What I have learned this semester.....

From the first book, “Practices of Looking,” the main theme that I learned is: Do not take any image for granted, and do not believe everything you see. Before this class, I think of images as “visual evidence.” When I hear something strange, I want to see an image of it to determine whether it’s true or not. However, as a viewer, we should question the things we see. Photos, paintings, and films are especially designed to communicate messages. They have a purpose. They can even be manipulated to show one side of the story (as opposed to the universal Truth). So when we try to read images, we should consider the context of the image construction and the underlying meanings of the image. Images can communicate a shared meaning for a group of people. So from an image, we can learn about the culture and history of the group, including both viewers and producers. Images can also have different meanings for each individual. Not everyone from the same culture would interpret an image in the same way. So from one person’s interpretation, we can look into one’s values, background, and psychology. In this book, we also learned about the gaze. For example, Foucault’s notion of surveillance made me realize that humans are not just viewers; we are also objects of the gaze. The gaze is also related to consumer culture. Gazing creates desire. Oftentimes, the purpose of visual communication is to stimulate desire. Ads, movies, TV shows, and so on are all trying to sell a desirable experience that can never been fulfilled. But humans are not just passive receivers of messages. The postmodern paradigm teaches us to create remix and simulation (through digital technology) to challenge the master narrative. In all, by studying images, their meanings, and the system behind their construction and interpretation, we are also learning about the larger society and culture.

The second book, “Reading Images,” is about the grammar and structure of visual design. A lot of my understanding is based on comparing visual structure with language structure. For example, different visual processes are like different sentence patterns. The visual structure can be narrative, conceptual, classificatory, analytical, or symbolic. For each process, there are different elements to look for that can help us make sense of the meaning of the image. From this book, we learned many structures and terminologies useful for analyzing images, such as actor, goal, vector, carrier, attribute, modality, materiality, and image composition. These “grammar” are not only useful for analysis, for also for the production of images. As we work on the class projects, it is necessary to learn the different ways of representing meanings and communicating messages. When I first read the book chapters, it seems very theoretical and confusing. But in class, the examples provided by the professor and classmates really helped me understand the material a lot better.

I also learned a lot from the four sub-projects in class. Actually, my original purpose for taking this class is to learn about visual analysis. I see myself as more of a researcher working on analyzing and interpreting visual data related to tourism, such as photos, brochures, websites, travel documentary, and so on. So usually I’m the receiver, not the producer, in the visual communication process. For me, creating something visually for the projects is difficult. I have to think about what messages I want to deliver and how to present them through visual communication. Although I have a hard time coming up with ideas, I think the actual work is interesting. It’s fun to learn to use the different software. Usually the first workshop of each sub-project is very confusing, and I go home thinking: How in the world am I going to do this? But with the help of many people, and after I become more familiar with the software, it’s fun to work on these projects, not to mention the sense of accomplishment when I “create” something. I’m very glad to have the basic knowledge of Second Life, Photoshop, Movie Maker and Dream Weaver, and I hope I can make use of them in the future.

My website

This is what I have so far.....

http://people.clemson.edu/~WEIJUEH/

Ch 7

This chapter is about the material production of visual messages. The same image can be produced in different forms, such as paintings, photos, films, and websites. When we buy a poster reproduction of a painting, the materiality of the poster and the original painting is very different, and they have different meanings and effects. With modern technology, it is easy to transform an image into different material reproductions. The authors identify this type of technology as “synthesizing technologies which allow the production of digitally synthesized representations” (p. 217). With recording technologies, images are supposed to be a “reference” of the reality. But with synthesizing technologies, the referentiality of images is replaced by representation and signification. I found one website, PhotoFunia ( http://www.photofunia.com/ ), where we can transform photos into different visual effects. I experimented with a photo of a famous Taiwanese baseball player.

This is the original image.


Here is how the photo can be transformed into different materials.
1. “Art painting”

2. “Stencil”

3. “Dorm lights”

Color can also be used as a semiotic mode to communicate different meanings and emotions. Here is the effect of different colors by using PhotoFunia again.
4. “Three colors”

5. “Warhol”



6. “Silhouettes”

In all three images, there is the color blue, but it is used very differently. I am confused about the different features of color, such as value, saturation, purity, modulation, differentiation, and hue. In “Three colors,” the colors are very pure and flat. For me, the blue here is not communicating a message. But in “Silhouettes,” the blue is modulated? differentiated? saturated? I’m not sure how to describe this blue, but the blue makes the image seem sad and serious. And in the “Warhol” image, there are many different shades of blue with different lighting. The individual parts in the image communicate different meanings through the color and lighting. Altogether, the combination of different parts and colors also creates a special effect.

