Nikky’s ramblings

1. I want to make my final piece photography as opposed to moving image. Photography seems more apt for ‘spectacle‘ in terms of forms of media. I will investigate and research this later.
2. I want my photo to be obviously staged; reminding the audience they are viewing a purposely constructed piece, will hopefully make them question what they see, forcing them to evaluate/analyse my message.
3. I want to use women as a spectacle here, I will be conforming to Laura Mulvey’s theory of the ‘Male Gaze’ to make the woman/women appear fetishistic or voyeuristic from the male perspective.
4. I want my piece to have a sense of privacy to have a sense of privacy about it, like the audience is witnessing something secret. This could evoke feelings of curiosity or mischief. I like the idea of staging the camera through a crack in the doorway.
5. I want to use media inside my photograph somehow but not to be the focus. The audience will be forced to think about media control. The spectacle could be the audience.

The Original Propaganda

This World War II recruitment poster is an excellent example of propaganda and advertising as a spectacle. The power this advert holds is legendary. Lord Kitchener’s finger points directly at the viewer (almost like an optical illusion) forcing them to communicate with it. In this instance power is the spectacle, the blatant propaganda used here dominates over the image.

This NHS infomercial uses the power of spectacle to shock the audience into drinking responsibly. The almost disturbing image of a young woman soberly being drunk

The following is cited from the 4th edition of Gill Branston and Roy Stafford’s ‘The Medis Student’s Book’ 9: Advertising and Branding. Advertising: Debates and Histories:

• Advertising is arguably the most powerful and pervasive form of propaganda in the history of the planet
• The media’s use of glamorous body images, leads to huge degrees of conformity, especially around already powerful identities involving the ‘approved versions‘ of appearance, gendered behaviour and how differences in class, ethinicity, disability and age are imagined.
• It brain washes its audience, not with subliminal messages, but with deceptive promises and appeals designed to promote consumerism, materialism, waste, hedonism (pleasure seeking) and envy.
• To advertise originally meant ‘to draw attention to something’. *SPECTACLE*

Like an idiot, I began this assignment in a workbook hence the delayed start on this blogging lark, but some-one once told me half the battle is starting, so apparently it’s nearly over already. I am a member of the spectacular group 2, currently studying ‘Spectacle‘ coincidentally.

I want to explore ’spectacle’ in as many ways as possible; I am going to research gender and forms of media as a spectacle primarily. By creating a piece crowded with hidden meanings, I can encourage my audience to annotate it to see my intended message, it will communicate with them both consciously and unconsciously and force them to register the media as an intended spectacle.