Study Task 2: The Gaze and the Male

We live in a society that above all is dominated by visually imagery, and this visually imagery has been created by men and for men and this has resulted in the objectification of women within the images that engulf our society. These images that have been created by men lead women to measure themselves against these 'socially prescribed ideals'. The visual culture in which we live has been written by men and created through a male lens, our culture is therefore gendered towards the male. As the visual media is controlled by men, they create images in which allow men to feel comfortable by asserting there power over women, making them feel comfortable through these emotions of security and powerfulness. The camera has become an extension of male gaze on the streets, in reality women often feel 'embarrassed, irritated or downright angered by men's persistent gaze' but the images created by the media allow men to 'stare at women, men assess, judge' and have the ability to scrutinise which in turn confirms the power they hold as well as asserting the subservient female role who can't return the gaze. As seen in this images the males are fully or partially clothed, whereas the women appears more nude and more exposed. The image is heavily dominated by males contrasted by the single female affirming male power over women. Furthermore all of the men gaze at the women whereas the female is turning away disengaging with the gaze reflecting his submissiveness and ability to dominated by the male. Within the image the males play the active, powerful role whereas the women is objectified for the men.  Billboards are everywhere within society and they act as affirmation of male power within society buy also create an impossible ideal for females to adhere to. These images such as this one create a fantasy which can't in real life be fulfilled, which creates a theory of 'sex-at-a-distance' which is the only 'complete secure relation men can have with women'. As with this image men can desire this complete power over women however it is something unobtainable in the real world. Furthermore these images suggest that the fantasy is far better than the ideal in the real world.  

Lecture Three: Panopticism

Institutions and institutional power.

‘Literature, art and their respective producers do not exist independently of a complex institutional framework which authorises, enables, empowers and legitimises them. This framework must be incorporated into any analysis that pretends to provide a thorough understanding of cultural goods and practices.’ - Randal Johnson in Walker & Chaplin (1999)

Panopticism is a form Social control, the theme of this lecture, which has an affinity to the previous lectures of the gaze and the media and psychoanalysis

Panopticism is about how the society we are born into controls our actions and behavior and how our behaviors and actions are some how pre determined

Power that institutions hold over us (institutions that have a physical presence, organized bodies of men, eg. Prisons, Army, Police) or that have organized practices or behaviors like the family or marriage and the way in which they code and frame our behavior

People who produce culture not exist independently, they work within a complex institutional framework which authorizes what they do, and says what is good and bad, and allows them to do and not to do certain things

The term panopticism is based The panopticon, a building.

Panopticism is about forms of Discipline, power, types of punishment within sociological control

Michel Foucault, 1926-1984, wrote the key texts Madness and Civilization, Discipline and Punish: The birth of the prison

A project of Foucault was to deconstruct contemporary society, such as the mad and the sane, good and evil, heterosexual and homo sexuality. His projects were concerned with the differences between them and to expand upon what made them different

The great confinement: up until the 1660’s, but in the middle ages, no strict conception of madness, man lived a happy go lucky life, accepted and to live within society, fitted within the fabric of society, there was no separation between the sane and insane like there is today. A new sensibility emerged with a new attitude to work and the social usefulness of work, value to society that citizens have and how to make people better and more useful to society

All the people that are socially useless, people who aren't productive laborers, and therefore a problem to society, go to houses of correction which started to be built, they were like prisons or factories, that housed, the mad, criminals, drunken, vagabonds, the diseased, single mothers and pregnant women, inside they were assigned a task of work and made to work, they were beaten if they didn’t, a crude way of making the socially unproductive more productive, this was an exercise in moral and social reform, though the moral of doing moral work

This continued until the 18th century, they then became to be seen as mistake [the houses of correction], the deviants corrupted the productive, this lead to the production of separated,specialist institutions, like the hospital or the asylums. These were for housing them but also correcting them but within groups of commonality rather than all together

These worked on correcting the inmates in a different way to houses of before, instead of using violence they used more subtle techniques. They were treated like children, if they behaved in the way they wanted they were given rewards and celebrated, if they behaved badly they were chastised, by a paternal like figure

A shift occurs from premodern societies which controlled through physical control, within in modern society used subtly mind control, more about correcting people’s behavior, a modern form of discipline

Emergence of these institutions, specialist knowledge and experts began to exist which justify this treatment of people, ‘the doctor’ gains a high social authority, as they are experts in the field

The self validate the practices of these institutions, these institutions affect the way we think, control our behavior not through physical means but they make us responsible for our actions, and therefore take control of our discipline, which means they start behaving because they want the rewards we take responsibility for our own conformity, this is a modern sophisticated form of discipline

Pre modern was not about training or reforming, it was about spectacular punishment, that was visible to others, and as a reminder of the power of the state. Reminder not to test the state its a physical punishment the state will do this to your body.

