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[connorahrens]

Week 16 Rumination

This week in class we talked about the global flow of visual culture. One thing I found interesting was when we talked about anthropocene. This is defined as the "current geological age in which humans have irreversibly altered the global environment". I believe that climate change is a problem that needs more attention and will effect our lives in the future.

We also talked about global image reproduction and the history behind it. I found the evolution of images and art very interesting. Art started off as an image of religion and then has evolved into images meant for the wealthy. With the invention of the internet, peoples artwork have been seen by people all over the world. Another thing I found interesting was the world earth image from 1972. This image became an icon for the peace movement used during that time. Satellites were able to transform the way people saw the world.

[connorahrens]

Week 14 Rumination

This week in class we learned about diversity and "Scientific Looking". I found this to be a little bit confusing at first, but after our class discussion I felt as if I was able to comprehend it a little bit better. On Wednesday, we were shown a video of different people from all over the world kind of combining into each other and then discussed the significance of this. My original thought was that everyone is so diverse and different, but we are also so similar to each other. This was just one of the things we talked about in class this week.

We also discussed how the advancement of technology has changed the way people act. We watched a video in class with a guy wearing a mask and talking about how these surveillance/identifying systems are so bad for us, but I disagreed with this. Personally, I find that surveillance systems are helpful in many aspects including; identifying criminals, providing crucial evidence in many cases, and even protecting citizens. When we talked about the video in class, everyone else seemed to have the same thoughts as me with how the video didn't make much sense and most people disagreed with him.

I think that being Identified by cameras can make people uneasy at times, but our society as a whole has (for the most part) accepted this. Overall, this was an interesting week in class and I enjoyed learning about "Scientific Looking".

[connorahrens]

Week 13 Rumination

This week in class, we went over Chapter 8 which talked about "Still life with rhetoric. Wednesday in class, we spent majority of the time talking about the "Obama Hope" poster and learning about the impact it made. The image was originally meant to just be a poster to promote Obama's campaign but it had a much greater effect on society. In class, we talked about remixes and how people will take an image like the Obama Hope poster and put their own spin on it. Fairey, the author of Obama Hope, had no idea that it would have the effect it did on society, but I think that it was successful in promoting his campaign.

There were also other negative effects that this poster brought too. Many people created commodifications to this picture as well. An example that was used in class was the Obama but he was depicted as a zombie. People who opposed him also created "tropes" which was basically using the same picture but changing the words to failed policies such as "drone killer".

Overall, I found the impact that this poster had on the world was very interesting. The fact that an image this simple shows that any image is capable of having an enormous cultural impact on society.

[connorahrens]

Week 12 Rumination

In class this week we discussed Chapter 8 about Postmodernism. Postmodernism is basically an attitude of skepticism towards the "grand narratives" associated with modernism. We learned in class that postmodernism rejects universal ethics in hopes to create more perspectives and change peoples views on certain things. As we were going over the slides in class on Wednesday. the batman and joker slide caught my attention and I was curious on how this could relate to Postmodernism. After listening and doing some of my own research I was able to put a connection to it. Postmodernists believe in "no one" truth, so after thinking about the Batman movies you would think that Batman (Bruce Wayne) is the protagonist and the Joker is the antagonist. I tried to view this with a postmodernity mindset and thought about maybe reversing their roles so that Batman would be the antagonist and the Joker would be the Protagonist. I thought of this because Batman and Gotham city have what seems like a love-hate relationship. Batman hunts the Joker and other criminals to put them in jail etc., but not everyone in Gotham likes him. The only thing that stops Batman from having complete control of the city is the mob (lower class people/criminals) and the Joker. So if you think about it from a Postmodernist point of view, you can think that Batman is trying to get rid of all the criminals for his own benefit. By getting rid of all his opposition, he will gain complete control over Gotham. There is also a lot of irony that can be seen in the Batman movies as well. By suppressing the lower class people, batman seems as if he's going against things he believes in, but the Joker is trying to free the lower class people who are looked at as chaotic. Anyways, I thought that Batman and the Joker were a good example of how you can look at something with a postmodernist view.

[connorahrens]

Week 11 Rumination

This week in class we learned about advertising and brand culture. Brands were explained on our powerpoint for this week as "entities that acquire value through customer experience." Personally, one of my favorite brands is Nike, but I couldn't give you a good reason as to why I would buy a Nike product over an adidas product besides the fact that it's Nike. The thing with these huge companies is that their brand name is so well known that it's very hard for smaller companies to compete with them and get their brand widely recognized. Nike is so successful because they are able to offer more products to more people all over the world. This is another reason on why it's so tough for smaller brands to get out there. Without the funds it's almost impossible unless you're providing a unique product to be successful. Nike provides such a variety of items ranging from workout clothes to shoes and I don't expect them to slow down any time soon. With such a well-known brand, I feel like they could push out so many different products that would do well.

[connorahrens]

Rumination Week 10

This week in class we talked about media in the everyday life. I think that learning about media/mass media and how it can really shape a nation was interesting. One thing we talked about in class was media and propaganda. We talked about how the Nazi's used propaganda before and during World War II. Propaganda is used to install political beliefs within the audience. After doing a little bit of my own research, I found that the Nazi's used a variety of different media outlets to convince the public to what their government wanted them to believe. Some of these included posters, films, radio, museum exhibits, etc. The Nazi's used pictures to target their audiences emotions which proved to be very effective. I also learned that not all propaganda is good. The Nazi's also used fear to push their vision by portraying their enemies as "sub-human". I've always had an interest in WWII, so getting to learn more about how the media affected this war was very interesting.

Nazis’ ‘Terrible Weapon,’ Aimed at Minds and Hearts (Published 2009)

A major new exhibition at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington puts powerful pieces of Nazi propaganda on display.

[connorahrens]

Rumination Week 8

Our main focus this week in class was about Visual technologies. In class we discussed how technology is rapidly changing and some of the benefits/consequences that are associated with this. We learned how technology can change the way we see things and even how people act. An example of this would be a police officers body camera. This may effect how the cop handles certain situations and even the actions of the person interacting with the cop. The body cam also serves the purpose of being used as evidence in court. There are both positives and negatives when it comes to cameras. For businesses, cameras provide a lot of security and are used to make sure employees are taking care of and using expensive equipment properly. Some of the negatives can include privacy concerns for employees, it may require more work and jobs to be filled, and the businesses may become reliant on technology. Overall, Visual Technology will continue to advance and there will always be positives and negatives with this advancement.