task 5

‘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, 45, 47)


'The Toilet of Venus', Diego Velazquez

'The Toilet of Venus' is the only surviving of Diego Velazquez's female nudes, however the painting coincides perfectly with the theory that "Women watch themselves being looked at". This painting consists of the goddess of love and her son Cupid, who holds a mirror in a position which allows Venus to look at herself aswell as the person watching her. The female nude has most commonly been portrayed with the intention of the observation of a man.


In a the classical story of "The judgement of Paris", this theme is very apparent. Aphrodite, Hera and Athena all claim to be the fairest woman and so they take the matter to Zeus. Zeus hands his judgment over to the god Paris where the females undress and attempt to show off there beauty. This connotes the idea that women seek the admiration of the female form and the watchful eye of men.

What's interesting is that this theme has continued on into the modern-day world. Wonderbra has released a series of advertisements that entice the eye of the man. What's almost amusing is that this advertisement actually allows the viewer to look at the woman in three-dimensional form. The whole concept behind Wonderbra goes with what Berger stated. They encourage women to purchase a range of bras that will entice the eyes of men and definitely supports the notion that "Men look at women" and "Women watch themselves being looked at".

task 4

Write a short analysis of an aspect of our culture that is in some way Hyperreal.

Facebook is one of the largest growing and most well-known social networking websites of this generation. There's approximately 845 million worldwide monthly active users. Facebook users create an online profile where they can share photos, interests and personal updates with their friends. The website was launched in 2004 and what's really interesting is how it's evolved.

The concept of Facebook definitely plays with the idea of reality and the simulation of reality. What's become quite apparent is that many people create a hyper-self, almost like an extension of or a completely new identity. You'll find a person who, in reality, comes across as shy and yet on Facebook they're the complete opposite. People are able to pick and choose what photos people can view of them being selective on how they'll be percieved by their friends. People become reliant on the interaction and the approval of their companions. You can update your status to allow people to know where you are or what you're doing so in this sense you're creating an illusionary image of your lifestyle. Many users feel satisfaction in having a large number of 'friends' when in actual fact they may only talk to a small percentage of them.

Another aspect of Facebook that displays the concept of hyperreality is the way in which people view the idea of being 'sociable'. These days a lot of interaction between friends occurs on Facebook. It cuts off that direct communication as apposed to talking to someone in person or even over the phone. Although many people view Facebook in this sociable light, in actual fact, it's just a way of shaping and filtering how people want others to view their lives through creating a simulacrum.

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Interestingly Adbusters created the 'digital detox' campaign that occured April 2011:
http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/digitaldetox

essay final draft

Do brands have control over society?

Within this essay I will be discussing the power relationship between brands and our society. In a world where commerce has become so powerful and manipulative, branding itself has turned out to be equally as proliferative as it has vulnerable. The increasing rate that fashion seems to shift creates insecurity within all brands. When you look at the placement of branding in a society where the opinion of the public is ever changing, you begin to question who it is exactly that has the control and just how powerful it can be.

No brand can truly predict the changes that occur within fashion. Popular Culture is unpredictable and it often proves to be challenging for brands to keep up with. As Wally Olins states,

“Customers can be loyal, fickle, slaves to fashion, creators of trends or all of these simultaneously or serially. Above all customers are unpredictable. We do what we feel like.” (Wally Olins, On Brand, 2005)

It’s this impulsive nature that drives the public to search for that new and unique style that supposedly defines who they are, but what’s really interesting is how this is accomplished. In the new age people tend to define their originality with the brands that they incorporate into their appearance. Brands and their labels remove that uniqueness, therefore showing the power of branding, as how can mass production create an original style? In this sense, you could conclude that brands have the control over the customers. The products become desirable through manipulative advertisement, to the point that people feel the need to purchase items to display their social place in society. In a sense, the customers become walking billboards for the brands.

Powerful advertising has lead to fashion being not only functional but also symbolic. Nike, for example, founded by Philip Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman, 1964, was a company built for the distribution and design of athletic wear. Nowadays, a person walks down the street in a pair of Nike trainers with no intention to carry out any form exercise but instead wears them solely as a symbolic social status. Through highly influential advertising, using both sporting and musical ‘celebrities’ such as Michael Jordan ^(A), Nike has produced an emotional desire with their products. Products are worn as a display of social status. What’s more fascinating is that companies like Nike are fully aware of this, and produce such a range of products that are applicable to a range of people. There are designs within Nike that people associate with a certain lower class and others that display wealth and a highly ranked social status. The branding is so open that it appeals to such a wide variety of the public making it a multi-billion pound influential business.

