, fake situation is preferred by many, in particular under confident individuals that perhaps have real-life power or control issues, or have social anxiety issues, for example.

         It's not all about power though, it's also about clarity. While some real-life situations can seem confusing and complex, in this world messages are clear! It's not necessarily about owning the situation, but being welcome in it - it gives a sense of being wanted and in this sense, it's about ownership; but of your own feelings: 'Perhaps in the images, the meanings are fixed and reassuring; perhaps only in the images could true controlling security be reached?'

        In this image, because of her vulnerable pose she isn’t portrayed as powerful nor particularly wealthy but yet it says 'feel like a queen'. This can be commenting on a sexist notion that one doesn't have to be knowledgable / politically orientated to have power, but just look good/ attractive. Even though she is stated to be in the overpowering position, she appears in a subservient manner. Could this give the idea that the gazer is of higher power all along and this entire advert is an ego-feeder to them? - 'The aesthetic sex is the subordinate sex because beauty like truth is one of those empty terms, filled by the values of a particular society at a given historical moment.'

       The question is, if this advert is geared towards females, why does it address a male audience? Could this be to stir up envy or aspiration? 

OUGD501 - CoP Study task 3

Context of Practice Study Task 3

OUGD501 - CoP - Lecture - The Gaze and the Media

 The Gaze and the Media Seminar

OUGD501 - CoP Identity Seminar

Context of Practice Identity Seminar

Essentialism

Essentialism has a tendency to identify people's identities, IE your personality is born into you.

Identity and 'the other' in visual representation

• The creation of identities
• The concepts of otherness

Identity Creation - What makes you, you?

• Skills
• Sense of humour
• Interests
• Clothes
• Education
• Fears
• Occupation
• Where you live and your accent
• Size
• Social Network used
• Gender
• Social skills
• DNA
• Religion and beliefs
• Sexual orientation
• Physical attributes

How do you express your identity?

• Tattoos and piercings
• Cosmetics - makeup, hair dye etc
• Liberation of sexuality
• Clothes
• Creative skills
• Where you CHOOSE to live
• Eating habits - (vegetarian/ vegan etc)
• Recreation
• Lifestyle choices - going to the gym, recreational activities etc
• Objects owned

Circuit of culture

Identity formation by Jaques Lacan

Jaques Lacan's theory of the 'Hommelette' implies that you are born a selfless, unaware being. You are an extension of your parents and are a clumsy non-being. It's not until the 'mirror stage' (not to be necessarily taken literally) where you see yourself being a separate thing from your parents that you take yourself more seriously and start having opinions and interests. But this is when the start of the conflict between who we are and who we want to be begins.
It's at this moment where you get an illusion of wholeness - where you recognise all your achievements and are content and pleased that you are in fact, a whole being. In his theory, it's this feeling we then try to achieve again our whole lives by receiving views from others. Our own subjectivity is fragile.

The problem with this is that this state relies on the assumption of opposition and radical otherness. In the same way we assure ourselves that our individuality is confirmed by other people's unity.

This however does shore up unstable identities through the illusion of unity - a good example of this is football hooliganism. The idea that the other team is rubbish assures them that their team is better than the actual fact that their team is successful in their own right.

This goes for anything such as belief systems, values, fashion and trends.

Study task 3 that follows from this session is here.

OUGD501 - Consumerism Seminar

Consumerism

Today we had a seminar on consumerism. Since I wasn't present in the past seminar we conviniently recapped over some of the things I had missed:

Freud's theory
That all humans have instinctual desires and 'pleasure principles' and once these are satisfied they become docile. It also states that essentially the world is rational and humans are irrational beings and things like war and conflicts are caused by this incompatibility between humanity and society.

Bernay's theory
That the consumerist system attaches these natural human desires to materials - for example, 'buy this to feel sexy!'. This gives us the idea that our desires will be satisfied if we were to obtain this product.

This sort of attachment of human desires to actions are used almost everywhere - not just in materialistic marketing. Commodities, people, celebrities, and even politicians, for example, use these techniques to gain support of the community by attaching a false notion of desire.

Consumerism was born out of the Mass Production Boom.