Ch 5 & 6

Ch 5
This chapter is about “modality”—“the truth value or credibility of (linguistically realized) statements about the world” (p. 155). Modality markers are like the little cues that can help us determine whether the messages from texts or images are reliable or not. Verbal modality markers can be auxiliary verbs, such as may, will and must, or adjectives and adverbs, such as possible, probable, certain and so on. Visual modality markers are more complicated. Generally speaking, in terms of color, the more color is reduced, or the more abstract the color, that means the lower the modality. More detailed markers of visual modality include: color saturation, color differentiation, color modulation, contextualization, representation vs. abstraction, depth, illumination, and brightness. What I find interesting is that high modality (=high credibility?) is not necessarily better than low modality. The goal of visual communication is not always to have high modality. In the example of the coffee advertisement (Plate 2), the low modality of the background, through the use of soft focus and soft colors, is meant to represent fantasy and promise. Depending on the message we want to convey, sometimes we may want to have low modality.

The authors also talked about “coding orientation”—the “sets of abstract principles which inform the way in which texts are coded by specific social groups, or within specific institutional contexts” (p. 165). The same level of color saturation can convey high or low modality according to different social groups. The authors identified four coding orientations: scientific/technological, abstract, naturalistic, and sensory. In terms of the coding orientations of different groups, we should think about our target audience when we create images or make films. For example, the principle of modality of horror movies and science fiction would be different from the naturalistic coding orientation. In horror movies, maybe black and white or a dark color tone would have higher modality. In science fiction movies, like when they want to show virtual reality, maybe full color saturation would have higher modality.

Ch 6
This chapter is about image composition and the meanings behind different compositions. Images can be centered or polarized. In horizontally polarized images, the left side is “given” and the right side is “new.” In vertically polarized images, the top section is “ideal” and the bottom section is “real.” In centered images, the center is the focus or the nucleus of information and the margins are subservient. The authors pointed out that the centered composition is relatively uncommon in Western cultures, but more common in Asian cultures. There may be another difference between Eastern and Western cultures in terms of horizontal polarization. Some Asian languages, like Chinese and Japanese, is read from top to bottom, then from right to left, and the book-bindings are on the right side instead of the left. Therefore, in the Asian context, the right side can be the “given” and the left side is the “new.” I have one example from a Chinese/Japanese comic book. The right side is a recap of the previous volume and the left side is the new story.

film project--baseball

Now I have two possible stories for my film project. I have the script for both, but I'm not sure which one to use.

PLOT 1
A guy is invited to a baseball game party but cannot go because of class. He secretly watches the game on the Internet in class. After class, he makes some new friends because of common interest in baseball.

PLOT 2
In the past forty years, baseball has thrived and become the national sport in Taiwan. Due to problems in the baseball system, Taiwanese baseball takes a downfall. With passion and determination, Taiwanese baseball will rise again.

Chapter 3

This chapter is about other types of visual representations besides the narrative structure. Classificational processes show a “kind of” relation—a taxonomy, with Subordinates and Superordinate, and sometimes Interordinates. Participants at the same level are represented as being the same kind. For covert taxonomy, the overarching category is not shown or named; instead, the Superordinate is inferred from the similarities between the subordinates as the viewer may perceive. Therefore, it is necessary to have symmetrical composition to make the subordinates similar, such as using equal distance and same size. I think the interesting thing about classificational process is how the hierarchical tree structure corresponds to the hierarchy of social power. The authors compare taxonomy, flowchart and network to social organizations or activities. The taxonomy is like a static, hierarchical organization with everything in order according to the level of power. The flowchart shows the process of a structured, goal-oriented activity. The network is like a form of social organization which has many complicated, intersecting relations.

