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.