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Summary: Chapter 6 overview
Review: In chapter 6 of Practices of Looking, Sturken and Cartwright advance a very comprehensive analysis of the function of images in advertising. As a society that is dependent on and shaped by consumerism, we are constantly confronted with images in our daily lives. With this taken into respect, Sturken and Cartwright illustrate how advertising has come to shape our beliefs and practices in numerous facets of our daily lives such as lifestyle, self-image, self-improvement, and glamour. In addition, they have also provided the various ways in which we, as consumers, have interpreted and responded to the images and language of the advertising world. Drawing upon a broad range of sources, including philosophers, critics, cultural theorists, and other various media scholars, Sturken and Cartwright lay out an extremely well-crafted and organized analysis of their points.
I would recommend "Practices of Looking" to anyone interested in the discourses of anthropology, philosophy, and advertising. Sturken and Cartwright have done an exceptional job of condensing an abundence of complex research and criticism into a very engaging study that can be easily digested.
Rating:
Summary: Chapter 6 overview
Review: In chapter 6 of Practices of Looking, Sturken and Cartwright advance a very comprehensive analysis of the function of images in advertising. As a society that is dependent on and shaped by consumerism, we are constantly confronted with images in our daily lives. With this taken into respect, Sturken and Cartwright illustrate how advertising has come to shape our beliefs and practices in numerous facets of our daily lives such as lifestyle, self-image, self-improvement, and glamour. In addition, they have also provided the various ways in which we, as consumers, have interpreted and responded to the images and language of the advertising world. Drawing upon a broad range of sources, including philosophers, critics, cultural theorists, and other various media scholars, Sturken and Cartwright lay out an extremely well-crafted and organized analysis of their points.
I would recommend "Practices of Looking" to anyone interested in the discourses of anthropology, philosophy, and advertising. Sturken and Cartwright have done an exceptional job of condensing an abundence of complex research and criticism into a very engaging study that can be easily digested.
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Summary: Brief on Practices of Looking (with emphasis on Chapter 8)
Review: In Practices of Looking, imagery in culture is shown to play on the way we perceive, initiate, and direct ourselves in our daily life. This book, indicates that we rely on imagery to guide us daily. This book explains how imagery is the most relied upon role model of today; basically, due to the fact that it is the most direct measure for a humans consumption of information. It provides input on how imagery sells goods through advertising, how images evoke personal memories, and how images can provide us with scientific data. In Society, Imagery can be found in all areas of the social arena. Influence of imagery is never counted alone in any arena. It is quoted in Practices of Looking "That images are never singular, discrete events, but are informed by a broader set of conditions and factors. The identity of science in correlation with imagery is explained in a wide spectrum of social engagements. Anything in the fine arts, film, television, and advertising, to visual data, can provide insight into the way we see things. In Practices of Looking, written by Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright, mediums of influence and expression for Science and Imagery are identified in Chapter 8, Scientific Looking, Looking at Science. This chapter projects ideas with scientific imagery from the early 19th century to modern day. The chapter opens your eyes to the realization that we are constantly being fed ideas from imaging dealing with any subject matter. Whether the ideas are correct or not, most people today take the information and the images they see very seriously, especially when there are relations to science. Maybe due to the fact that science has proved itself in time, at least this is one opinion written in Practices of Looking; life science is seen as the "truth" and is accepted as objective knowledge due to the fact that doctors have a clearer understanding for the body through their experience. The understanding and the experience of Doctors is covered very thorougly throughout this chapter. It explains how imagery even comes into play in arenas we would never correlate influence from imagery, like (law and medicine). This chapter provides us with archival proof, predictions, perspective for current and past issues, time frames, and also developmental measurements. I found this book to be a great resource for understanding the influence that imagery has upon us in society. It really gives one a great look at the daily impact that imagery plays, and how it effects the publics outlook. I would definately recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about "how art and media plays a role in society".
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Summary: main focus- chapter seven
Review: Overall I think Sturken and Cartwright's book Practices of Looking: an Introduction to Visual Culture was the most informative and forward resource avalable to me. The other books and articles I resourced held alot information but where not as indepth or sensitive to the important aspects of postmodernism and the artists, thoerist and movements involved in the late twentieth century. Sturken and Cartwright take their readers through the chapter in a step by step process with an explanation for everything. I found it helpful though to visit the glosary for further explainations if it was needed. It was nice not to have to refer to other texts or sources if I did not understyand something in the core of their book. I did not ever find any of the inforation to be false nor did the authors ever make me feel as if they may not be an authority on the topics at hand. This is a very persuasive book full of important context that I will definetly use for a future resource.