The second representational structure in this chapter is the analytical process, with one Carrier (the whole) and any number of Possessive Attributes (the parts). The thing about analytical process is that it shouldn’t go into too much detail. If there are too many attributes, the important attributes—the message we’re trying to show—cannot stand out. The authors also point out that the analytical process is “default.” It is identified through the absence of vector, symmetry, tree structure, and symbolic attributes. So the analytical process is the basic element in images. The third structure is the symbolic process, with one Carrier, who is being represented, and Symbolic Attribute, which represents the meaning or identity. The symbolic process can be symbolic attributive or symbolic suggestive. In the symbolic suggestive process, the meaning is established with no symbolic attributes. The meaning comes from within the qualities of the Carrier itself, rather than from the symbolic attributes. The symbolic suggestive is different from the analytical process, because the detailed attributes of the Carrier is de-emphasized in the symbolic process.

With all these different types of visual structures, is it possible for one image to have more than one representational structure? Or are they all exclusive? For an image with a vector, the individual actor and goal can still have the analytical structure with several possessive attributes. But since the analytical process is the default, the main structure of the image would still be the narrative. Besides the analytical process, other types of representational structure can coexist in the same image as well. When there are more than one representational structures, we have to identify the one that is dominating, and the other processes are embedded, so that we can understand the main message and the minor messages that the image is trying to convey.

Ch 2

Ch 2
This chapter is about the narrative structure of images. Basically visual patterns can be divided into two types: Narrative and Conceptual. Conceptual structures include Classificatory, Analytical, and Symbolic. They are more useful for teaching and explaining something, like in textbooks. This chapter emphasize more on narrative structure: How can an image tell a story?
The narrative structure of images is similar to the linguistic structure of sentences: Subject + Verb + Object. So narrative structure is like trying to describe a picture in one sentence. In images, the subject is called the "participant" or "actor." The verb is called "process," "vector" or "transaction." And the object is the "goal." Not all sentences have the same pattern, and images also have different types of narrative process. Sometimes the "transaction" is obvious, but sometimes it's hard to describe. It’s easier to recognize the action if the participant is human, not an object.

In this chapter, the authors provided six types of narrative process and the different vector and participants involved. I think movie posters should definitely have narrative structure, so I tried to find movie posters for each process.

1. Action process:
Action process can be non-transactional. It can have just actors/participants, and no goal. In the Madagascar poster, the animals are running away. There are several actors in this poster, but no goal.

The action process can also be an "event," with a vector and a goal, but we don't know who or what is the actor. In The Happening poster, something is happening to these people, but we cannot see the cause.

The action process can also be transactional, with two participants: one as the actor and one as the goal. In the 10,000 BC poster, both participants can be either actor or goal. We can say the tiger(?) is trying to eat the man, or the man is trying to kill the tiger. Either way, the process between them is obvious.

2. Reactional process

In the reactional process, there is a "reacter" looking at a "phenomenon." So the reacter must have visible eyes, in order to look at something or someone else. In the Superman Returns poster, Lois Lane is the reacter, looking at Superman.


3. Speech process and mental process

Images can also show speech process and mental process, like the thought and dialogue balloons in comic strips. Both speech and mental process are projective structures, connecting “human” with “content.” The speech process connects the "speaker" with the content of speech. The mental process connects the "senser" with his inner mental thoughts. In The Dark Knight poster, although the Joker wrote "Why so serious?", this line is showing his speech and mental process.

4. Conversion process
The conversion process is a chain of transactional processes, like a relay race, where the action is passed on from one participant to another. Sometimes the conversion process can become a cycle. I couldn't find a good poster that demonstrates the conversion process. The three images of The Reader poster look similar to a communication cycle, but the participants are the same two people.

5. Geometrical symbolism

In geometrical symbolism, there are no participants, only a vector. In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the poster is showing the passing of time. The action is there, but there's no actor. Or can we say the clock is an actor?


6. Circumstances
In many images, there are also secondary participants, who are not related to the main participant through vector. The secondary participant can be a setting, a tool, or a companion. Although many posters may have these elements, I wanted to find posters where these secondary participants have significant meanings.

a. locative circumstances:

In the Twister poster, the tornado is part of the background, and there are two people running in the foreground. Although the tornado is part of the setting, it almost seems as if the tornado is chasing the two actors. So I think the setting plays an important role in this poster.


b. circumstances of means:
In Confessions of a Shopaholic, shopping bags are the tools that the actor uses in the shopping process. Also, the whole poster is the image of one big shopping bag, showing its significance in the movie.


c. circumstances of accompaniment:

In the Lord of the Rings poster, there are three main participants, but there is no vector between the participants. They are fighting together, accompanying each other. Companionship or fellowship is an important concept in this movie.