In modern societies, called disciplinary society, enthused into every fabric of society, every aspect of our lives

Modern discipline, is a technique and revolves around surveillance and its aim is to control behavior, though thoughts and feeling but to improve our performance but to make us more useful to those in control. This is referred to panopticism, named after a building called the panopticon

The panopticon designed as a multifunctional building, could be a school, prison, asylum, could have many possible uses. Its a circular building, there are cells with walls on the out edge, where individuals would sit, on the periphery there are cells, each cell is open from the front, may have bars if it’s a prison like facility, facing into the interior, open from the front and light from the back, each cell has an individual in it, It has a mental affect, it is the perfect institution, a building that would function perfectly, in each cell a cell mate, is staring into the middle at a central viewing tower in the middle of the building, inmates can’t see each other, all they can see is the tower and the constant presence of the guards or supervisors in the tower. This has an affect opposite to the dungeon. The dungeon is where you hide, or lock away the criminal classes, forget about them, a form of mass social repression, however the panopticon everything is on display and well lit. In the panopticon you become a object or scrutiny, you are constantly reminded that you are being watched by someone who expects you to behave in a certain way, ultimately you never behave in way that doesn’t conform, you never mis behave because you will always be caught. Its an internal form of psychology torture. They know they are always been looked so they never behave out of line. The panopticon internalizes the conscious state that they are always being watched, once its driven in peoples minds, this results in power functioning automatically, a system where the members of the panopticon are always controlled, in the end you don’t need anyone in the panopticon because the inmate take responsibility for their own behavior, doesn’t need guards or staff because people control themselves.

Foucault is interested in that the panopticon as an allegory for how society controls its civilians.

The panopticon is also about how those in charge can experiment, classify and scrutinize and as a form of surveillance. Functions like a kind of a lab, a supervisor can measure and experiment, it makes the people more productive in the panopticon. It would treat patients in a variety of ways

Discipline for Foucault is about making them more useful and productive, works though a notion of institutional gaze. The patriarchal gaze of society onto women, women act up to male social definition of what it means to be a women. In the panopticon you start to behave in way that the institution wants you to behave without you being forced to do so. Behave in the interest of the institution

Targeted internal mental control, panopticon a model for how our world keeps us under control, for it to work, you must understand that we are always being watched, and then when you know you’re permanently being watched you behave and conform the institutions wants

You find them everywhere in your life, you can spot this system everywhere in modern life.

The open plan office, rather than the cellular office so that it encourages sharing and for everyone to get along, but really its so the boss can see everyone and keep them in control, it changes the work ethic of the workers. Always being watched so you start to conform

Open plan bars rather than pubs, the open plan bar everything is visible to bouncers and bar staff you feel socially awkward because you are always on display , this changes your behavior to be more in control of your behavior to conform.

Everywhere in society are cctv cameras, more and more every year, live in a surveillant society - every single action in our lives is recorded, internally this makes us modify our behavior

Pentonville prison to make teaching more efficient, lecture theatre. Behavior is being controlled, not being forced, conform to structured conforms of behavior

The register is a form of panoptic power, you attend classes because if you don’t those in power will monitor and enlist a more of punishment

Forcing you to behave in a certain way which makes you learn in a more effective and productive way, making you more useful through a form of mental power that you enact upon yourself, you are controlling yourselves, its not a power one might have over you,

Clocking in and out of work is a panoptic system, you stay beyond when you should stay because you think you might be praised for this.

Power, knowledge and the body

It’s a mental affect and mental process, not based on physical cohesion, this new form of power has a physical hold over our bodies, physically become better people and more productive, this produce what is called ‘Docile bodies’

Docile in that there is no resistance against the power, produces docile bodies that are obedient. Self monitoring, self correcting.

Product of modern society hyper obedient bodies

Mass docility: the cult of health, everywhere you go, on the beer mat it tells you how much to drink, on food how much you should eat, TV and ads and how much and what you should eat. Surrounded by images of what you should look like, a gaze, all pervasive, we start to feel guilty if you we don’t act up to these ideals, without being forced we start to physically train ourselves that we conform. Gyms are open plan, to show of how you are the perfect citizen. Mirrors everywhere to show this off. First thing new government did was raise retirement age, because of health, government keep people healthy, so they live longer, so they can work longer.

Watching TV or on the internet, we are there sedated and being told what to do and how to conform.