“When deep space exploitation ramps up, it will be corporations that name everything. The IBM Stellar Sphere. The Philip Morris Galaxy. Planet Starbucks.” (Fight Club, 1999)

This quote emphasises the scale of branding and just to what extent it could potentially go to in the future. Brands and companies pay such vast amounts of money to be recognised worldwide. Advertisements are everywhere. Supposedly, the average person sees about 3000 adverts per day, whether it’s on TV or just walking down a street, branding is a huge part of our everyday lives. It can be argued that branding brainwashes people into purchasing the products they provide. When you think about how many advertisements you see a day it does make you wonder just how powerful brands are and how influential they must be.

“Brands are increasingly disingenuous and duplicitous in their relentless pursuit of our money and they will stop at nothing in their overwhelming imperative to manipulate us. It doesn’t make any difference to them whether we are young or old, rich or poor, can or cannot afford to buy, or even whether we want what they offer, brands are after us and we have to stop them.” (Naomi Klein, No Logo, 2010)

This view appears to portray the control of branding, arguing that it’s powerful skills with manipulation need to be stopped. However, this also highlights the fact that although branding has produced a certain control over the public domain, it is in our hands to choose whether we allow them to do so.

Power is a relationship. For someone to gain power, there must be someone allowing the control. For example, women, in the past, have permitted men to gain a hierarchy of power and therefore become the weaker figures of society. A world of conformity would allow for a counter-revolutionary human race. We’re lucky in the sense that we have the freedom to think for ourselves and to have individuality is what drives people to be different. Therefore, the customers, in actual fact, have complete control over brands. We decide what and what not to buy and what’s supposedly in and out of fashion. This is what makes branding so vulnerable.

“Where there is power there is resistance.” (Foucault, 1978) Foucault believed that power is a practice that people can engage with. It’s an exercise as appose to something that’s possessed. This relationship between brands and their customers is exactly that. No one forces anyone to buy products. People instead allow themselves to simply be influenced by advertisements. But it’s this desire of individuals that develops from strong advertisement that makes branding so powerful and successful.

In the growing competitive fashion industry, brands can move swiftly from in to out of fashion, under our influence. Levi Jeans are a perfect example of this; once being the most desirable shop to purchase jeans from and now the company has been brushed aside to new trends and styles.

This control is apparent in almost every industry. As an example, McDonalds is at threat in the fast food industry due to the apparent increase in obesity and general health awareness. Many people are starting to make more of an effort when looking after their body and health, meaning that even these kinds of brands are also vulnerable to the changing opinion of the public.

Interestingly, vintage clothing has become hugely popular within fashion. Customers are looking for one-of-a-kind pieces as appose to items that are mass-produced by large companies. This maybe shows that people are beginning to reject the idea of labeling yourself with brands and instead want to create a more unique identity with their clothing. Being aware of this, a lot of the well-known brands have created a vintage range, including the food chain Tesco. These products, unlike the vintage shops, will of course be mass-produced, but it shows how quickly they adapt to the changing public opinion in order to increase that feeling of power.

“’Cool’ used to mean unique, spontaneous, compelling. The coolest kid was the one everyone wanted to be like but no one quite could, because her individuality was utterly distinct. Then ‘cool’ changed. Marketers got hold of it and reversed it’s meaning.” (Kalle Lasn, 1999)

The strength of branding has risen at a high rate with brands being more and more influential with the ways in which they decide to advertise. “Many great brands are like amoebae or plasticine. They can be shaped, twisted and turned in all sorts of ways yet still remain recognizable.” (Olins, 2003) The management of these companies ensures that the brands don’t fall out of favor with the customers. They aim to keep the public satisfied and entice them with their new and desirable products. If this expectation isn’t met and the brands fail to meet the standards of other leading brands, then the customers will abandon it.