Reading Images

Introduction & Ch 1

This book is about the grammar of visual design. Images, like language, have certain grammar, rules, and structure, and it is through such structure that images are able to communicate meanings. Some images are direct representations of the reality, so they can deliver a straightforward message and require a minimal level of interpretation. Other images are more subtle and have multiple layers of meaning, so the viewer must take time to look at the image and think about it. The viewer must make efforts to interpret the message of the image. This leads to the notion of “visual literacy.” We have to understand the language of visual design to receive and interpret the meaning of images. There are two kinds of “visual literacy.” The old visual literacy is an unstructured reproduction of reality—“it is a message without a code” (p. 24). Language comes first, and images are secondary to language. The new visual literacy is openly structured and coded. The reality can be simplified and represented. One element can be used to represent the whole thing or express a more complex meaning.


Now there is a growing trend of visual communication. Communication is shifting from the verbal to the visual, and also images are becoming more coded and abstract. I’m not sure about the situation in the US, but in Taiwan, we can see the development of visual communication and “visual literacy” on the internet. It started with using simple symbols to show facial expressions, like:
^_^ happy
~_~ unhappy
T_T crying
~>_<~ upset
-_- or =_= somewhat annoyed

On instant messengers like MSN, there are “emoticons” to show more complex emotions.



In addition to showing emotions, some moving icons can be used to replace simple words, like “nodding” for “yes,” and “shaking one’s head” for “no.” (These images are supposed to move, but I can't show that on the blog?)


Later, as computer writing pads become more popular, people start to draw on MSN instead of typing.

Now some people say the trend of visual communication is coming to an extreme. There are too many images in the “internet language,” and we call it the “Martian language,” because no one can understand. Here’s one example of “Martian language.”

Anyways, the visual language on the internet in Taiwan is coded. It is a simplified representation of the reality. This type of visual communication is also culture and age specific—only for the younger generation in Taiwan, although some images may be universally understood. However, this is still a simple level of visual communication. These images do not have multiple meanings that are open for interpretation. The viewers are supposed to understand the shared meaning of these icons, instead of making efforts to interpret the deeper meanings.

Ch 9 & 10

Ch 9
This chapter is about the scientific ways of seeing and how technology allows us to see the human body and life in different ways, through microscopes, X rays, MRIs, and so on. Previously, I never thought that scientific looking is also culturally specific. Science should be about the “Truth.” But when reading this chapter, I was quite shocked by the ideas of the anatomy theater, the Paris morgue’s displaying of dead bodies, and public anatomical dissections. I thought that dead bodies and the interior of the human body are something that only professionals are allowed to see. Should the general public be allowed to see that? I wouldn’t want to be gazed upon like that. The body’s interior is one’s privacy. Being dissected in public is worse than being naked. Anatomy is okay for educational purposes and medical advancement, but not for pleasure gazing and public display.

Personally, it’s hard for me to imagine why the public would want to see that in the first place. Out of curiosity? Or in the pursuit of knowledge? In Western science and medicine, to see is to know. Looking in depth leads to more knowledge. Doctors and scientists want to see everything, looking beneath the surface and magnifying everything. But in the name of science and knowledge, do we sometimes see what we shouldn’t see? There’re always reasons to justify the “seeing,” like security checks and patient observation, but not all seeing is appropriate or necessary? If we compare the East and the West, western doctors think it’s necessary to see the body’s interior in order to diagnose the patient, so they developed X rays, Ultrasounds, MRIs, CAT scans, and so on to see through the human body. But in traditional Chinese medicine, the doctor diagnoses the patient by taking the pulse. If the patient is female, there will be curtains around her bed, and the doctor can only see and touch her wrist for the pulse and listen to her cough to diagnose the patient. In very extreme cases, like if the patient is the wife or daughter of the emperor, the doctor cannot even see or touch her hand. He can only tie a piece of thread to the patient’s wrist, and judge the pulse by touching the thread. From a modern perspective, this kind of diagnoses is totally unscientific. But in Chinese history, the best doctors were the ones who could make a correct diagnosis without seeing, and those were the doctors who would be invited into the palace to be the emperor’s doctor. This example shows that the relationship between seeing and knowledge is culturally specific.