Foucault: power is not something someone holds over something else, we are not controlled by a individual in power, its about a power relationship between different groups, you enter into a relationship of power, you willingly enter this into this as a conformist, and willingness to conform to institutional guidelines

Power only exists in how much we let it control us, we are only oppressed because we let our selves be oppressed

Study Task 2: Colour For Print Week 1

Branding & Identity

Use of CYMK

Use of Monochrome

Use of Spot Colours

Packaging

Use of CYMK

Use of Monochrome

Use of Spot  Colour

Publishing

Use of CYMK

Use of Monochrome

Use of Spot Colour

Wayfinding and Information Graphics

Use of CYMK

Use of Monochrome

Use of Spot Colour

Study Task 1: The Century of the Self

Notes
Governments and those in power using Sigmun Freud's theory to control the 'crowd' in mass democracy

Freud's theories used to manipulate the masses

Make people want things they don't need, but linking products to their unconscious desires, by fulfilling these inner most desires of the masses this made those within society happy and therefore docile which allowed them to be more easily controlled

At the time Freud developed and put forward his theories it was unaccpetable within society to show or talk about one's feeling and the idea of examining ones inner most thoughts and feelings and the workings of the mind was frowned upon

Freud's theories also began to worry those in power at time, as Freud suggested we have powerful instinctual drives within us, that are uncontrollable.

Edward Bernays began to consider how if propaganda could be used for war, how could it be used for peace in order to control and persuade the masses, Bernays renamed this from Propaganda to Public Relations because the bad conntations germany has created around the word Propaganda

Bernays came to the realisation through reading the works of his uncle Freud, that human decision making was a complex process and that this decision making was made even more valuable when considered in not the context of the individual but how humans are grouped together and the influences this creates.

Bernays realised that you must play into people's most irrational emotions

'Torches of Freedom' irrational phrase, made cigarettes socially accept, if women smoked they become more powerful and independent

Possible to persuade people to behave and act irrationally when you link a product to their emotions desires, needs and wants. It's irrational to think that smoking cigarettes could make you more independent, but it made them feel this way.

This meant that everyday objects could become power symbolic objects of how you wanted to be seen by others, Bernays devised that you don't sell a product in their intellect but you sell it to them on the basis they are making an emotion connection with the product and they will feel better for buying the product

The new American of mass produced goods that came about after the war also brought with it concerns of over production, in that eventually people would have everything they needed and wouldn't by new things. At this point products were sold on the basis of need and not want. Create a shift in American culture from a culture of needs to a culture that desires. To want new things before the old is at the end of its life.

He constructed and created the need for department stores which sold the goods we makes capable of making people want, also Started the idea of product placement within movies. Paid celebrities to wear products to in turn make people want those products and for the celebrities to advocate the idea that what you buy, wear and use is part of who you are, it form part of your personality. Bernays developed this use of fashion as a way and means to sell new clothes by making people believe it's away of revealing their hidden personality to the world.

Consumptionism, consumerism helped to created a stock market boom

The mind of the crowd: Bernays didn't think about groups of people in terms of the one, the individual, he thought of people as groups of thousands.

Group Behaviour: Unconscious aggressive forces are more easily triggered when people are in crowds, these forces are far more dangerous then he (Freud) had originally theorised

What frightened America's intellectuals was the submerged dangerous forces they lay beneath america society, forces that can easily erupt to produce the power of the mob, which was powerful enough to over through governments and those in power

The idea that human beings can make decisions on a rational basis, was now thought to be wrong, in reality people are driven my unconscious irrational emotions and thoughts, democracy needed to be re thought

Bernay's created what he believed to be a new way to control the masses by fulfilling the irrational needs of the unconscious minds with products referred to the engineering of consent

Consumerism the central motor and driving force behind american life

PR and advertising was placed with the task of creating desires within american society and this created 'happiness machines' which in turn drove forward the american economy. This created the consuming self, which helped the economy, was happy and docile, creating a stable society through managing the masses.

Creating a feel good medication, which changes your emotions but doesn't really change the situation. Through the government continuing to stimulate the irrational self of those living in society this means those in power can continue to do what they want to do without implication from society.

Human civilisation was created to control the instinctual human unconscious forces from within, the idea that democracy was about individual freedom was impossible to ever achieve as, if human were to ever truly express themselves it would be too dangerous, but civilisation brings discontent, one must be discontent in order to survive.

