Punctum Image Assignment

The Studium
This is the original Robert Frank’s photo of a woman working in a diner. It looks like that classic 50’s diner, perhaps serving up some strawberry milkshakes alongside a mean hamburger. The woman in the picture looks bored with her job - - that, or she just delivered a great joke and kept her face in a dead-pan. I would think the latter is a stretch. There’s a man in the background, probably a co-worker. There’s also a picture of Santa Claus which hangs over the woman which gives us a sense that it is probably December.

“Where power works “from below,” prevailing forms of selfhood and subjectivity (gender among them) are maintained, not chiefly through physical restraint and coercion, but through individual self surveillance and self correction to norms.” Susan Bordo Unbearable Weight

The Punctum

When I first saw this photograph I was immediately drawn to the words on the menus behind the people. At first they seemed quite boring, advertising 18 cent hot dogs and insisting that the food had “absolutely no fillers.” But then, then I saw that woman’s face. She looked plain miserable, which was especially interesting in contrast to the jolly Santa Claus which hung over her head. I decided to make this image be more than just about a woman working in a restaurant. I deleted some of the text in the menus so that it now only read “Absolutely no fillers,” “Bigger and Better than Ever,” “100% all meat,” and “Jumbo Size.” This menu was no longer offering food products, instead, I wanted it to replicate the kind of “menu” society and popular media often offers to women in terms of how we should present ourselves to the world. Popular magazines such as Seventeen and Cosmo often depict images of the perfectly structured woman. To the same effect, I wanted my photo to offer the woman those expressions. I deleted the man from the picture since he didn’t really do anything for the punctum. I highlighted the woman’s face and her outfit because they emphasized her femininity and worked the best for showing how she colluded with the insistence on an ideal form of beauty. I wanted her to look as though she was aware of what society was imposing on her, and did the best to fit into its strict norms. I debated whether or not to change the Santa Claus, but decided that its faked happiness mimicked the fake happiness which such beauty standards have to offer. I also found it interesting that Christmas generally promotes consumerism in order to have a joyous holiday, and the media promotes consumerism in order for women to be happy with their looks. Make those boobs bigger and better! Jumbo size them lips with such and such a product etc… The menu of slogans hang over the woman, as does the idea that she is a consumer rather than a producer of society, thus making her use self-surveillance in order to fit the norm. The signs lie - - there are fillers.

Barbara Kruger Image assignment

“The mind/body dualism is no mere philosophical position, to be defended or dispensed with by clever argument. Rather, it is a practical metaphysics that has been deployed and socially embodied in medicine, law, literary and artistic representations, the psychological construction of self, interpersonal relationships, popular culture, and advertisements - - a metaphysics which will be deconstructed only through concrete transformation of the institutions and practices that sustain it.” –Susan Bordo Unbearable Weight

The mind/body dualism is nothing new. Descartes made the distinction between the two in his Meditations, Objections, and Responses way back when. He determined that the body was functionally meaningless, a heavy weight which followed our ever thought, yet had no real relevance to our existence. Instead, he reasoned that the mind was the crux of every being’s existence, thus making the body a mere burden.

The original photograph was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt on V-J Day, Victory over Japan. He may have had the simple intention of catching a joyous moment between two estranged lovers in order to mark the end of war, and the beginning of a happy life. However, I felt that this image exhibits the classic Lacanian “male gaze,” “the determining male gaze that projects its fantasy onto the female figure” (Laura Mulvey). The woman is cradled, powerless, in the arms of her soldier. He dips her and takes her ever-so-romantically by the mouth. I felt that this picture could represent the mind/body dualism in that the man is seen as the victorious, thoughtful subject, whereas the woman is merely a picturesque submissive body. Her face is covered by his hand, and her knees are visibly weakened. She is HIS. She has no subjectivity in this photo; she is a mere piece of flesh in a pretty outfit.

I needed to change this…

Foucault says that discourse consists of “rules and practices that produce meaningful statements and regulate what can be spoken about in different historical periods….a group of statements which provide a means for talking about (and a way of representing knowledge about) a particular topic at a particular historical moment.”