This simply shows that the power and growth of branding is ever increasing, with their constant adaptation to fashion and society and it is under our influence by which we allow them do so. Although they have a certain manipulation, it’s nothing compared to the strong control we have over their profits and marketing decisions. It’s because of this that has led big brands and companies to be critiqued and judged by the media. Helen Woodward, an influential copywriter, sates, “When you know the truth about anything, the real inner truth – it is very hard to write the surface fluff which sells it.” (Naomi Klein, No Logo, 2010) This can refer to the fact that brands must upkeep their reputation. No customer will want to know how or where their products have been made and it can swing big companies in and out of favor. As David D’Alessandro once said, “It can take 100 years to build up a good brand and 30 days to take it down”. (Olins, 2003) It really does show just how vulnerable brands are and how much time, money and effort are put in to maintaining an appearance for the public domain. In other words, in order to rise in power and strength, brands seek to impress the people of society.

The problem is that we live in a society where people are encouraged and persuaded to take part in consumerism. So how do we prevent an inegalitarian world? Increasing numbers of people are becoming more and more uncomfortable with the growing gap between the rich and the poor. The network of Culture Jammers promotes a new social activist movement of the information age, aiming to overthrow the power structures. They believe that “culture jamming will become to our era what civil rights was to the ‘60s, what feminism was to the ‘70s, what environmental activism was to the ‘80s. It will alter the way we live and think.” (Kalle Lasn, 1999)

Branding is often received as a profit-making manipulation scheme producing seductive advertisements and desirable products. Following the current fashions and changing opinions of the public, companies adapt to the wants and needs of the people. They are able to persuade individuals that they have what you want and they’ll put a lot of time, effort and money into making sure this is successful. The truth is, society loves brands. People use brands to define their identity, creating a particular appearance by which they want to be received. Brands adapt to our needs and so to answer the original question - no, brands do not have control over society. It’s very much the opposite. The products we buy can represent achievement as well as some sort of social status. However, as big and controlling as these brands may appear, the power sits in our hands. “All we have to do is use that power, and use it for mutual benefit.” (Olins, 2003) 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kalle Lasn (2000). culture jam. US: Eagle Brook. 1.

Naomi Klein (2010). no logo. london: fourth estate

Wally Olins (2005). on brand. london: thames and Hudson

Kidd, W, (2002) 'Culture and Identity', Warren Kid

Dean, C, (2003), The inspired retail space attract customers, build branding, increase volume', Rockport Publishers

Mark Paterson (2005). consumption and everyday life. london: thames and Hudson

Foucault, M, (2005) 'Materialism and education', Olson, M.

Dant, T, (1999) 'Material Culture in the social world', Open University Press

Adorno, T, (1991) 'The culture industry', Routledge,  

Adbusters. campaigns: http://www.adbusters.org/blogs.

Benjamin, W. (1964) The work of the art in the age of mechanical reproduction, p1-5

IMAGES

http://www.bambootrading.com/proddetail.asp?prod=4488&cat=210

http://occupywallst.org/article/occupyxmas-kicks-buy-nothing-day-nov-2526/

popular culture notes

CRITICAL POSITIONS ON THE MEDIA AND POPULAR CULTURE

- contrasting ideas of culture with popular culture and mass culture
- "one of the two or three most complicated words in the english language", raymond williams
- creating a way of living with a certain set of values
- culture emerges from the base and then it almost legitimises
- once you start to understand that you can see that culture can be insight of political conflict
- popular culture can be described as anything thats liked by a large amount of people, inferior kinds of work, culture actually made by the people themselves
- work that seems to be obscure is somehow more important in culture
- work that easy is somehow less important.
- there's an elitism
- looking at inferior or residential culture. you get popular press vs quality press, popular cinema vs art cinema, popular entertainment vs art culture
- we're coded into a certain way of thinking whats correct and whats not with aesthetics
- looking at the dynamics between popular culture and culture. e.g., banksy in a gallery
- prior to urbanisation society had a common culture which on top of the shared common culture there was a tiny elite super culture. this changes with industrialisation.  people are condensed together and yet physically separated, from the bourgeoisie.
- you get a physical distinction with this ghettoisation, it creates a culture separation swell.
- the working class begin to alter their own cultural forms & activities
- you start to see the growth of a working class culture
- matthew arnold, study of perfection, attained through disinterested reading, writing thinking, the pursuit of culture. he wants to define what culture is. 'culture polices 'the raw and uncultivated masses'
- f.R Leavis, mass civilisation & minority culture. still forms a kind of repressed, common sense attitude to popular culture in this country
- 'culture has always been in minority keeping'
- popular culture offers addictive forms of detraction and compensation
- frankfurt school, critical theory:
- fordism (1910 onwards)
- mass popular is culture that is mass produced
- movies and radio no longer need to pretend to be art. the truth that they are just business, is made into an ideology in order to justify the rubbish that they deliberately produce
- the way in which ideology start to code us to start thinking in one way
- looking at how the x factor, big brother etc is judged & payed for by the upper class for the lower
- Adorno "on popular music"
- because everything is standardised it means if you like one thing you'll like the other thats similar
- it reduces your capacity for independence and free thought
- the amount of engagement you have with that is also limited
- produces passivity through rhythmic and emotional adjustment
- causes you to be counterrevolutionary
- authentic culture, real, european, individual creation, imagination, individuality
- the technique of reproduction detaches the reproduced object from the domain if tradition
- mass production allow us to re-define culture
- in a way we're allowed the possibility of challenging high culture
-

