Images, Power and Politics
How we observe, perceive, recognize and behave towards images in general is somehow linked to our vision. Seeing is how we perceive the image with our eyes, as a sense of the human body and looking is how we deal with the image in our minds, it is how we process them. When we look we process the image and react to it. The way we react varies depending on our knowledge, culture, creed, etc.
How people express themselves changes along with history, like symbols in caverns and outdoors today. As an example, a 16th century painting in Holland could be seen as a trend around the world on that particular time frame. Images make us suggest and guess how could be the behaviour of people on a particular time of the human civilization.
The systems of representation have rules and conventions that are related with different cultures and its subjectivity. For example, in photography its subjectivity should be taken into account due to the human intervention in this mean of image framing. The importance of knowing when and where the picture was taken and the changes of laws, politics on that particular time and space, makes the interpretation of pictures more realistic. On the other hand the same picture been seen by other cultures without any information on the facts could lead to a different interpretation, and mostly it would consider only their feelings and associations within their knowledge.
The objectivity of the picture itself is the truth of a moment in particular, it is what really happened on that exact time when the camera clicked, and the subjectivity of it is related on what is being interpreted in our minds about that instant, and for that it can be considered a myth. With the use of computer and digital imaging, the variety of changes that can be made on pictures makes the truth of a picture questionable.
The association with images and ideology allow people to play with the level of conscience a group have about a specific subject. In doing so, people can determine which path a group should follow, with them being aware or not.
We have the tendency to be guided by appearance and conventions rather than the true meaning of things. As an example the colour black as the meaning of evil. That can lead to different interpretations of images.
The meaning of the image can even misguide you about the intention of an advertiser. How we interpret the meaning of images in our brains depend on how we associate with our knowledge and how we are exposed to facts of the real world. How we perceive an image depends on our social, political and cultural understanding of the world we live in.
Many models of behaviours and interpretation of images have been developed. Dependence of conventions and codes for the image meaning by Sausurre or language and thought are processes of sign interpretation by Peirce, to mention a few. The important note to the point is that how, when and where the image was viewed. That leads to different interpretation.
As per value of images, apart from the pleasure of seen them, the author mentions that paintings have their monetary value not only regarding the painters themselves, but the style, authenticity and uniqueness, the period they were painted and the history behind them. Not to forget some propaganda for the society by the owners of such paintings or images.
Another example of image value is the reach of TV images, which provide information and accessibility to a variety of people throughout the globe. Some images can be seen as icons as long as they are perceived as a symbol of some kind related to concepts, emotions and meanings. It could relate to culture, events in history, universal concepts, stereotypes, relationships, etc.
I always thought how fascinating it was to observe as my son was growing up the different levels of understanding he was obtaining as he aged. For some years he watched the same cartoons over and over again, but as he got older his reactions toward them changed. As he became more exposed to various relationships, school grades, knowledge of the world, parenting and his own understanding of the world around him, his response of what was been shown to him changed. Reading the chapter I agreed with the author on her point of view that how we interpret an image depends most on how we see and look at it, and many other facts depend on our interpretation of images. Interesting to note that living in Brazil by the time the Marlboro advertisement was shown there, I did not perceive them as manly cowboy’s figures like the author. I perceived them as horses’ owners. People who smoked for me had money, money to spend easily and foolishly. And cowboys in Brazil are not that tidy.