In order to change this representation, I tried using the text to make a sarcastic statement about the idea of a woman’s body and her powerlessness when in the arms of a man. I experimented with placing the text around the figures, below them and simply across them - - none of which really displayed what I wanted. I ended up placing “he missed” directly above the man’s head in order to associate it with his thoughts, his mind. The placement of “his” is quite obvious, it covers her torso in order to show the possessiveness which he has taken for her body, her identity. And finally, “plumbing” is meant to hyper sexualize her body, just as dominant institutions in the media and society have done for women. I tried placing the word so that the “l” and the “b” frame her skirt and point up it. The text is a tad vulgar when you think about it, and that’s how I wanted it. If you can get past the literal connotation that “plumbing” has, you may see that I was trying to show how the body has been so important in determining the value of a woman, even if it means that she becomes plumbing. In this photo, I feel she is exactly that - - hollow, empty and “useful.” It’s not to say that actually are these things or this is how all women are - - no not at all what I am trying to say. This is instead, how we have often been looked upon in society and exhibited as in photographs. The intent of the photo is not to shift power and make the woman look more powerful. Power is not “top-down” and the solution to changing power relations is not to reverse its source to its subject. Instead, power may be seen as networked, a constant struggle between consumer and producer. The photo is meant to be met with disagreement - - “no she is not plumbing!” or “that’s not what he is thinking!” But that, is in fact how society works. Unlike the photo, power relations and gender struggles have become much more benevolent looking and covert. The sheets have been pulled over our eyes, and I urge you to rip them off.

That's no ordinary apple

Unfortunately, these images are not the best, so for all of you who are without a magnifying glass and some 'god'-like patience, here is what the text reads:

"All God does is watch us and kill us when we get boring. We must never ever be boring. Did perpetual happiness in the Garden of Eden maybe get so boring that eating the apple was justified? Maybe humans are just the pet alligators that God flushed down the toilet. And if Christ had died from a barbiturate overdose, alone on the bathroom floor, would he be in heaven? The answer is - - there is no answer."

(The quotes are selected from various Chuck Palahniuk books. You know, that guy who wrote Fight Club?)

It takes two to Disco-urse

I apologize for the lame attempts at humor in the headings ahead of time, granted it's not late, but this week has nearly left me with no energy to lift my fingers and type this blog. So it goes.

I have a new found appreciation for the above image. Though it is a 2-d piece, painted on cheap canvas and glued-on newspaper, the text really gets to me. The image of the apple, is for aesthetics. The content of the text alone is controversial, however it aims at making its viewer think, if not question, what it is saying, and what organized religion is saying as well. When it comes to the topic of religion, there are a lot of grey areas. It's a baffling question for me and often a circular process. The idea that we can sin, repent, be redeemed, and repeat...just gets to me. I feel that the typography of the image is important in that its form mimicks its function. It has an uneasy rhythm - - scattered around and around, with some letters bold, others italicized, and some just plain crooked. I believe the message of the text beckons the viewer to QUESTION and perhaps to challenge the walls that have been built up by organized religion. When reading the sentences, one must swivel his or her head aroudn and around to get the message, in the same way, I feel that is how we may sometimes feel when thinking about the existence of a higher being, or really, just thinking about existence in general. The bold text is set atop of random newspaper clippings, which I think give the painting the chaos that is needed to represent the topic that it contemplates. There's a message here, and though it may be offensive to some, it takes two to determine the implications of any image or media form. Instead of simply colluding with the message, the viewer should maintain his or her identity and be able to discern what is true and not true for oneself, rather than complain that a cheap canvas is "insulting" them.

What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas (the first and last time I will use this most annoying phrase)

This photo is nothing new. Nothing you haven't already seen - - or maybe imagined? But save those stories for weekends with close friends. What you are looking at here is a snapshot of typical Vegas (insert any geographic area)advertising.

So what does this foxy femme denote?

Well, quite simply, a foxy femme. Maybe a skilled card dealer, but more importantly, a skilled card dealer in a Playboy get-up working for The Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

And what a mythical creature she is...

But the myth she perpetuates is one that is old. It's the one that says women are objects and her purpose is to fuel society's capitalism at the expense of her identity being hypersexualized. Pardon the jargon, let me break it down. Images of scantily-clad women have been used to sell products since colonial times. Yes that's right, Mr. Ben Franklin not only made that lightbulb spark but he also sold ad space in his newspaper that promoted the idea that sex sells! Women have become objects whose mere purpose is to look sexy and sell someone's product. It's not to say that a woman can't embrace her sexuality and use it to her betterment, but the problem being is that these images are taken for and from "the gaze" of a hypermasculine lens. Lacan argued that the act of looking at images was an important means for looking at a society's values. He believed that one must actively identify the 'viewing relationship' between the actual audience and the intended audience. In this instance, Lacan would agree (as if I know) that "the gaze" or the intended audience for this image would be for a heterosexual man. It is intended to grab the attention (balls) of a man who will therefore become suckered into buying whatever Ms. Card Dealing Bunny has to offer. The image itself may be simple, but its implications are far from it. The image upholds the camera's ability to act as a voyeuristic weapon of masculine power - - and unless we are active observers, we will be subject to its violence.