It can be argued that consumerist culture started when the rise of mass produced products came into normal circulation - the Fordist mass production of the 1920's.

Fordism, named after Henry Ford, is a notion of a modern economic and social system based on an industrialized and standardized form of mass production.

The Ford Motor Company was one of several hundred small automobile manufacturers that emerged between 1890 and 1910. After five years of producing automobiles, Ford introduced the Model T, which was simple and light, yet sturdy enough to drive on the country's primitive roads.^[6]The mass production of this automobile lowered its unit price, making it affordable for the average consumer. Furthermore, Ford substantially increased its workers' wages,^[7] in order to combat rampant absenteeism and employee turnover which approached 400% annually, which had the byproduct of giving them the means to become customers. These factors led to massive consumption. In fact, the Model T surpassed all expectations, because it attained a peak of 60% of the automobile output within the United States.^[8]

The production system that Ford exemplified involved synchronization, precision, and specialization within a company.^[9]

It caused an acceleration of availability of products and commodities. It also meant that:

• There was an increase in disposable income.
• There was an increase in consumption.
• There was an increase in competition between products.
• An emergence of brand culture from this competition.

***

We then went through an extract of J Berger's 'Ways of seeing'.  This lead to a discussion on consumerist culture and the effect it has on everyday society.

The task set from this session is here.

OUGD501 - CoP - Lecture - Identity

OUGD501- CoP Consumerism Seminar Study Task 2

Study Task 2

Using the text Berger, J. (1972) 'Ways of Seeing', write one critical analysis of an advert which, in your opinion, reflects the logic of consumerism, or the social conditions of consumerism, discussed in the lecture 'Consumerism' (17/10/13). Use at least five quotes, referenced according to the Harvard system, in support of your argument.

A very explicit but perfect example of consumerist culture within advertising can be described in this one advert for Michael Kors Spring Collection 2013:

       The image is actually advertising the Michael Kors handbag. Upon quick research, we can recognize that Michael Kors is an expensive brand, but not in the same sort of league of Chanel, Gucci etc. From this we can guess that this image is aimed at the middle class. In ‘Ways of Seeing’ Berger states that 'The purpose of publicity is to make the spectator marginally dissatisfied with his present way of life’ (Berger, 1972, p. 142) and this cannot be more apparent in this image. We don’t have this millionaire, jet-setting life and yet this handbag is within our reach - and price range. We are one step closer to having this life! Berger teaches that in publicity 'The power to spend money is the power to live' (Berger, 1972, p 143). We can see that wealth and power go hand in hand in this image - the expensive car, the private helicopter, the designer jewelry - the luggage carrier and the fact that they seem to have free time!

    With the idea that we could actually obtain this handbag, it gives us a sense of hope that sometime in the future we will become this woman - ‘The publicity image which is ephemeral uses only the future tense. With this you will become desirable.' (Berger, 1972, p. 144).

    With the notion that this isn’t our life we are viewing but someone else’s out of reach of ours, there is a sense of voyeurism. We are caught in someone else’s romantic moment and almost fantasizing as if it were ours. The fact that neither the subjects aren looking at the camera at all or through the lenses of sunglasses almost builds a barrier between us and the subjects: we’re not the ones holding the camera, we’re simply looking at the printed image - this isn’t our life. Berger goes on to say that ‘[The sexuality] is a symbol for something presumed to be larger than it: the good life in which you can buy whatever you want. To be able to buy is the same thing as being sexually desirable' (Berger, 1972, p. 144) that puts us in a position to think that if we were to obtain this object, then we would fit perfectly into this life, and supports our materialistic desires.

   The wealth and power displayed in this image all plays upon the fact that perhaps the more materialistic audience of Michael Kors are guaranteed to share this dream that one day they will be rich enough to have ‘fun’ and achieve their dreams - ‘Publicity does not manufacture the dream. All that it does is to propose to each one of us that we are not yet enviable - yet could be' (Berger, 1972, p. 144) . The association with love and sex in this image also plays to our desires as humans to want to be loved. By attaching this connotation to this handbag and wealthy lifestyle makes us think that even if we’re not currently in a romantic situation we can fill in the gaps of this lifestyle.