gigisaidso

[gigisaidso]

There are three significant functions of image events that showcase their ability to create social controversy, animate and widen the possibilities for public argument, expand the participation in the public sphere, and enhance public deliberation.

1.     Image events include subaltern counterpublics by broadening the scope of the public sphere. Image events have become the main strategy of protest for advocacy groups. Staged events are used to gain media attention to articulate their position affectively.

2.     Image events deliver arguments in creative and powerful ways to create debate and memorable moments. They are oppositional arguments to “widen and animate the nondiscursive production of argument”. An important factor of oppositional argument is in the delivery such as articulation, evaluation, and effectiveness. Image events deliver in the mode of protest, it is an action that needs to be taken not just words or an image. Television plays a large role in image events because they have a power on shaping the public sphere.

3.     Image events deliver arguments in few forms to make it to mass audiences. The arguments that are delivered by image events would typically not be heard in public spheres. Image events expand the range of relevant rhetoric’s in social controversies by creating new arguments.

Analyzing the argumentative functions of visual imagery helps our understanding of social controversy, political argumentation, and public deliberation. Image events are used as a argumentative strategy to gain support of the mass audiences and public sphere.  

[gigisaidso]

photo taken from Greenpeace.org

[gigisaidso]

Image Events and the Public Sphere

What is an Image Event? They are staged acts of protest designed for media dissemination and they have been a central argumentative practice of radical ecology groups defined by John W. Delicath. Examples include Greenpeace and Earth First using image events. It is suggested that image events serve as resources for the public deliberation and to shift the responsibility of creating an argument to the audience. In order to understand image events Delicath states there are three features of contemporary public communication: the possibilities for public sphere, the texture of public communication, and the dynamics of social problem construction and public opinion formation. The mass media represents the largest part of the public sphere. Within the usage of Habernas’ liberal public sphere image events neither count nor make sense within the rules. Image events of radical ecological groups are large productions and not displays of the rulers but of the counter publics excluded from the public sphere. The public sphere needs to be a structured setting where different ideologies amongst the publics take place. Corporations and nations use spectacles to certify their status to the public while counter publics stage image events, using the publicity as a social medium to hold those corporations and nations accountable, and create their own identities as counter publics.  

[gigisaidso]

The Naturalistic Enthymeme

The Naturalistic Enthymeme is what Finnegan says “we assume photographs to be true or real until we are given reason to doubt them”. Photographers make choices about what they photograph and how they photograph it. It is questioned if that is considered manipulation or not. The conflict over the photographic practice within natural enthymeme is questioning whether moving the skull crossed the line of normal photography practice and manipulation. The Forum argued photographers should take photos not make them. Rothstein spoke on how he just found the skull and “played” around with it, taking photos on the cracked ground and dragging it about 10 feet to the cactus like any artistic photographer would. Rothstein stated he experimented in his photos like most photographers would using light, shadow, and background. The Forum’s arguments was the viewers took the photographs to be a naturalistic, objective representations of materials free from manipulation of the photographer. The Forum’s claim was only the skull photos were manipulated and not all photos were false. The naturalistic enthymeme remains relevant today with digital manipulation and the altering of photographs. Digital imaging has intensified the belief in naturalistic enthymeme. It serves as a useful concept for those working on highly representative images like photographs, documentary movies, television news, and advertising.

[gigisaidso]

Arthur Rothstein, May 1936. 

[gigisaidso]

The Skull Controversy

In 1936, Arthur Rothstein twenty-one-year-old photographer travelled through the plain states taking photos for the Resettlement Administration (RA). When he reached South Dakota Rothstein took photos of a cow’s skull that was cracked and bleached. He moved the skull around and experimented with different backgrounds, lighting, and exposure as he took photos. When returning to the RA the skull photos in the drought stricken plains were chosen and begin appearing on covers of magazines and newspapers making the drought look worse than it was. A republican newspaper, The Fargo Forum, published a story with Rothstein’s skull image saying it was a fake and photographers were manipulating the photos to make the drought in South Dakota seem a lot worse than it was. The controversy that followed almost put an end to the RA’s project and called more of their projects into question. The RA was created by Franklin Roosevelt in order to solve a set of rural problems. They were responsible for purchasing worn out land and applying techniques to combat erosion, resettling farmers to better land and suburban settlements, and creating loans for farmers who chose to keep their land. To protect controversy with the RA’s projects a “Historical Section” was created to use photography for a visual record of the RA’s efforts. This is how newcomer Rothstein found himself photographing a cow’s skull in South Dakota. The Fargo Farms editors stated these photos were taken for political gain as President Roosevelt was up for reelection. This became known as “The Skull Controversy” and circulated causing other papers to create jokes and comics that made fun of the RA and Rothstein.

[gigisaidso]

Obamicons

Obamaicon, coined by Paste Magazine, was developed into a website by Tim Regan-Porter allowing viewers to digitally create their own Obama Hope with images they upload themselves. Three weeks after the site went live there was over seven million views to the page. Although the site was taken down in 2013 images that were generated continue to circulate over the internet. The Obamicons, mainly created for personal entertainment, were used as satire targeting popular politicians in 2008. Most Obamicons were innocent satires considered “Internet meme culture”, but some were racial and inappropriate. Images of Obama hanging from a noose with the word rope beneath it went viral. Another example was Obama dressed with a turban on his head with the words Arab beneath it. This was feeding into the accusations that he was a devout Muslim. These viral Obamicons continue to circulate to this day online. 