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Summary: Postmodernism and Popular Culture
Review: Postmodernism and Popular Culture
In Chapter seven of Practices of Looking, titled Postmodernism and Popular Culture, Sturken and Cartwright cover many different aspects of modernism. Modernism was characterized by radical styles that questioned traditions of representational painting. Piet Mondrian and Jackson Pollock are popular examples of artists that took part in the modernist movement. Constructivism is a style of modernism associated with works produced in the spirit of the Soviet revolution. Modernism is also expressed as reflexivity. Reflexivity is the practice of making viewers aware of the "content" of a cultural production.
The chapter mainly deals with postmodernism, hence the title. "Postmodernity is often described as the questioning of the master narratives of society" (p 251). Self-awareness one's own inevitable immersion in everyday and popular culture has led some post-modern artists to produce works, which reflexively examine their own position in relation to the artwork. Cindy Sherman is an example of an artist that inserts herself into a photograph commenting on both sides of the camera. Reflexivity is not only a feature of postmodern art; it has become a central aspect of postmodern style in popular culture and advertising. In the 1990's artists began adopting a more direct approach to the transformation of image and/as identity. The world of images today consists of a huge variety of remakes, copies, and reproductions. Intertextuality and ironic humor began to become a part of advertising campaigns. French philosopher Jean Baudrillard has described the twentieth century as a period which images became more real. We have passed from an era in which reproduction and representation were the most crucial aspects of how an image works.
Sturken and Cartwright did a wonderful job on listing examples and giving credit where it belongs. They are also careful to include examples that modern student can relate to, for example when trying to define metacommunication as a strategy they picture a Kenneth Cole ad with a hand written memo, which mocked typical fashion ads. The ad established metacommunication by allowing the viewer to feel that Kenneth Cole is directly speaking to them. Sturken and Cartwright also properly include examples in the areas that may possibly be confusing for example, they ask the question "Is postmodernism a period, a style or set of styles, an ethos, a set of sensibilities, or a policies of cultural experience and production in which style and image predominate?" (P238) Their simple answer was, a little of each. There are many more complicated examples in this chapter and the rest of the chapter in Practices of Looking.
Chapter seven covers many different concepts that must have been hard to research. Sturken and Cartwright list an upwards of twenty further readings and additional notes on their sources. The chapter includes pictures to go along with all the descriptions talked about in the readings. For a visual culture book many pictures are needed to further explain what they are talking about. The pictures of the advertisements help the most when they define new concepts with a picture that perfectly describe what they are talking about. In my opinion Sturken and Cartwright did a very good job finding relevant information and explaining it so most people could understand.
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Summary: Chapter Eight Scientific Looking, Looking at Science
Review: Science plays an important role in life and over time it has grown in how we view scientific images in the world. From the ideas of photography and archiving people based on appearance and discriminatory matters to viewing images as evidence to explain truths science has come a long way. Science has also played a significant role in raising issues about abortion and how we view the fetus in relation to its mother. Through genetics and digital forms of viewing scientific data it is shown that we do not always have to rely on what we see but the ideas that lead up to or are raised because of these images. Finally scientific knowledge has helped to create entertainment purposes by distorting science and in helping to sell products through advertisements. Scientific viewing is all around us and through science images of people and the world are always changing.
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Summary: Good information; poorly referenced -- CHAPTER 8 review
Review: Sturken and Cartwright (2001) discuss in chapter eight the impact of images on science and the methods through which science utilizes images. Both areas are integral parts of modern culture, especially as scientific information, or seemingly scientific data, becomes widely available and integrated via the internet and world wide web. The importance, and power, of these supposedly scientific images is paramount, for the images often come 'to us with confident authority behind [them]' and 'we often assume [they represent] objective knowledge' (Sturken & Cartwright, 2001, p.279).
The chapter is carefully crafted to begin with the most often used tool of scientific imagery'the camera or photograph'and progress through to computer technology, the abortion debate, and the human genome. Sturken and Cartwright begin by discussing photographic truth, the idea that a photograph, due to its 'objectivity' is real. However, this is a myth, they argue, for cultural and social biases interfere in the image's creation. Next, they touch upon the importance of images in science, including the medical process of physiognomy, the discriminatory practice of eugenics, and the use of images for experimental procedures (such as physical or anthropological recording).
Practices of Looking, chapter eight, then examines the modern use of scientific imagery, including video as an 'objective' form of evidence'both in the courtroom and in the lecture hall. In these instances, the question of 'enhancements' become of particular interest. For example, do blurring, sharpening or marking improve the image's meaning, or detract from it?
Sturken and Cartwright (2001) then examine images in biomedicine, abortion politics, and medical imaging. This area is of particular interests in this review, for many of the sources deal specifically with the fetal image. To understand this issue, they delve into the very essence of the Western tradition of image as truth, which historically began with the Greeks. This progress back into medicine through the preferred nature of sight (over other senses, such as sound), as exemplified by ultrasound, where sound waves are used to form a visual 'image.'
