Visual Culture Final

Imagined community

a concept where individuals who may never meet share a sense of belonging to a larger group based on a shared identity, history, or culture

• how it is visualized depends on the shared political values/ideals of the specific nation

Print Capitalism

describes the rise of nation-states in Europe, fueled by the printing press and the capitalist market

• theory proposes that the business of printing first fueled the rise of nation-states and nationalism in 15th-century Europe

interpellation

the process by which we encounter a culture's or ideology's values and internalize them

Interpellation as national subjects

refers to the process by which individuals are hailed or addressed as national subjects, internalizing and accepting a specific identity and role within a nation-state

Effect of political ideology on representation and interpellation

impacts how individuals are portrayed and how they understand their place in society.

• Ideology shapes how individuals are represented, often leading to stereotypes or biased portrayals

• influences the process of interpellation

Race as a social construction/ontology

consists of the all the assumptions, stereotypes, value systems that different societies attach to physical differences

• there is no biology of it, only a sociology

19th century theory of race

• There is a hierarchy of races based on the characteristics and capabilities

• Taken as. biological fact at the time

• Theories of Biological Race

Dutch Brazil

• mid-1600s

• Dutch West India Company

  • colonizers of Dutch West Indies (ex: Brazil, Caribbean, North America)

• Johan Maurits, governor

• Paintings eventually given to the King of Denmark

  • 8 paintings of people in Brazil with different clothes, cultures, & backgrounds

Colonial Mexico

• 1700s

• Casta paintings

Ethnographic portrait

a visual representation, typically a photograph, painting, or drawing, that captures an individual's characteristics and cultural context

Casta Painting

originating in 18th-century colonial Mexico, were a unique artistic genre that illustrated the complex racial hierarchies and social structures of the time

4 continent allegories

humans are one species, 4 “varieties” characterized by “color” difference in temperament caused by climate

• Africa, America, Europe, Asia

polygenism

the doctrine or belief that existing human races have evolved from two or more distinct ancestral types

Stereotype

a stock-cut image that could be used over and over again with print text

• considered to be a method of visual shorthand, and were used by advertisers to promote products

Making & Challenging the Mammy Stereotype

• Stereotype of a Black woman used on products (pancake mix)

  • Shown to be old, large/overweight, and extremely dark (like back face), and content as a servant

• Challenged by being presented like a real Black woman with nice clothes, married, average weight, turned into a statue in old sugar factor, and made to look liberated through art

Appropriation

the action of taking something for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission

• typically related to culture

Orientalism in 19th century European art

the depiction of the "Orient" (primarily the Middle East, North Africa, and parts of Asia) by Western artists, often with a romanticized and idealized, yet sometimes inaccurate, portrayal of Eastern culture and customs

Legacies of Orientalism in 20th & 21st century popular culture

• Hollywood movies

  • Inaccurately depicts those of Oriental culture

  • White male heroes, white women often captured or sexualized by an Orient man, Oriental men portrayed as villains

  • Mostly white actors, like white women playing oritenal women

Orientalism and contemporary political implications

• After 9/11, middle eastern people have been stereotyped as terrorists

  • stereotypes have harmfully impacted middle eastern Americans and middle eastern people

• We are taught that middle eastern culture is dangerous and bad

Clothing as a signifier for identity

• gender, class, culture, ethnic identity, race

• We judge and interpret people based on their clothes

Moralizing architecture

the idea that buildings and the built environment can carry moral connotations and judgments, and that architecture can be used to promote or reflect certain values or beliefs

Banyan

a loose-fitting garment, often a dressing gown or jacket, with origins in India and later adopted in Europe

• symbolized wealth, sophistication,

  cosmopolitanism

qipao/cheongsam

Traditional Chinese dress that is considered dignified and elegant and formal

• has changed over time from wide and covering most if body to fitted and shortened (western influence)

• It is traditional & modern and authentically Chinese & global commodity

Herero long dresses

Traditional Namibia dress

• inspired by victorian era dresses & forced into Namibia culture by colonizers

• has head piece goes with it reprsenting cow horns

Classic (advertising logic)

Traditional method of advertising

• Sells you the product as well as an idea (like a lifestyle) that the product can give you

Postmodern (advertising logic)

• Often makes fun of traditional advertising

  • used to engage viewers in a more playful way

• recognizes that consumers are not passively manipulated by ads

• addresses that celebrities in ads are being paid to promote products and you shouldn’t buy something because of them

Affirmational (advertising logic)

empowering the consumer in their current state.

• It emphasizes acceptance of the consumer as they are, rather than trying to get them to want something different.

• promotes self-acceptance and authenticity

Values Signalining (advertising logic)

a brand conveys its core values or beliefs to potential customers, often through specific actions or messages rather than explicitly stating them

• aims to attract customers who align with the brand's values and build a stronger connection.

Compassionate consumerism (advertising logic)

leverages emotional appeals to connect with consumers by highlighting a brand's concern for their well-being and social responsibility.

• It aims to create a sense of shared values and ethical alignment

• encourages purchasing decisions that benefit both the consumer and the greater community

Charles Mills main points

• Critical Race Theory

• Race can be socio-politically real while being anthropologically and biologically unreal

• Social ontology (our natural being or identity is shaped by social contexts)

• Racially categorized (illustrates that race and other identity components are social constructs)

Morgan main points

• Stereotypes (original and contemporary meaning)

  • Characteristics of stereotypical Mammy figure

• Mammy helped unite the whites in the North and South

  • by being illustrated in Southern stories meant to reunite the North and South

  • was romanticized by showing her voluntarily staying to serve (symbol of forgiveness and redemption for confederates)

Said main points

Orientalism:

• Homogenizes (make uniform), Stereotypes & Justifies Colonialism

Nochlin main points

• voyeurism and the gaze

  • European gaze of the Orient is one of objectification & dominance (like male gaze)

• 4 absences related to Oriental art

  • History

  • Westerners/colonial presence

  • Art (in the sense that the Western paintings of the Orient look like documents, not fictions

    or interpretations)

  • Work and Industry

Khalid main points

• War on Terror

• Muslim women depicted as voiceless victims & oppressed

• Muslim men are depicted as barbaric and oppressive

• American men & women characterized as equal by media but not true.

Zhang main points

• Asian style clothing being used for profit

• stereotyping & misrepresentation of culture and people

• clothes we wear tell others about us

• Clothes can attract negative or positive attention

Wang main ideas

• Cultural appropriation & fashion

  • isn’t always bad; it’s universal

  • can be used as form of communication or rebellion

  • makes people appriciate cultures they typically would ignore (ex. fashion)

Berger main ideas

• “Publicity is about social relations, not objects”

  • products make people perceive or envy someone

• "All publicity work(s) upon anxiety"

  • fear of not having anything or being able to buy things

• consumption into a substitute for democracy

  • advertising distracts & hides political issues

Sturken and Cartwright

• "Therapeutic ethos"

  • shift in values led to shift to consumerism

• “Advertising speaks the language of transformation.”

  • consumers promised their lives will be better by buying a product

• ads sell a sign/company so that consumers want to develop a relationship with the company

• “selling social awareness?”

  • products promote ideologies