[gigisaidso]

[gigisaidso]

Obama the Meme

Citizens across the world created and made viral their own remixes of Fairey’s Obama Hope poster. Obama Hope is considered one of the most popular memes to be remixed. Media viruses spread in three different ways: intentional produce to spread products or ideas, bandwagon which is appropriated instead of created, and viruses that spread on its own because of the response from others. All of these viruses are at work with Obama Hope. It was intentionally created and launched as a campaign, than appropriated and redistributed on all platforms. As soon as the Obama Hope poster was released it was used in many parodies. The image was used with many different words that rhymed with hope like dope or nope for example. Obama Hope parodies began selling online quickly just like the originals. Websites such as Know Your Meme provide galleries of Obama Hope remixes for the viewer to create their own memes. In fact, there are multiple sites that allow you to generate your own Obama Hope parody or remix and post on your own platforms. 

[gigisaidso]

[gigisaidso]

Obamamania

The Obamamania craze began with the start of Fairey’s hope poster. Obama hope has shown up on all kinds of merchandise including toys, cups and mugs, purses, pins, t-shirts, sweatpants, and hundreds of other items. Original photos of Fairey’s Progress posters begin selling on eBay for prices as high as $1,000. Prices on eBay posters fluctuated based on the events happening during the election. For example, when Hilary Clinton conceded posters raised to around $4,000. Obamamania is described as a cult-like support for Obama. Some even described it as a ‘hypnotic trance”. The intensity of Obamamania grew largely in Kenya. Obama’s father was born in Kenya and worked for different Kenyan ministries. It is believed that if Obama ran for presidency in Kenya he could have won. Kenyans had a faith that Obama would deliver them from their miseries. Obama Hope appeared in Guinea on flip-flops, on clocks in South Africa, and on the backs of buses in Tanzania. Schools, restaurants, and other products across Africa were named after Obama as well.

[gigisaidso]

A film remixed from historical events of the story of Harriett Tubman. 

[gigisaidso]

Pastiche

Pastiche is a key term to describe remix, parody, and imitation. Pastiche using history and historical events combing them in fragments of style. The use of the past is to bring back styles    to remix that have been abandoned. Only knowing the past as reproduction and quoted styles used for remake is a theme in Pastiche. It is an example of postmodernity’s usage of historical signifiers. Pastiche questions the status of the original history reminding us that the copy has a legacy. 

[gigisaidso]

Jimmy Fallon, The Tonight Show

[gigisaidso]

Remix/ Parody

Remix culture is the result of changes in the production, dissemination, and marketing of media forms. The world today includes images of copies, parodies, replicas, and reproduction. Remix videos include remakes of popular television show episodes, movie trailers, and film clips. Youtube, created in 2005, is a popular example of sharing remix content that can be created and posted by anyone for viewers. Remix culture is created for the fans of the content that is being remade. Remixes are vastly made of parodies. For example, television shows like Saturday Night Live are considered parodies where a remix of pop culture is used for humor. Postmodernism often involves citation or quotation in order to indicate ironic distancing. 

[gigisaidso]

Postmodernism/ Postmodernity

Postmodernity and postmodernism began in the 1980s after Jean Francois Lyotard published the The Postmodern Condition. Postmodernity is more skeptical of science and technology based upon the events of the holocaust and Japan bombings in World War II. Advance in scientific research could be used in hateful, violent ways. Postmodernist scholars also believe in the uneven distribution of resources, money, and goods. Davis Harvey has been influential in creating new organizational forms and new technologies to create power, acceleration of production and distribution, global labor outsourcing from the west to Asia, and the global south, use of new technologies to concentrate power, and acceleration of production in economies shifting from from goods to services. Postmodern thought questions the truth of social structures and how we produce knowledge of social relations and culture. Postmodernism could be looked at as skepticism of master narratives. Master narratives explains the basis structures of the society in comprehensive terms, it is something we believe at its core. Postmodernity is being skeptical of those master narratives. Postmodern objectives is to restate and recombine the structures and effects of given systems , to make them more pure. 

[gigisaidso]

Native American Barbie

There has often been focus on Pocahontas and her similarities to a Barbie doll. The history of the Barbie doll is that is has been modeled after a sex doll for men. Pocahontas has been described as the Native American Barbie. The dolls are shaped from existing Barbie molds. She had a buckskin minidress and long flowing hair. It is said dolls with long hair are favored over short hair dolls unless they are infant dolls. There were 50 Pocahontas dolls entered in the American international toy fair, which is the largest ever associated with a film. Mattel, which created both barbie and Pocahontas, takes in about a $100 million from sales of Pocahontas toys. By comparing Pocahontas to the Barbie it further commodifies the Native American woman. Also, continuing to change the identity of the real Native American identity.