CHAPTER 1: IMAGE, POWER, AND POLITICS
I.
Content Summary
Introduction
“Looking is a social practice.” The authors begin Chapter 1 by reminding us that
we do not “look” at anything without participating in a practice formed by a variety of
factors, including the historical moment, social meaning, and intent of the creator.
Practices of looking are also formed by power relationships; even the act of choosing to
look or not to look is an act of power. We engage in the practices of looking every day,
with an ever-increasing amount of visual artifacts permeating most cultures.
Representation
Representation is the use of language and images to create meaning about the
world around us. Mimesis is a concept that understands representation as a process of
imitating or mirroring the real without taking into account how codes and conventions of
representation impact meanings.
We ourselves construct meaning through historical and cultural contexts. The
artist René Magritte contrasted mimesis and representation with his painting The
Treachery of Images (“Ceci n’est pas une pipe”).
The Myth of Photographic Truth
The myth of photographic truth is that we perceive photographs to be an
unmediated copy of the real world. This understanding comes from positivism, the
theory that scientific knowledge, gained through empirical data, is the only authentic
knowledge. Machines (such as cameras) were thought to be more reliable than humans to
provide this data and knowledge. As we know, however, images can be altered, reflect
only one instant in a situation, and can be taken out of social and historical context. The
power of images is strong because we still share this belief that photos are faithful
records of events. Roland Barthes considered photographic truth a myth, not because the
photographs aren’t true but because his understanding of truth (as always culturally
inflected) is at odds with the positivist understanding of truth as something that can be
independently verified.
Barthes gives us a system for interpreting two levels of meaning at play in
examining an image: The denotative meaning is an image’s literal, descriptive meaning,
whereas its connotative meaning relies on the cultural and historical context and the
viewer’s shared experience and knowledge of these contexts. In the example of Robert
Frank’s photograph Trolley—New Orleans, the denotative meaning is “passengers on a
trolley,” whereas the photograph connotes race relations in the 1950s. Further knowledge
of the context and circumstances of the photograph (the year in which it was taken, the
events preceding and following the date of the photograph, the photographer himself)
contribute to an even more textured connotative meaning.
Barthes’s theory of myth goes beyond the myth of photographic truth; myths are
how meanings, formed by hidden sets of rules and conventions, are made to seem
universal but are in reality specific to certain groups. Through myth, the connotative
meaning is made to seem natural or denotative.
Images and Ideology
Ideology also contributes to the construction of an image’s meaning. An ideology
is a system of belief in a culture. Ideologies are more than the negative nonreflective
practices of a culture; they’re shared, extensive sets of patterns and beliefs that guide
human interaction and behavior. In the modernist period, dominant ideologies, such as
that of positivism, were typically accepted as facts, whereas in postmodernity, people
have tended to recognize that ideologies are at play and are that meanings are always
connotative. It is now widely understood that there is no one “natural” ideology. The
places where these ideologies intersect and collide inform our practices of looking.
In the text’s example of O. J. Simpson’s mugshot on the cover of Time, the social
convention of the mugshot (connoting guilt and shame), combined with the historical
convention of darkening skin (connoting villainy and deviance), resulted in the
controversial use of an altered photograph that reflects the interplay of ideologies.
How We Negotiate the Meaning of Images
Semiotics is the study of signs, symbols, and how we interpret them. According
to Ferdinand de Saussure, meanings change according to context and the rules of
language. Barthes’s semiotic model is based on Saussure’s work, where
Signifier = Image/Sound/Word
Signified = Mental Concept
and together, Signifier + Signified = Sign.
Barthes’s semiotic model demonstrates how an image can have multiple meanings and
how signs (such as the dove, symbolic of peace) that seem to be natural are in fact
constructed.
Charles Sanders Peirce theorized that languages and thought are processes of sign
interpretation. In Peirce’s semiotic model, the sign is the word or image, not the
relationship between the image and meaning, and the interpretant is the interpreted
meaning, with the object itself separate from the sign and the interpretant.
Peirce also distinguished between three types of signs: iconic, indexical, and
symbolic. Iconic signs resemble the object itself. Symbolic signs, such as the word cat
for the actual animal cat, do not resemble the object itself, are arbitrary, and require prior
knowledge of a system (such as the English language) to make sense. The third type of
sign, indexical, is valuable to the study of visual culture because of its explanation of the
sign’s relationship to its interpretant; the two have co-existed at the same place at one
time. Fingerprints are indexical signs; they signify that a specific person existed in that
place at one time. Photographs are iconic (they resemble the object photographed), but
they are also indexical, providing evidence that the object existed at one time in a specific
place. Advertising is a prime example of all three types of signs at play to create multiple
meanings.
The Value of Images
What gives images social value? Although monetary value is often assigned to
well-known images (such as the work of van Gogh or Pollock), cultural, social, and
political values are also assigned in different social contexts. The monetary value
assigned to a van Gogh is derived from the aesthetic value of the painting as well as his
social myth, the scarcity of his works, the authenticity of the painting, the position of van
Gogh as being representative of the impressionist style, the media attention to the sale of
his works, and his exposure in educational and mass media contexts.
The ability to mass reproduce art, not only on canvases but also on coffee mugs,
neckties, and posters, also contributes to the value of an artifact. In van Gogh’s case, the
many reproductions of his work in these and other forms add to the social value of his
original works instead of detracting from it.
Image Icons
An icon is an image that refers to something outside of its individual components,
something (or someone) that has great symbolic meaning for many people. Although
image icons are thought to be representative of universal emotions, concepts, and
meanings, they are in fact culturally and historically constructed. The example of the
mother and child given in the text demonstrates that although the importance of
motherhood is universal, the use of mother and child in paintings (from Joos van Cleve
and Raphael) are representations of motherhood in a specific time and place that are
perceived to be universal. The removal of context, as in the Dorothea Lange photo
Migrant Mother, actually contributes to the universality of the icon of motherhood.