task 2

Read the Walter Benjamin's essay 'The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction'. Write a 300 word analysis of one work of Graphic Design.

The Marxist Theory describes the process of mechanical reproduction which results in the detachment of the original. With rapid improvements in technology, original designs are duplicated and viewed in different medias meaning that they're received differently which is what Walter Benjamin describes as 'Even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be' (Walter Benjamin, 1936)

I've chosen to look at 

task 3

Post a proposal for your Level 5 essay on to your CTS blogs. This proposal should clearly outline what you are intending to study and include  

Title - Do brands have control over our society?  

I want to look into the relationship of power between our society and brands with reference to changing world of fashion. In the essay I will discuss individuality, advertisements, manipulation, power, control, vulnerabilty and the possibilty of change.    

Kalle Lasn (2000). culture jam. US: Eagle Brook. 
Really interesting book on branding. It'll help with creating a better understanding of the power of brands & will hopefully open my eyes to the change that could potentially happen if we stood up against branding.

Naomi Klein (2010). no logo. london: fourth estate
An insight into mass marketing and the anti-corporate activism.

Wally Olins (2005). on brand. london: thames and Hudson
This book will help me understand how brands are so successful.

Kidd, W, (2002) 'Culture and Identity', Warren Kid
I'm expecting this to aid me with looking at our society and the effect branding has on it.

Foucault, M, (2005) 'Materialism and education'
Really interesting theories that will aid my argument and open points of discussion.

Adbusters. campaigns: http://www.adbusters.org/blogs. 
Really respect what Adbusters stand for and the campaigns they create, such as 'Buy Nothing Day'. There will definitely be some interesting points of consumerism.

task 1

Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 200-300 words

 



I've chosen to discuss speed cameras as an aspect of our culture that works in a panoptic nature to enforce authority. Speed cameras were set up in order to regulate the speed of which you're traveling and to improve general road safety. The reason this has been successful in creating this control derives from the idea that 'visibilty is a trap' (Foucault, 1977)

Speed cameras are placed adjacent to the road on which you're traveling and point into the direction of the car that's approaching. The intention of this is to create 'a society of self-regulating, docile bodies in fear of exposure- of themselves or of their deviant actions.' (Foucault, 1977) In other words, to acheive a form of obedience within society, people must feel that there's a sense of high-ranking power that has a watchful eye on their behavior. Speed cameras do this effectively. When approaching a camera, a driver tends to get 3 visual warnings that a camera is coming up. This means that a driver uses this time to adjust their speed in order to meet the standards of the requested speed limit. Although there is a large percentage of the worlds populations that exceed the speed limit, most of these people will slow down when approaching a camera as it becomes apparent that their action are being observed.

Jeremy Bentham developed the Panopticon in which cells are arranged around a central tower containing guards. Each cell would be exposed to the rest of the building populace ensuring that not only do the prisoners feel a sense of vulnerability but they're completely exposed. It's this exposure that creates a certain insecurity leading people to act in a way in which they think will acceptable in society. As Foucault states, 'Hence the major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility thats assures the automatic functioning of power.' (Foucault, 1977)

Personally what I find most interesting about Panopticism is that no-one actually forces this control. By simply having a watchful eye over someone you can control and regulate their actions in a way that creates dominance. People become so aware of how they 'should' act and in a sense lose that autonomy or that freedom. 'He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power,' (Foucault, 1977) touches on the idea that in order for someone to have supremacy, you must allow them of this.