Ch 10
This chapter is about globalization and the flow of visual culture. Globalization influences the production and distribution of films, images, and other visual cultural products. However, this open media flow didn’t create “a more democratic flow of information for the people” (p. 399). Instead, it reinforces cultural imperialism. In my personal experience, the most obvious example of cultural imperialism is the relationship between Taiwan and Japan. Taiwan used to be colonized by Japan. Even though now we’re free of the physical colonization, Taiwanese culture is still deeply influenced by Japanese culture. We eat Japanese food, listen to Japanese music, and watch Japanese movies and TV shows. Fortunately, the flow of the media and popular culture is not just one-way now. For example, a very famous comic book series in Japan, “Hana-yori Dango,” was made into a TV drama version in Taiwan. The show was very popular in Taiwan, and later broadcasted in Japan as well. It also got good ratings in Japan, so later the Japanese also made a Japanese version of the TV show. As the global image and media flow go back and forth, new cultural identities emerge. Through Youtube and other online medias, diasporic communities can get back in touch with the culture of their ancestral land. For example, Asian-Americans who cannot speak the language of their ancestors can still listen to Chinese songs or watch Japanese drama and animation (with English subtitles). In the past, Asian-Americans want to be distinguished from newly-arrived Asians, so they avoid “fobby” (Fresh Off Boat) cultures. But now, Asian popular culture is becoming a trend in Asian-American groups, and it influences their cultural identity and relationship with their two “homes.”

my avatar

This is the complete look of my avatar--a baseball girl in Taiwan.



This is the logo I used to make her shirt and cap.





This is the yellow object that she is holding in her hand.

The necklace

In front of a baseball setting

Chapter 7 & 8

7
In this chapter, the authors discussed about capitalism and consumer cultures. Capitalism depends on production and consumption, so people are encouraged to consume more than what they need. In other words, this type of consumption is not because of necessity but desire. In order to generate desire and legitimate unnecessary spending, the capitalists create the feeling that life in modern society is troubling and unfulfilled, and that consumption can lead to self-fulfillment. Therefore, consumption is therapeutic and good/necessary for our mental health, as it fills our emotional needs. Through consumption, people can get the identity and sense of belonging that they are looking for. For example, we buy Clemson T-shirts to show that we identify with the school. Consumption also evolved as a form of leisure and pleasure. Shopping is no longer a chore but a type of entertainment. The purpose of shopping is not to buy products, but to enjoy the shopping experience. Many people find pleasure in buying things for other people. Even window shopping becomes popular because it brings visual pleasure.

Moreover, capitalism and consumption create the illusion that shopping can fulfill our desire, yet this desire can never really be fulfilled. The consumers’ desire must always be sustained so that people can buy more and more things. Lacan’s notion of lack and desire can explain the situation. The subject’s lack will always exist. The object of one’s desire can never fill the lack, because the object of desire will be replaced by another object in a chain of replacements. Once people actually get the object of their desire, its charm disappears. From the capitalist perspective, when designing and selling a product, the lifespan of the product cannot be too long, or else consumers will not buy a new one. Recently there’s a commercial about a brand of everlasting gum. The gum lasts so long that the manufacturers are begging consumers to start chewing the second piece. This is why companies are always coming up with newer versions of their products, so that even when consumers already have the product, they will be intrigued by the latest fashion.

From this respect, it might be easier to sell an experience rather than a product. Experience is not something that people can hang on to. In order to get the same pleasant experience, they must purchase again and again. For example, coffee shops are selling not only the coffee, but the whole atmosphere and café experience. The tourism industry is all about selling travel experiences. Tourists can take photos and buy souvenirs, but the desire for the travel experience can never be fulfilled. The famous slogan for Las Vegas is: “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” This slogan is telling tourists that they cannot take the Las Vegas experience home, so that tourists have to come again and again.

8
Postmodernism is about questions. The postmodern tradition is to question the universal truth, fundamental knowledge, and the origin of power and authority. The purpose is to shake the very foundation of our beliefs and to deconstruct all assumptions and dominant ideologies. But even though postmodernism claims that there are multiple truths instead of one big Truth, there is still one central idea in postmodernism—that there is no Truth, no reality, no authenticity, and so on. I’m not sure if I’m making any sense (I’m not even sure if I understand postmodernism), but is there a way for postmodernism to deconstruct itself? Or that it is still dominated by one main thought.