10 Key Points

1. The most significant theme that was put forward within the documentary how governments and those in power have used the theories of Freud to help passively control what is refered to as the mass mob that is society. 
2. Additionally it was also put forward that through the use of Bernay's using Freudian theories, that but linking products to our deep rooted emotions and desires this makes us temporarily happy and docile as we feel emotionally fulfilled. Allowing us to be in this state means that we are more easily controlled. 
3. The process of human decision making was also discussed at length within the documentary and how Freud had suggested that humans decision making is based on the irrationally of the human unconscious and that therefore humans can't rationally make decisions on their own. (An idea demonstrate by the mass mob's in Russia). Bernay's believed that by fulfilling the irrational needs humans will become happiness machines and docile. 
4. After the war America was in a time of mass production and mass products, however it was thought that a time would come when people would stop buying things because they had everything they needed, this also where Bernay's innovated. He turned american society in a culture of want from a culture of need. This meant that products were targeted towards people's wants and desires rather than what they actually need.
5. The functionality of groups was also talked about in the documentary and Bernays was the main focus of this. Bernay's saw people in groups rather than as individuals. Freud put forward the theory that taking advantage of ones inner most desires was easier when people were in groups rather than targeting them as individuals. 
6. Everyday objects could become power symbolic objects of how you wanted to be seen by others, Bernays devised that you don't sell a product in their intellect but you sell it to them on the basis they are making an emotion connection with the product and they will feel better for buying the product.
7. Human civilisation was created to control the instinctual human unconscious forces from within, the idea that democracy was about individual freedom was impossible to ever achieve as, if human were to ever truly express themselves it would be too dangerous
8. PR and advertising was placed with the task of creating desires within american society and this created 'happiness machines' which in turn drove forward the american economy. This created the consuming self, which helped the economy
9. What frightened America's intellectuals was the submerged dangerous forces they lay beneath america society, forces that can easily erupt to produce the power of the mob, which was powerful enough to over through governments and those in power
10. Consumerism is now what drives American life, Economy and society.

• Within the documentary it was mentioned that Bernay's had clients in many different sectors and industries, he would often us this to his advantage to construct something that would positively impact most of his clients. He has clients how were celebrities, politicians and those who worked in retail and big corporations. He was one of the first people to use celebrities to endorse products which is what is being done within this piece of advertising. Jlo has put her name on a fragrance and is using her appeal and celebrity status to sell the product. The public idolise celebrity culture and by using celebrities within Ad campaign people relate to the celebrity and want to by the product. Additionally the culture lifestyle is something we all want a desire, which is deep rooted in out unconscious desire to be liked by others. Therefore is image/ad has been constructed to create the idea that through buying this perfume you can be a little bit like Jlo. 
• Furthermore the image plays on the desires of all women to have a sexy and beautiful body, Jlo is using her body to endorse this idea of how women should look and what the perfect woman looks like. Through using this provocative and sexy imagery of her body the ad appeals to females desires of a body like this. 
• The Ad also creates the idea they Bernay's discussed of how products can be linked to our deep rooted emotions and this is done by making you want to desire the product because Jlo uses it or it is in some linked with her. Therefore when you buy the product you will also be connected within Jlo and become like her. Additionally one who purchases the product will feel fulfilled and happy in that are alike Jlo when in actual fact they are not. This works on our irrational mind wanting to be like her but in reality a perfume can not make you like Jennifer Lopez. 
• The image also plays with our uncontrollable instinctual desires for sexual pleasure, the naked presentation of Jennifer Lopez plays to both the male and the female consumer. In that it is a desire in all of us for sexual pleasure with the fulfilment meaning emotions of completeness, recognition and power. The Ad is innately sexual and appeal to men by wanting to buy it for there partners and females wanting to be like this for their partners to fulfil the irrational instinctual drive for sex. 

Seminar 2: The Media and the Gaze

 

Lecture Two: The Gaze and The Media

‘According to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome - men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at’ (Berger, 1972) The last sentence of this quote is often mis quoted, ‘women watch themselves being looked at’ - last sentence doesn’t mean that women are vein, it means that women are bodies/objects within in culture, it’s difficult for women to not think of themselves being looked at because they constantly compare themselves to images they see around them every day they constantly survey their idea of femininity

Berger within his theoretical writing looks at European oil painting, women's bodies being presented to be looked at and how artists paint vanity

Female nude, body on display, woman holds a mirror, angle is incorrectly rendered in the painting, inaccurate representation of how she would actually be holding it, disrupted and distorted double view of her face, view that she sees when she looks in the mirror, the mirror is placed in her hand as a device, to make an excuse for looking, a distracting device, allows the viewer to look at her without her looking back at you

