berger and mccloud

Berger questions:

Before you read:

• The male celebrity is shown as a powerful human being who wants to show off his masculinity in order to show power and strength.
• The female celebrity is shown as a feminine human being who wants to show her glamour and who wants to look the best she can for the camera.
• If I were to draw a picture of a woman I would have her facing the camera so that she is looking the viewer straight in the eye, which shows she is not hiding anything. If I was promoting an object then the women would not be the main image I want everyone to see, so I would arrange the seen so that the main focus for viewers is on the product. The woman would be nude so that the main focus is not on the woman but on the product.

Questions for discussion:

1.     Do you think artists of these paintings knew what they were doing when they created? Why? Would Berger agree with you?

      Yes I believe they did. In order to succeed you have to promote your ideas to a target audience, which also means that you have to engage them with the painting by making the viewer look at the object you wish to promote. I believe that Berger would agree with this as he wants to construct spectatorship and to do this you have to engage with the viewer.

2.     Where have you seen images of posed women in advertising or other pop culture? How have these images compared to the nudes discussed by Berger? How have our portrayals of women in visual media changed or stayed the same?

Posed women are advertised in beauty adverts on the TV, promoting the product to viewers as something which makes them feel or look better. People (in this case women) would see the advert and want their body to be as the picture shows but in reality the picture is likely to be airbrushed because in the ideal world everyone wants to be perfect so that’s what the advert had to portray. Our perception of women has changed. We used to generally see women as promoting a product now we see women selling themselves to the audience for money or by men they are seen as a sexual object.


Applying and Exploring:

2.     Berger shares insights into the relationship between spectator and subject in works of art. How can we apply these ideas to our interactions with texts when we read? What relationship do you enter with the author of an article, or the main character in a work of fiction? The subject in art tells the viewer something through visual meanings and just like art text draws an invisible image to the reader. For example everything we read has a meaning behind it as do pictures we look at. When we read a fiction book, if the author portrays the story well, we find ourselves in the shoes of the character so that we can understand the emotions they go through throughout the book.

3.     Berger refers to how the way the woman is positioned in an oil painting as the determining factor for how he believes the image was meant to be viewed. Do you see a similar determining factor in modern images of women?  If so, where? Explain what you do or do not see.

If you compare an oil painting to modern images of women, the oil paintings will be much more modest and they will be facing straight down the camera. Whereas in modern day pictures the women in the picture is likely to be looking away and posing almost giving off a sense of uncertainty, that makes the viewer want to look at it more. The similarity between modern day images and the past is that they both use women to promote to audiences by showing their bodies. In the past images were likely to be more sophisticated focusing on the object being promoted whereas in modern day the women is likely the theme being promoted.

McCloud
Before your read: (1)

●      Try to recall what your favorite cartoon was or still is. Do you relate to a character and find yourself connecting? What features do you think help you connect?

My favourite cartoon character was Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. I believe I connect with this character because in the programme the producer always made the viewer feel sorry for Eeyore, maybe because he was always having bad luck or certain situations would always happen to him. I know I would hate to be in a situation where I always have bad luck so this automatically makes me have sympathy towards the character.  I also think Eeyore is portrayed as a cute cuddly character which makes the viewer’s warm to him. His round shaped body and sad eyes allow him to be cute  and due to his round features this makes him seem friendlier.

Discussion and Journaling:

1.      Why do you think adults still like the simplicity of cartoons? Do you think there is an age in which watching cartoons or reading comics is inappropriate? What do you think McCloud would have to say about it?

Adult cartoons are very different to childhood cartoons. They may look similar but the content which comes from them is different because the producer wants to connect with a specific audience. I believe that McCloud would agree with this statement and as he states certain viewers would enter a perspective frame so you can see specific situations, which furthermore links to an age of an individual does not matter when the question, do you think there is an age in which watching cartoons or reading comics is inappropriate? So I believe anyone of any age can watch cartoons, it just appeals to different people, with different humour.

2.        Why does McCloud use the comic book format to convey his ideas to the reader? How would his points have suffered if expressed them only through writing?

Showing a comic book allows McCloud to show off his ideas visually almost giving evidence of his ideas. They are also one of the most basic forms of showing his ideas, allowing everyone to understand by reading the images as well as viewing them. This also helps the reader understand McCloud’s ideas and witness them for themselves which would have suffered if it was just in writing.

Applying and exploring:

1.        Do you think more teaching strategies should contain visual imagery? What sort of lesson do you think would benefit from it?

I believe visual imagery would make a lesson more interesting for students because not only would it keep them engaged in what is being said but it would also help them to understand what the teacher is explaining and teaching. I believe lessons such as art, history, geography and science would benefit, making it easier to understand and see examples or what is being said.

2.        Why does McCloud contend that we are more likely to see ourselves in generic, cartoonish images that do not accurately resemble human faces? Contrary to McCloud’s argument, have you ever looked at a photograph or realistic portrait of a person and identified with the subject?

If the face is left unseen we are more likely to see resemblance because everyone has the same basic features, whereas if a face is reviled then more features are likely to be different so we do not relate it to ourselves because we see ourselves differently to the image.