People can be icon images as well. Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Diptych shows
Marilyn Monroe not only as an icon of entertainment and glamour but also as an icon of
commodity, to be mass produced and marketed.
When considering icons, one must ask for whom the work is iconic. The
Madonna and child icon appears to be universal but in fact represents Christian and
Western traditions. Icons used across cultures can be interpreted in ways not intended by
the creator. The history of the motherhood icon from the sixteenth century to Britney
Spears illustrates the complexity of icons and their interpretations. In order to “read” the
image, one must consider the historical, cultural, and social codes and contexts within the
image, the context of its presentation, and the formal technique of the image itself.
II.
Key Figures and Terms
Artist/Creator/Producers
Weegee (Arthur Fellig)
Henri-Horace Roland de la
Porte
Jean-Batiste-Siméone
Chardin
Marion Peck
Rene Magritte
Theorist/Scholars
Michel Foucault
Roland Barthes
Key Terms
Representation
Semiotics
Charles Sanders Peirce
Mimesis
Ferdinand de Saussure
Allan Sekula
Scott McCloud
Talan Memmott
Robert Frank
Nancy Burson
Yue Minjun
Vincent van Gogh
Jackson Pollock
Raphael
Joos Van Cleve
Marjane Satrapi
Dorothea Lange
Andy Warhol
Isabel Samaras
Daniel Edwards
Robert Hariman
John Lucaites
Referent
(Myth of) Photographic
truth
Positivism
Studium
Punctum
Denotative meaning
Connotative meaning
Ideology
Modernism
Postmodernity
Code
Interpretant
III.
In-Class Activities/Assignments
1.
The Myth of Photographic Truth
 Purpose of activity: to demonstrate the power of the myth of photographic truth
by examining common artifacts (hoax e-mail forwards)
 Time needed: Fifteen minutes per image
Snopes.com verifies and/or debunks urban legends. One section of the site,
“Fauxtography,” examines images that are often forwarded via e-mail and either confirms
their veracity or explains how the images are false. The false images are often digitally
manipulated photos but also include raw photos taken out of context or miscaptioned.
To begin the discussion, show an image from snopes.com:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/photos.asp
Discussion questions:
A. Are students familiar with the image?
B. Have they received it via e-mail?
C. Do they think the image is “true” or “false”? Why? What evidence can support
their conclusion?
Following the discussion, provide the Snopes explanation for the image. By showing
the image without the explanation and then providing the Snopes information, students
can see how the myth of photographic truth is in play in our society’s urban legends,
folklore, and narratives.
2.
Semiotic Models
A. Purpose of activity: to illustrate the similarities and differences between Barthes’s
and Peirce’s semiotic theories
B. Time needed: 35–45 minutes
C. Materials needed: 4–5 well-known magazine or television advertisements
D. Because of the complexities of semiotic theory and the text’s reliance on the
theories of Barthes and Peirce, an early class session may be necessary to clarify
the differences between the two theorists through their semiotic models.
1) Show students a Marlboro Man advertisement (from the text or find another
example).
2) Show (using PowerPoint, the whiteboard, or a handout) that in Barthes’s
model:
3) Marlboro (signifier) + Masculinity (signified) = Marlboro as Masculinity
(sign)
4) Choose another advertisement.
5) Take Barthes’s semiotic diagram and connect the sign, signifier, and signified
to this advertisement.
6) Have the students form small groups. Give each group a different
advertisement.
7) Have each group identify the sign/signifier/signified of the advertisement.
8) Have a spokesperson for each group present his or her group’s semiotic
diagram of the advertisement.
9) Using the same ads, repeat the process for Peirce’s iconic, indexical, and
symbolic signs.
3.
Creators Explored
Purpose of activity: to explore in-depth the work of one of the creators (artist, illustrator,
writer) cited in the chapter, connecting this work to the concepts presented in the chapter
NOTE: This activity should be spread out over two class sessions, providing students
an opportunity to research the creator’s work outside the classroom and present it in the
next session. This exercise can also be used as a midterm or final project.
This chapter may be the students’ first exposure to the artifacts presented in the text.
By choosing one of the creators presented and exploring his or her work in more depth,
students begin to see the presence of icons, myths, ideologies, and meanings in the
creator’s work that may not have been cited in the text.
Students should:
A. Choose a creator
B. Research the creator’s biographical details
C. Find three other works by this creator
D. Write a summary of each work, including:
1) The date and place of creation
2) The date and place of publication/exhibition
3) Commission or reason for creation
4) Four major historical events occurring at the time of creation
5) The medium of the work
6) Critical and public reaction/interpretation to the work at the time of
publication
7) Critical and public reaction/interpretation to the work today
E. Show connections of the social, cultural, and historical aspects surrounding the
creator’s works to the interpretation(s) of the works themselves
F. Present their findings to the class in a fifteen-minute presentation
IV.
Chapter 1 Journal Assignment
Looking at Icons in Our Society
What or who is iconic? Why? What shared meaning do icons hold for us?
From the text:
“Icon is an image that refers to something outside of its individual components,
something (or someone) that has great symbolic meaning for many people . . . Image
icons are experienced as if universal, but their meanings are always historically and
contextually produced.”
A. Find a print advertisement (magazines are usually best for this) that uses an image
icon.
B. What or who is the image icon?
C. What “universal” concepts, emotions, and meanings does it/he/she hold?
D. How does the advertiser connect these to the product/service being sold?
E. Does it persuade you? Why or why not?
F. Attach your print ad to your entry.