Synopsis:
Chapter Three, Modernity: Spectatorship, Power, and Knowledge focuses on the interrelated ways of looking at images, through spectatorship, gaze, and viewing. Spectatorship is the practice of looking, while the spectator is an individual who looks. Gaze refers to a look, or the act of looking. It can sometimes mean looking long and intently with affection, awe, wonder, or fascination. It plays a role in the concept of looking and spectatorship. Viewing, according to the author, is “a multimodal activity that involves a range of active elements besides the individual who looks and the image at which he or she looks” (103). The viewer becomes interrupted by the image and comes to recognize himself as among the group of subjects for whom the image’s message is intended towards.
Modernity, which the chapter is named after, refers to “the historical, cultural, political, and economic conditions related to the Enlightenment: the rise of industrial society and scientific rationalism, and the idea of controlling nature through technology, science and rationalism” (95). It is “the belief that industrialization, human technological intervention in nature, mass democracy and the introduction of a market economy are the hallmark of social progress” (95). We use the word modern to mean present, recent, or contemporary, yet scholars believe that there are many different meanings to it. It is the transition from old to new, or the increased movement of populations from rural to urban cities. Art Deco is a form of modern art, which is referred to as “an ornate style of modernism that evokes a machine aesthetic and was originally conceived as functional design” (97)
The author incorporated a lot of philosophical examples to portray his message. Key figures such as Rene Descartes, Karl Marx, Michel Foucault, Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, and Jacques Derrida, to name a few, were mentioned and explained their views of modernity and gaze. Lacan is known for his mirror phase, which involves the process where an infant gains motor skills in order to venture away from the maternal body and comes to understand his separation from that body. According to Lacan, the human subject becomes aware of itself not at birth but during the period of self awareness that occurs between age six and eighteen months. The process of identification is how we respond to images through identification with them and the objects in the image. Men are usually seen as masculine and as objects of gaze, while women are portrayed as sexual images or nudity.
Photography is used to identify the difference between normal and abnormal, and used in the law of evidence. The main function of photographs is to establish difference. The photographic image produced surveillance and camera surveillance has become significant in our everyday lives, in stores, elevators, or parking garages. Photographs are also highly evident in advertising, and present an image to a targeted audience. Today, advertisements are digitally enhanced to give the photo an airbrush feel in order to create beauty and perfection. Cinema is another type of photography in which the darkened theater and mirror-like screen invite the viewer to undergo a childlike state and identifies the powerful position of bodies on the screen through fear, memories, and fantasies. This theory links the spectator of the movie to an infant in Lacan’s mirror phrase.
In conclusion, the main purpose of this chapter is to develop an understanding of gaze and looking, and how we portray these images. Images are central to the concept of modernity. As spectators and subjects of images, we engage in the act of looking and being looked at.
Assignment:
A.) The advertisement with one person is a Dolce and Gabbana ad of Gisele Bundchen. In the ad, she is modeling a tailored blue suit. She seems to be unaware that she is the main subject of the photo because she is looking away from the camera. She looks like she is dazing off, and in her own world, or is waiting to make eye contact with someone she is looking at. The way that she is posing shows that she is relaxed and confident, and doesn’t look like she is aware of a camera taking pictures of her. The concept of gaze comes into play in this ad because Gisele is looking at something but doesn’t realize she is being looked at by an audience.
B.) The advertisement I chose with two or more people is a Burberry ad of Naomi Campbell. The subject in the advertisement who has the most power is Naomi Campbell, the African American modeling the bathing suit on stage. She has all the power because everyone is looking at her and taking her picture—all their focus is on her. However, the older woman in the left hand corner looks like she wants all the attention because she is looking back at the camera with a stern look on her face. Naomi doesn’t realize that the photographer is taking a picture of her for the advertisement because she is looking back at the fans that are adorned in Burberry clothing and accessories.
Chapter Three, Modernity: Spectatorship, Power, and Knowledge focuses on the interrelated ways of looking at images, through spectatorship, gaze, and viewing. Spectatorship is the practice of looking, while the spectator is an individual who looks. Gaze refers to a look, or the act of looking. It can sometimes mean looking long and intently with affection, awe, wonder, or fascination. It plays a role in the concept of looking and spectatorship. Viewing, according to the author, is “a multimodal activity that involves a range of active elements besides the individual who looks and the image at which he or she looks” (103). The viewer becomes interrupted by the image and comes to recognize himself as among the group of subjects for whom the image’s message is intended towards.
Modernity, which the chapter is named after, refers to “the historical, cultural, political, and economic conditions related to the Enlightenment: the rise of industrial society and scientific rationalism, and the idea of controlling nature through technology, science and rationalism” (95). It is “the belief that industrialization, human technological intervention in nature, mass democracy and the introduction of a market economy are the hallmark of social progress” (95). We use the word modern to mean present, recent, or contemporary, yet scholars believe that there are many different meanings to it. It is the transition from old to new, or the increased movement of populations from rural to urban cities. Art Deco is a form of modern art, which is referred to as “an ornate style of modernism that evokes a machine aesthetic and was originally conceived as functional design” (97)
The author incorporated a lot of philosophical examples to portray his message. Key figures such as Rene Descartes, Karl Marx, Michel Foucault, Sigmund Freud, Jacques Lacan, and Jacques Derrida, to name a few, were mentioned and explained their views of modernity and gaze. Lacan is known for his mirror phase, which involves the process where an infant gains motor skills in order to venture away from the maternal body and comes to understand his separation from that body. According to Lacan, the human subject becomes aware of itself not at birth but during the period of self awareness that occurs between age six and eighteen months. The process of identification is how we respond to images through identification with them and the objects in the image. Men are usually seen as masculine and as objects of gaze, while women are portrayed as sexual images or nudity.
Photography is used to identify the difference between normal and abnormal, and used in the law of evidence. The main function of photographs is to establish difference. The photographic image produced surveillance and camera surveillance has become significant in our everyday lives, in stores, elevators, or parking garages. Photographs are also highly evident in advertising, and present an image to a targeted audience. Today, advertisements are digitally enhanced to give the photo an airbrush feel in order to create beauty and perfection. Cinema is another type of photography in which the darkened theater and mirror-like screen invite the viewer to undergo a childlike state and identifies the powerful position of bodies on the screen through fear, memories, and fantasies. This theory links the spectator of the movie to an infant in Lacan’s mirror phrase.
In conclusion, the main purpose of this chapter is to develop an understanding of gaze and looking, and how we portray these images. Images are central to the concept of modernity. As spectators and subjects of images, we engage in the act of looking and being looked at.
Assignment:
A.) The advertisement with one person is a Dolce and Gabbana ad of Gisele Bundchen. In the ad, she is modeling a tailored blue suit. She seems to be unaware that she is the main subject of the photo because she is looking away from the camera. She looks like she is dazing off, and in her own world, or is waiting to make eye contact with someone she is looking at. The way that she is posing shows that she is relaxed and confident, and doesn’t look like she is aware of a camera taking pictures of her. The concept of gaze comes into play in this ad because Gisele is looking at something but doesn’t realize she is being looked at by an audience.
B.) The advertisement I chose with two or more people is a Burberry ad of Naomi Campbell. The subject in the advertisement who has the most power is Naomi Campbell, the African American modeling the bathing suit on stage. She has all the power because everyone is looking at her and taking her picture—all their focus is on her. However, the older woman in the left hand corner looks like she wants all the attention because she is looking back at the camera with a stern look on her face. Naomi doesn’t realize that the photographer is taking a picture of her for the advertisement because she is looking back at the fans that are adorned in Burberry clothing and accessories.
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