Female body displayed sitting down, focal point between the knees, most sexual part of the body, woman allows us to look at the body in that way because she is engaged in looking at herself, makes it ok for us to look at her

Tendency to depict the female body which doesn’t allow the female to return our gaze, how they are depicted today in modern advertising

Alexandre Cabanel ‘Birth of Venus’ 1863 painting, mythological representation of women, woman as a goddess from the sea, looked over by cherubs, sentimental, virginal picturing of the woman, the position she is in, covers her own eyes and face with her hands a device seen in many paintings and advertising, the body versus the head, 2/3 of the picture taken up by the body and 1/3 of the head, concentration on the body and not her as a person or character, allows the auidence to look, unchallenged

Opium advert mimics this image composition, focuses on the body, but a more overtly sexual position is used, a more contemporary image is created, advert deemed to sexual for magazines or billboards, turned the image around to create a different emphasis on the face/head instead of the body, the vertical image has more concentration on the face as a posed to the body , emphasis of the sexual body position, eye drawn to the face

Titans ‘Venus of Urbino’ - traditional oil painting, traditional nude, knowledge of our presence, idea we’re sort of spying on her, passive nude painting, covers herself with hand, but very casual, compares this to Manet’s Olympia, subtle differences drawn, position of nude the same, hand is more pressing and defensive, titan’s is more casual, olympia is more assertive, assertive action, she is a prostitute, cloth suggest she is wealthy, offered flowers suggests gift giving, head is lifted as if she is addressing us, impressionism uses the snapshot style and quality, as if we’ve walked in the room and surprised her as a posed to the spying in titans venus.

The nude to challenge the traditional representation of the woman as a object, Ingres ‘Le Grand Odalisque’ used for the basis of a poster, poster has sexual connotations and therefore banned from public view,

Manet’s ‘Bar at Folies Bergeres’ mirroring of the gaze, back and fourth of the gaze, the bar between us looking and her, stands with arms open, the reflection, gives us an impossible reflection, can’t avoid the females behind, allows us to see her from two viewing positions at once, gentlemen who speaks to her in the reflection is us the auidence looking at her, reflection also represents Paris society at the time, woman is portrayed and returns out gaze is not there to be looked at

Jeff Wall - Picture for woman imitates this technique in his painting, the studio is reflected in the mirror, doubling of the gaze, gazes returned from the woman in the image and also the gaze of the camera, doubling reflected in the composition of the image, walls and ceiling draws us into the photograph, most photographs make us feel were in the third wall, but this shot is about the return of the gaze

In contemporary advertising, Coward R, 1984. Woman placed in the street, semi naked figure in the street, unaware and unnoticed in the city, without acknowledgement by the people of the city, repeated in billboards, normalization of nudity in the street where is goes unnoticed, we not consciously take not of these images, but women do. Devices used to prevent the return of the look - glasses no challenge to us looking at her and she can’t look at us through the sunglasses, free to look.

Eva Herzigova - hello boys, traffic stopping campaign, figure looking down on us, normalization of nudity in the street, comedy of the line ‘hello boys; also lightens the implication.

Coward R, peeping tom 1960 - a guy who spies on women, system where he looks at women when they are undressing, his voyeurism leads him to murder, seek the image of the woman as he kills her, films her death. The profusion of images which characterizes contemporary society could be seen as an obsessive distancing of women… a form of voyeurism (Peeping Tom, 1960)

Also are pictures of men depicted in this way, the same treatment is not give to the image of males, it doesn’t challenge the gaze, examples of male body treated this way but more of women this way than of men presented in this way, only found 60 examples versus millions of women presented in this way

DG ad of men, males body in an active manner whereas women repented in a passive manner, all of the men are looking back at you, a challenge to the gaze, they are aware and allowing you to look at them

Marilyn - ‘The Seven Year Itch’ , how film breaks the body into pieces within films, dismantled

Pleasure involved in looking at other people figures in a sexual way, the movie allows you to look, creates a perfect voyeuristic environment, cinema allows for objectification of the female body an ideal ego seen on screen, in society an active male and passive female

Lara craft however represents an active female and not a passive, men often lead the story on 50, 60’s cinema, men drive the narrative therefore women don’t drive it forward, but Lara croft still a visual spectacle and sexualised, driving character but still sexualised,

Cindy Sherman challenging the idea of the gaze, her work not made from theories of the gaze, valid to read them in the light of the theory of the gaze. Reclining the female, turned the image around like the Opium advert, not looking at the body but looking at her face, there to challenge the norm, doesn’t allow us to look at her unchallenged, no reflection for us, not caught her looking at herself, Sherman work interrupts the gaze because were not quite sure where to look, awkwardly placed on the chin, not natural, associated with staged photography, she enacts the role not a natural snapshot. The body not positioned in a sexual way.