Speed cameras are one of many ways in which disciplinary mechanisms  are applied in our society, in order to achieve the ostensible 'utopia of a perfectly governed city.' (Foucault, 1977)

panopticism notes

- the transaction from physical to mental control

- turning you into a productive person of society

- to conform and control

- PANOPTICON, Jeremy Beniham, 1791.

-designing a building to make people more productive, fro schools, hospitals etc.

-cannot see anyone else, productivity through isolation. constantly visible. power. constantly illuminated.

- power is a relationship. for someone to gain power, there must be someone allowing them to have the control.

-e.g. feminism, women in the past have allowed men to have that hierarchy of power

- CCTV, Facebook, twitter, gym, 5 a day, alcohol units, speed cameras.

-you don't know if there are actually a camera inside.

- self regulation.

-no need to be directed/controlled.

-acting in a way that others would approve of e.g. politicians

- educational institution, teaching people to be a certain way

- turning you into a docile body

TASK
write a 300 word analysis of something panoptic in our world
take 5 quotes from the text.

mass production notes

TECHNOLOGY - REPRODUCTION

- there's an argument that the copy challenges the status of the original &/OR there's a theory that it validates the original
- looking at the idea of the original and the copy
- Walter Benjamin, 'the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction'
- looking at how technology effects traditional art. more of a discussion of humanity and social philosophy
- although copies of art have always occurred, technology allows faster and more accurate copies of art
- access to information got spread
- taking art out of tradition

 aura, associated with painting: tradition, original, creativity, genius, value, mystery, authority

analysis of part XII:
- mechanical reproduction has a large influence on how a painting should be viewed. you lose that direct visual contact
- by taking away the specificity of an audience, you're effecting the social reaction. it becomes less exclusive and this could have an effect on the way someone views the art
- it changes how you interprate it. are you there to enjoy it or criticise it
- the way other people see it is going to effect the way you see it. they end up controlling eachother
- people are trying to cater to the masses but in actual fact they are taking away that exclusiveness of a painting and that personal perception of it therefore decreasing the value of the painting itself
- rather then looking at the social effect producing art for the masses has, it becomes more interesting when a painting becomes exclusive as it then changes it's social reaction
- although paintings began to be publicly exhibited, they weren't produced for the masses to organise themselves but some of the public to simply visit the gallery or salon they were put into
- with art being produced in the masses, it allows people to respond in the same manor to that they would of a film. it's less personal and less direct

Ideology notes

Ideology

- "The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it", Marx k
- marxism, a political manifesto, leading to socialism, communism and the twentieth century conflicts between capital and labour
- a philosophical approach to the social sciences, which focusses on the role of society in determining human behaviour.
- capitalism. the society that we live in (west) control if the means of production in private hands, a market where labour power is bought and sold, production of commodities for sale, use of money as means of exchange, competition.
- primitive communism; as seen in cooperative tribal societies.
- salve society; develops when the tribe becomes a city-state. birth of aristocracy.
- feudalism; aristocracy becomes the ruling class. merchants develop into capitalists.
- capitalism; capitalists are the ruling class
- socialism; workers gain class
- communism; classless/stateless society
- Marx argues that society can be broken down into two categories, base & superstructure. you got the forces of production/relations of production & then you have the social institutions, forms of consciousness.
- everything can be traced back to class/gender/race. it supposedly merges from a certain social attitude. art, science, lawyer etc
- "The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general", marx, 1857
- religion could be thought to be the ultimate sort of trap for the worker, like a mental control.it gives people a motivation/hope
- distort, masking, selection of ideas to reinforce power relations through creation of false consciousness
- "religion is the opiate of the masses", marx, 1843
- art as ideology. art was always the rich class as they had to be educated, women were never allowed to be artists (white rich men) wealthy people were the ones buying the art. it's how the higher class thinks. art is used in an ideological way. art being used to make people think in a certain way.
- Althusser, ideology becomes a mechanism by which we live our lives
- it seems to offer reasons for why we are in our situation.
- media creates a false consciousness
- the working class are being fed what the upper class assume they are interested in, meaning that they know what they are fed.
- thus instead of being intensified by what they produce, people are made to identify themselves by what they consume, Williemson, 1978
- Sao Paulo has supposedly banned advertising due to the fact thats its a visual pollution