In order to question the master narratives, simulation and remix became popular forms of postmodern art. Through remakes, parodies, fragmentation, and appropriation, people are able to reflect upon their understanding of the world and different systems of meaning. In this chapter, the authors used Shrek and The Simpsons as examples of remake. Shrek and The Simpsons are both popular in Taiwan, but I think for people from non-western cultures, it’s very difficult to understand and appreciate the hidden meanings and references in these parodies, so people may just think that Shrek and The Simpsons are cute or funny. So I am thinking: What makes a good remake? Shrek and The Simpsons are good examples, and I also like the TV show, That 70’s Show, which uses a lot of parodies. But there are also some movies like Date Movie, Epic Movie, and Not Another Teen Movie, and some of them are just awful. So what makes a successful postmodern remake and what not?

Amsterdam

So here I am in Amsterdam. :)
I spent the first two days at the conference,
so I didn’t start sight-seeing until today.
Here’s the RAI convention center where the conference was held.
It’s under renovation now, so it’s hard to get a good picture of it.

The logo of Amsterdam RAI is like a bridge? and also an A?

And now the stereotypical tourist pictures…
This is Dam Square and the Koninklijk Paleis (Royal Palace).

The National Monument on the other side of Dam Square
It is a memorial for the Dutch soldiers killed in WWII.

Street artist on the Dam Square

Cute pigeons on the square

Well… their bodies are round and cute, but their eyes are kinda intimidating…

Singel Canal... I think
All the canal pictures are very similar....

Westerkerk
Its tower is the tallest in Amsterdam.

Too bad we can’t climb to the top during winter season.

Keizersgracht Canal

Magna Plaza…. It’s a shopping mall!



Bloemenmarkt (flower market) by the Singel



Tulips! :)

Project Theme

After more thinking, I think I will choose "baseball" as my theme for the project. Baseball is like the national sport in Taiwan. It's the only sport that we have a professional league for. It's a sport that unites the people of Taiwan. We're quite proud of the baseball development in Taiwan, and we say that baseball represents the Taiwanese spirit. We have our own symbols, stories, and iconic figures. I will try to show "baseball" from a Taiwanese perspective. Actually I don't know much about American baseball, like MLB and stuff, so I probably won't use those elements. If you guys have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know. :)

Chapter 3 & 4

3

In Chapter 3, the authors discussed about the theories of Foucault and Lacan on the gaze and spectatorship. Foucault’s notion of the panopticon and surveillance can really be applied to the modern society. Nowadays, there are surveillance cameras everywhere, especially in large cities. It is true that we’re surrounded by the inspecting gaze, but how does that impact us? Do we internalize it and self-regulate our behavior? Or do we try to hide from it? Then I think about the webcam. The webcam is different from other kinds of cameras. Usually we use cameras to see other people and things, but when we use webcams, it is for other people to see us. So even though we are under so much surveillance already, we still have the desire for other people to look at us. Or we have become so accustomed to surveillance that we enjoy exhibitionism.

I also think Lacan’s concept of the gaze and identification is interesting. Like an infant in the mirror stage, the viewer tends to identify with the image on the movie screen. When we watch movies, most people identify with the protagonist. Or usually female viewers identify with female characters, and male with male. My question is: is this identification based on similarity or difference? It seems normal that we identify with characters similar to us, not just in terms of gender, but also age, ethnicity, personality, social class, and so on. But if such identification is like the mis-recognition of the mirror stage, it seems like we would identify with something that we don’t have—an image that is better/more complete than us. If the gaze signifies one’s lack and fragmentation, then we should be gazing at the opposite? When we look in the mirror, are we gazing at ourselves, or are we gazing at the other in the mirror?

4

Chapter 4 is about visual realism and perspective. The authors talked about how different approaches to realism are developed through the history of art. And by examining the different conventions of realism, we can learn about the culture and politics of a given social context. Then the authors turned to the role of perspective in art as a signifier of realism and the different ways of seeing across different times. For me, it’s easier to understand the historical difference in perspective, but I just wonder if there are cultural differences in perspective as well, like how does the perspective of ancient Chinese paintings differ from western paintings? Also, the advancement in information technology allows people to see things from new perspectives. In Second Life we can fly and look at things from the bird’s-eye view. Through the satellite view in Google Maps, we can also see our surroundings from a new perspective.

Now Google Maps even provides Street View at popular locations. We can see the Street View and satellite view at the same time, and use arrow keys to navigate the Street View.

With the Street View, we can also look up, down, left and right, so it really allows us to explore many different perspectives.

Possible Themes.....