Barbara Kruger - is addressing the gaze, image and text, found imagery, collaged into the image, turning away from the female gaze

Sarah Lucas eating a banana, innocent eating a banana, but produces a sexual connotation because of how a banana looks, gives us a confrontational look

Sarah Lucas fried eggs - reference to the boobs and how small breasts are referred to as fried eggs

Tracey Emin - money photo stuffing money inside her, how money devalues art, vulgar to make money from your art, her work self referential, and criticism of her own work.

The idea that women are natural liars has a long pedigree. The key document in this centuries-long tradition is the notorious witch-hunter's manual, the Malleus Maleficarum or The Hammer of Witches, which was commissioned by Pope Innocent VIII. The book was written by two Dominican monks and published in 1486. It unleashed a flood of irrational beliefs about women's "dual" nature. "A woman is beautiful to look upon, contaminating to the touch, and deadly to keep," the authors warned. They also claimed that "all witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in women insatiable".

It's not difficult to see these myths lurking behind Pacelli's description of Knox: "She was a diabolical, satantic, demonic she-devil. She was muddy on the outside and dirty on the inside. She has two souls, the clean one you see before you and the other." The lawyer's claim that she was motivated by "lust" could have come straight from the Malleus, which insists that women are more "carnal" than men.

The gaze in the media - Amanda Knox - killing leeds uni student in Italy, Joan smith is looking at how she is described in court, implication that young woman is a witch - reference to ancient witch trials, distrust of women

The Daily Mail has emerged as the major fall guy by mistakenly publishing the wrong online version of the Amanda Knox verdict.

Knox won her appeal, but the paper's website initially carried a story headlined "Guilty: Amanda Knox looks stunned as appeal against murder conviction is rejected.”

The Mail was not the only British news outlet to make the error. The Sun and Sky News did it too and yes - hands up here - so did The Guardian in its live blog.

It would appear that a false translation of the judge's summing up caused the problem, leading to papers jumping the gun.

So why has the Mail suffered the greatest flak? In time-honoured fashion, echoing the hot metal days of Fleet Street, it prepared a story lest the verdict go the other way.

But it over-egged the pudding by inventing "colour" that purported to reveal Knox's reaction along with the responses of people in the court room.

It even included quotes from prosecutors that were, self-evidently, totally fake.

In other words, by publishing its standby story, the Mail exposed itself as guilty of fabrication.
Photographs often used to misrepresent , looking stunned, but her expression is actually neutral, headline to implicate the image, they actually published the wrong article

Papers jumping the gun, media crafting there own story, the media decide on the portrayal of people in the public eye

Social networking portrayal of the body, image circulating Facebook no one knows where they come from, no author, but images with strong connotations. The lacking imperfect female pre teen body

Susan Sontag - 'To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed'

Paparazzi, desire for images of celebs when they aren't looking great or when they do look great, need for following images of celebs, a need, we are implicit in this, a demand for this imagery, we don’t just consume the images passively

Obsessive voyeurism, reality TV, popularity, on one level has no particular meaning but it gives us a false experience of voyeurism, offers us a position and power of the gaze, voting gives us the power to control something in real life, a very passive consumption of a constructed reality and edited version of reality, everything we see is mediated, also the contestants of are aware of there represents, can’t be truly realistic

Big brother offers the male and the female body to look at, the chair, shot always knees to head

Seminar 1: Psychoanalysis

Good Web Design

http://www.peterborg.info

I love the simplicity of this website, you can't go wrong with black and white, it's makes the site clear and easy to navigate and makes you focus on the important content which is the images. However I think the vertical text is a little hard to read and not really needed. 

http://www.nbstudio.co.uk/projects

NB again has taken a simple approach to its website, I think the left aligned sidebar creates a structure and allows for you to easily navigate the site. The images placed within the grid allow you systematically look through the images. 

http://www.2xelliott.co.uk

The 2xElliot interface is one of my favourites, I feel like the navigation it's there I don't notice it, I focus purely on the work but the navigation is simple and easy when I need to find other links to navigate around the rest of the websites. I terms of being a portfolio websites it works really well and the work is primary focus as soon as you load the site. 

http://sb-studio.co.uk

Again this site has allowed the content to dictate the main functionality of the website and the interface be used in a practical and functional sense rather than to create an aesthetic this helps when as it doesn't distract from the work/content. 