Next, Practices of Looking discusses the impact of genetics and the human genome on scientific images. Sturken and Cartwright (2001) argue that this process is 'digitizing' the human, breaking the individual into minute pieces, each separate and active on their own. This has the consequence of becoming the ultimate way of micromanaging and interiorly viewing the body. Finally, the chapter concludes by examining in detail the effects of culture of science and imaging. Sturken and Cartwright explain that science fiction'an arm of popular culture'now determine the possible paths of science and advertising becomes a key component in the abuse of supposedly objective scientific images.
Overall, it seems that Sturken and Cartwright (2001) have fairly utilized their sources in the construction of chapter eight of Practices of Looking. The largest problem that seems to be present in the text is the lack of clearly referenced material. Even if a topic is paraphrased, or even just glanced at to learn of a subject, Sturken and Cartwright should know enough to cite the source and label it clearly in the reference section'especially given the academic quality of this book.
Even given this problem'which undoubtedly made a clear review of sources more difficult'Sturken and Cartwright (2001) clearly drew from each source for sections of the chapter. For instance, information of eugenics and genetics was utilized from Hubbard and Wald (1993), while Nilsson et al. (1966) provided the image and basic textual material for the content on pages 296-7 of Practices of Looking. Stabile's (1992) argument of the effects of the rightward 'tsunami' on abortion politics, and the destruction of the mother, are very clearly set to use in Sturken and Cartwright, although this does to seem to be the one source perhaps either misunderstood or under-explained by the two. The Time (1993) issue provided a striking image (see Sturken & Cartwright, p.304) and a perhaps unintended commentary on the power of the media to 'create' reality. Finally, the entire text presented by Treichler et al. (1998), although not cited directly in Practices of Looking, is a large reservoir of information on visual culture, feminism, and science, which most likely acted as a base knowledge point for the two authors.
Therefore, the text of 'Scientific Looking, Looking at Science' (Sturken & Cartwright, 2001, p.279-314) concurs with its listed sources and utilizes the current and past research in the field, not to present an argument of the authors, but instead to show the knowledge within the field in as objective a manner as possible, reflected in part by the text's almost detached, clinical tone. Both of these qualities are important, for the book is not meant as an editorial or a thesis, but as an introduction in all areas of visual culture, perhaps creating interest and knowledge sufficient to drive the student further into the more acute arenas of the field. Overall, Sturken and Cartwright manage to utilize their sources in a clear, unbiased manner and yet they also keep the subject informative and concise'utterly important in an introductory text'without withholding valuable academic content. Bibliography
Hubbard, Ruth and Elijah Wald. Exploding the Gene Myth. Boston: Beacon, 1993.
Nilsson, Lennart, with Mirjam Furuhjelm, Axel Ingelman-Sundberg, and Claes Wirsen. A Child is Born. New York: Dell, 1966.
Stabile, Carol. 'Shooting the Mother: Fetal Photography and the Politics of Disappearance.' Camera Obscura, no. 28 (January 1992): 179-205.
Sturken, Marita and Lisa Cartwright. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Time. Special Issue. 'The Face of America.' Fall 1993.
Treichler, Paula, Lisa Cartwright and Constance Penley, eds. The Visible Woman: Imaging Technologies, Gender, and Science. New York: New York University Press, 1998.
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Summary: pleasure to read
Review: Sturken and Cartwright's clear, concise, and direct writing style makes this book a pleasure to read. They repackage highly intellectual theories in a way that makes them accessible for average consumers with an interest in visual culture.
Brevity is Sturken and Cartwright's virtue and vice as they present their sources. They often pare elaborate theories down to a sentence or two, which is fitting considering that they are only presenting an "introducton" to visual culture. However, in a few cases concepts are over-simplified to the detriment of reader comprehension.
Review of Sturken and Cartwright's sources indicates that credibility assumed from the text is justified. Even when they may have slighted a text on the degree to which it was discussed, the information was derived from honest research and synthesis.
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Summary: Mass Media and the Public Sphere
Review: Sturkin and Cartwright have excelled in this chapter alone to define and classify the media landscape in a pedagogical sense. The chapter provided a clear, insightful, and through objective view point of mass media and its impact within the context of our post modern age. They laid out succinctly the historical battle lines drawn between the utopian and apocalyptic prognostications of mass media, and addressed the problem of democratizing mass media through the public sphere. The defining point made within this chapter was the emphasis on media usage being the catalyst for negative or positive future outcomes.
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Summary: A Review on Chapter 4 Reproduction and Visual Technologies
Review: The art from the past has been transformed into this contemporary image world. Most of the art has lost its uniqueness through being reproduced and the context being changed into so many different interpretations. Sturken and Cartwright say "they are now more prone to circulation, changed context, and that they are central aspects of contemporary media culture." I feel as though that the sources that were found in this chapter were very useful and credible. The sources helped define what the chapter was discussing more clearly. This chapter had a lot of important information that is able to be related to today's society.
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