Well, since I’m a tourism person, the first thing that comes to my mind is to choose a destination or an event as my theme. Examples of destinations might be Taiwan, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, or some smaller destinations closer to Clemson. But the problem of choosing a destination is the making of the film. I would love to choose Taiwan or Taipei as my theme, but I cannot go back there during the semester to make the film. I don’t know if we’re allowed to take other people’s films and edit it for the assignment? If it is okay to put together a film from existing video clips, then I can choose more interesting destinations. Or I also thought about choosing an event or a festival as my theme, such as the 2012 Olympics in London, the Taste of Chicago Food Festival, the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Savannah, or some Taiwanese holidays like the Lantern Festival.

I’m not really good at thinking outside the box. If not from the tourism perspective, some other possible themes might be the things I like in everyday life, like coffee, baseball, or snow? Or I also like animals, like cats, penguins, and pandas. In Taiwan, we recently received two pandas from China, so that might be a more current theme? But do these everyday things seem kind of boring? I also thought about selecting an abstract notion as my theme, such as “serendipity”! I’ve always liked the word “serendipity,” but I have no idea how I can communicate the idea of serendipity visually.....

Chapter 1 & 2

The Myth of Photographic Truth
People often say that “to see is to believe” and use photos as visual evidence. But in this chapter, we can see that photos do not necessarily tell the “Truth.” First, photos do not show the objective Truth; rather, they show a subjective version of the multiple truths out there. The framing, angle, and composition of a photo reflect the subjectivity of the photographer. Second, photos can only show one side of the reality. Oftentimes, when tourists take pictures, they try to capture the iconic landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. But as their attention is directed to the stereotypical views in the front, they may fail to notice the interesting scenery behind them. Third, photos can be taken out of context. If we take pictures of someone while s/he is running or jumping, the expression usually looks ugly or weird. We cannot say that a photo of a person yawning is what that person usually looks like. Photos can even be used to cover up the truth. For example, an estranged family may need to get together to take a loving family portrait for holiday postcards.

Moreover, the popularity of digital cameras also makes it easy for photos to lie. Digital photos are easy to alter and manipulate. The advancement of computer technology makes it easier to photoshop and create fake images. In addition, when people use traditional cameras, they are selective and only take photos of the important and memorable moments in life. But with digital cameras, people photograph everything. From the tourism perspective, photos are an essential part of the tourist experience. Photos serve as a tool to record the journey and stimulate memory. But the problem is, when tourists are obsessively taking photos of everything, they are not really enjoying the experience. Also, when tourists use photos to remember their trip, they may forget everything else that wasn’t photographed, such as the fresh smell in the air, the delicious taste of food, and the delightful conversations they had with the local people. They forget about other senses and focus on looking.

Anyways, photos are not the scientific Truth. They are representations with multiple meanings. What we see in an image reflects the dominant ideology in our culture. Once we realize that photos are actually myth which “allows the connotative meaning of a particular thing or image to appear to be denotative, literal, or natural” (p. 20), what can we do about it? Knowing how photos are regarded as visual evidence, can we then create “fake” visual evidence? From the tourism marketing perspective, people may try to create a myth in order to promote the destination. On the other hand, as researchers or intellectuals, is it our responsibility to undermine the myth from a critical perspective? But as we attempt to undermine the myth, how is that different from creating another myth?

Viewers Make Meaning
Knowing that images are representations, how can we make sense of the meanings they signify? We can analyze images and understand their “shared” meanings in a given society or culture. The meaning of images reflects the historical, social, cultural, and political background of the producer and the viewer. As we look at a photo, what does it tell us about the broader context? Can we see its universal meaning, its social and historic context, and the dominant ideology behind its construction? In addition to shared social meanings, images can also reveal something about the individual viewers. Knowing how the viewer feels about a certain painting, we may be able to interpret the viewer’s background and characteristics, and also his or her feelings at the moment of viewing. What can images tell us about the individual viewer?

The following images are from a personality test on Facebook. The application asks people to choose among 12 photos the one that can best represent “love,” “freedom,” “success,” and so on. There are a total of 12 questions (12 images per question), and in the end they tell you your temperament, interests, amusement, and passion.

Take the “I find most beautiful...” one for example, I can see how every single photo may represent the shared meaning of “beauty.” But the photo selected by each individual reflects his or her preference, experience, and individuality. I’m not sure if this is what the authors mean in the notion of “viewer interpellation by an image.” But I can see how the meaning of images includes both shared social meanings and individual meanings and values. The interesting thing is to see how the viewer negotiate these meanings.