http://heydays.no

One of my favourite studios and a good functioning websites. Again making using of the minimal black and white colour scheme. The different sized images create a some variety within the page but is still functional and viewable. The sizing of the image also allows the you focus on specific pieces of work, perhaps works more important as chosen by the studio. 

http://badracket.com

http://www.squarespace.com

http://www.rdio.com

http://captaindash.com

Bad Web Design

Shorewood Lube and Service

South Cafe

Techniche

Morrisons Graduates

Paymo

Cake PHP

Yes Ware

Forefathers Group

Legal Zoom

Able2Wear

Lecture One: Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a vast and complicated subject which can’t be covered in it’s entirety within a single lecture, this lecture will provide a brief over view of what psychoanalysis is and how it can be applied to art and design thinking

Psychoanalysis is the theoretical study of what it is to be a human subject, we are all human subjects, this will be explored through looking at the theories of both Sigmund Freud and Jacque LaCan

Psychoanalysis was it was first conceived was developed as a form of therapy and an attempt to establish an understanding of the human mind from birth, additionally psychoanalysis tries to create an understanding of the role of the unconscious mind in our everyday lives

Much of the theory surrounding psychoanalysis focused on the ideas of sexuality and gender identity

It is primarily concerned with constructing an understanding of the complexity of human subjectivity and what it is to be human?

Subjectivity - We are all subjects, as human we are human subjects, living within a social order

Personalities and identities and subjective ideas

Initially it was developed as a form of therapy and theory of the mind, it was not designed to create a perspective within the art and design world, however it has been adopted by artists within the work and is used by those who work in advertising

As a theory, it established that we are not completely in control of what we do, they way we think, the way we behave, we are not directly in control of everything that we do

Freud initially developed the theory of the unconscious mind, before theorizing about psychoanalysis he treated hysteria patients, patients who had psychological issue, but he was particularly interested in those patients who developed physical conditions as a result of their mental condition

Freud began to analysis both his own dreams and the dreams of his patients, he analyzed these dreams in terms of their hidden associations and ‘wish-fulfillment’

Freud theories this analogy called ‘the dynamic unconscious’ this was a place in the mind which stored all of the ideas and thoughts that were wrong and unacceptable in everyday life, thought and feelings we are not meant to feel, they are suppressed in the dynamic unconscious, as they are unsuitable for the conscious mind. Freud said this part of our mind is developed through our infancy to protect us. Freud also said that the unconscious mind is like chaos and without language, however the conscious mind has a connection to the unconscious and this is sometime made apparent though slips and ticks. These slips and ticks are more apparent within hysteria patients and the suppressed feelings become repressed through a freudian slip.

A slip is when you accidentally say something without thinking, you don’t have control over it, it just slips out, these sometimes happen within a sexual context.

It is important to note that the dynamic unconscious doesn’t control us

Stages of development that Freud suggested that we must go through as human beings to make us into functioning reasonable thinking adults

Initially infants have a lot to learn, they must learn about there body, emotions and feelings and who it is in relation to others

Freud suggested that this development process is rife with misunderstanding, misconstrued and contradictory thoughts and feelings, as infants try to make sense of there biological and instinctual selves they create associations and assumptions which are often incorrect.

The developing child goes through three stages, Oral, Anal and Phallic a child also develops complexes which also must be dealt with in order to function correctly, Oedipus complex, castration complex and penis envy.

A sexual identity I one we assume of our bodies, this is an assumed identity developed through our infancy

Often having contradictory and inappropriate results through infancy

Oedipus Complex is when the child feels sexual and loving feelings towards the mother and resentment towards the father (not incestuous) this is as a result of mixture of emotions the child feels that are misunderstood. A male child places loving feelings with his mom, and resents father because of the position he is in, it creates a feeling of ‘to want’ and ‘to be wanted’

The development of male and female identities centre around the penis, through the castration complex, boys have a fear of being castrated and girls accept that they have already been castrated, the phallus the acts a symbol of power. However as male children fear they maybe castrated they associate with the father again as they see they made it without being castrated.

When female children see they don’t have a penis, they accept they have been castrated and once again associate with the father, the female identity is created though realization that they don’t have a penis. Girls develop Penis envy when they realize they do not have a penis and this is how she relates to her father.

This suggest why women have traditionally throughout history have always been viewed as the lesser sex in comparison to women.

A growing infant must overcome all of these issues in order to grow into a healthy adult

The child must experience and overcome these mixed feelings and misconceptions in order to gain a sexual identity and a speaking position within the order of language and society.

Misconceived/contradictory ideas of gender, power and identity continue to work unconsciously throughout our lives.

The Uncanny - this relates to the aesthetic world, the uncanny refers to psychoanalysis being applied to the visual world, The uncanny is often also referred to as the ‘Unhomely’

Uncanny is used to describe something that is both familiar yet unnatural, it the experience of something simultaneously being familiar and unnatural and often creating and uneasy feeling, it is where the boundary between reality and fantasy break down

Surrealist artists such as Salvador Dali used the theory of the uncanny within there work, they often use something familiar and subvert it with something unnatural

Freud develop two models to construct his theory of the human conscious, one being ‘Id, ego and superego’ the other being ‘unconscious, preconscious and conscious’

Unconscious – Hidden, repressed, chaos. Where things are stored that are unacceptable to our conscious selves.

Preconscious – Unconscious yet not repressed. Where memories, word associations, etc. are stored and are thus recalled from.
Conscious – Our outward self, personality, identity.

Id (unconscious) – represents the biological/instinctual part of ourselves.

Ego (conscious) – represents the individual/personality of ourselves.

Super-Ego(social order)– represents the part of ourselves in relation to others, to social order and to language.

Jacques LaCan also theorized about psychoanalysis however his writing are much more complicated than that of Freud’s and therefore harder to understand. LaCan came from a philosophical background and therefore he uses complicated language to describe his ideas.

However it is suggested that LaCan wrote in this way to mimic the chaos of the unconscious mind

LaCan often presents multiple interruptions of what he was writes and suggests, this is to signify the contradictory and paradoxical form of the human mind.

After the death of Freud, many of the ideas of psychoanalysis became lost of distorted it was LaCan who restored his ideas about psychoanalysis. However LaCan presented them in a new by using Semiotics and structural linguistics to create analogies about the human mind.

LaCan suggest that our subjectivity is engrained with language and without language we are not subjects

LaCan describe what he calls ‘the mirror stage’ This is stage in human infancy that a child recognizes it’s reflection in the mirror and it own reflection in relation to other people, his mother, father and siblings. This is the stage at which the child also sees him or herself outside ones self. However this puts the child in an emotional dilemma as they are no longer at the centre of their world and this can create feelings of loneliness.

Rivalry – while the child may recognize it’s own image it is still limited in movement and dexterity.

Thus...resulting in the formation of Ego which aids(and continues to aid) a reconciliation of body and image/subject and other.

Captation – the process by which the child is at once absorbed and repelled by the image of itself (the specular image)

Lacanian Unconscious - LaCan says that the unconscious is structured like a language. Like Freud said the unconscious doesn’t have language but it is structured in a similar way to language.

The unconscious is the discourse of the Other. The Other refers to the super ego which is outside of ourselves and is part of our social order and language.

Highlighting the ways in which meaning in encoded within
linguistic signs – written or spoken words.

Unconscious details are encoded in various ways as they slip into consciousness.

Symptom

Metaphor – a word is used to represent something else which possess similar characteristics.

Symptoms are translated elements of unconscious material adopting a metaphor-style coding.

Desire - Metonymy–apart of something used to represent the whole or the whole used to represent a small part. Meaning is displaced along a series of associations – a signifying chain.

Desire for objects (including people) are displaced desire for what cannot be attained...unconscious desire

LaCan also developed the concept of the Phallus, not to describe the penis but as a way of understanding the penis as a symbol of identity, difference and lack.

Potential Lack - Men

Actual Lack - Women

The phallus provides a speaking position within culture, it is hard to argue against and is well reasoned, this symbolic representation provides an identity within culture.

Words only mean something in relation to each other, the Phallus can never be possessed, as a symbol of power and identity it can never be possessed.

Freud’s the order of reality:

The Real - That which cannot be symbolised/signified • Where our most basic, animal selves exist

The Imaginary - The order which exists before symbols and signification.

Where the Ego is born and continues to develop, No clear distinctions between self and others / subject and object.

The Symbolic - ‘The order of the Other’, Exists outside ourselves language exists before and outside of us. The order that allows us to exist within a culture of others.

Psychoanalysis in art and design - It helps us to contextualise and understand the human mind. We as designers create things out of our subjectivity. The model based theories that psychoanalysis provide allow us to think deeper about the things we look and how we can look at them through models presented in psychoanalysis.

Edward Benays - Applied the theory of psychoanalysis to advertising and PR and was known as the godfather of PR. He created campaigns that tapped into peoples hidden wants and desires. Advertising has since become about selling a lifestyle and not a product. This technique is created through a form of manipulation.

Study Task 1: What is Design For Print? Week 1

Branding & Identity

 

Packaging & Promotion

Publishing & Editorial

Information & Way finding