Visual Communication Final

Neoliberalism&Surveillnace

  

In the Disney Channel movie, The Even Stevens Movie, The Stevens family win an all-expenses vacation to an island that is supposedly half way across the world. Little do they know they are actually part of the new reality hit TV show Family Fake Out, where all their family and friends are watching back at home. 

From the moment that the Stevens family steps onto the island, the older brother, Donnie, runs into a native (that are actually actors) that looks like a guy that he played football with, Patrick Green, in high school. But the “native” denies the fact that they know each other and moves along. Donnie still gets this weird feeling that he knows that particular native. “The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe.” (Berger 8). Because Donnie is so persistent that he knows that specific native from somewhere, he becomes skeptical about their whole so-called vacation. As the movie goes on, the family has been in the hot sun for days with nothing to eat or drink. In this particular scene Donnie goes on a venture to look for more wood for the fire and all of a sudden runs into Patrick Green, but this time as himself and not a native. “The term ‘neoliberalism’ needs little introduction. It identifies under one label a range of discourse, operating as a form of ‘common sense’, that absolutely legitimates the market and delegitimates the social (or any indeed institutional forces that seek to counter the market, such as the state).” (Couldry 2). Since Patrick Green was noticed when he was in disguise as an island native, the producers thought it would be comical for the viewers to bring in Patrick Green as himself to distort Donnie mentally. The Stevens family has no idea that they are part of this reality TV show and the producers of the show are controlling everything. “He called the Panopticon “an inspection house” for the reformation of morals, whether of prisoners, workers or prostitutes, by means of constant surveillance”. (Mirzoeff 96). This island the Stevens family are on is like their own Panopticon where producers of the show are the cause of the events happening which affects the Stevens family behavior and attitudes towards the situation and each other. (50:00- 53:41)

Surveillance, on the other hand is quite comparable to neoliberalism. In this movie, the island is the represented as the Panopticon figure. “The Panopticon- literally, the place where everything is seen,” (Mirzoeff 96). On this island there are camera crews everywhere and cameras hidden in the trees, plants, and rocks around the island to watch the Stevens family every move as well as making sure the natives stay in character. According to Andrejevic, “The portrayal of surveillance through ‘reality TV’ as a form of entertainment and self-expression can thus be understood as playing an important role in training viewers and consumers for their role in an ‘interactive’ economy.” (Adrejevic 251). The producers want to make sure they document everything the Stevens do and make the decision if it is worth to air in order to bring up their ratings. Ren, the middle child of the family, falls in with one of the natives, Mootai. Their chemistry is so strong that the ratings of Family Fake Out, beat their competitor show Gotcha by one point. To really bring up the ratings the host of the show, Miles McDermott, decides that Mootai has to kiss Ren and then breaks up with her because he thinks this will definitely beat his competitor’s ratings and get that show canceled. “He describes a scenario in which the stability of rigid forms of production and the predictable patterns of demand that they relied upon are disrupted by changing economic conditions,” (Adrejevic 255). The next day Mootai meets up with Ren and they end up kissing but Mootai pulled away. He tries to confess to Ren that her and her family are part of a reality TV show and that they have cameras watching them. But due to the surveillance cameras being posted everywhere, the producers saw that Mootai was trying to tell Ren the truth, the producers quickly change the scenario.

(1:02:42-1:03:11) (1:08:40- 1:10:50)

The Gaze

Katy Perry, a famous pop singer sensation also known for always having inanimate objects covering her abnormal size chest in her performances. In this photograph of her, she advertises and promotes the item “Pop Chips” by placing them in front of her chest while looking at the text above her that reads, “nothing fake about ‘em”. In Ways of Seeing, Berger’s opening line states, “Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak.” (Berger 7). By just looking at the ad itself, one can take the assumption that the photograph is trying compare the chips to her chest. Then reading the text above her is almost as if she is also promoting herself by saying that her chest is as real and natural as the Pop Chips. “The gaze is not just a look or a glance. It is a means of constituting the identity of the gazer by distinguishing her or him from that which is gazed at.” (Mirzoeff 171). In the photograph the gazer’s focus is intended to be on the chips but can also be argued that the focus is basically on how naturally big Katy Perry’s chest is. This would be the use of male gaze by using her body in a sexual way in order to promote the product. “women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness.” (Mirzoeff 172). It is interesting to see how compared to other male gaze advertisements, Katy Perry uses more of a body language route towards as a more scandalous nudity photograph.

Perspective

Looking at yourself in the mirror and seeing a body image reflecting back that is not your true body image is an everyday occurrence for someone who is struggling with their body image. Body image in today’s society has taken a large toll especially on woman and young girls. The models represented in the media are being seen by society that gives the viewers a perspective of an ideal look that a girl or boy needs to portray in order to look “beautiful”. The idea being portrayed in this image is a bone skinny girl looking at herself in the mirror and seeing a totally different and bigger body than what she really is. “Gradually it became evident that an image could outlast what it represented; it then showed how something or somebody had once looked- and thus by implication how the subject had once been seen by other people.” (Berger 10). It is interesting to see the perspective of what the girl sees when she looks at herself in the mirror because it is a whole different perspective of what people see of her. “What you depended upon where you were and when. What you saw was relative to your position in time and space.” (Berger 18). The things people see in the media, puts an influence on their perspective- in this case their body. The reflection in the mirror is the girl’s perspective of her body even though when someone else is looking at her body, their perspective is completely different. Everyone’s perspective is different and can range all around so there is never a yes or no, or a right or wrong.

Remember the Titans

Culture formulates a lot of conclusions and assumptions in our society especially in sports. The culture that one belongs to, gives a brief description of who one is in a sense of way. Ideology plays a huge importance in culture as well. American football. A sport invented in 1869 by Americans and played by Americans who were predominantly white. In the Walt Disney film, “Remember the Titans”, it portrays several themes centered around race. This film takes place in Alexandria, Virginia during the 1970s when the United States was slowly trying to get rid of segregation by joining whites and blacks as one.

Like most Disney films there is always a happy ending to look forward to. But throughout the film, it portrays the struggle and hardship of segregation between the whites and the blacks during 1970s. In the article “Tiger Woods at the Center of History”, Yu writes, “Race was metaphorically a way of branding the human body, so that some bodies had more value than others- blackness became equated to being legal property owned by others and whiteness, on the whole to the power to treat others as property or potential property and the right to a number of others as property or potential property and the right to a number of other legal protections denied those branded as black.” (345). During the segregation period, a black person was known as the lower class, uneducated, and slaves to the white people. White people had all control over the blacks until society started to change and slowly got rid of the separation between the two.

In this clip, the Titans are on their way to a football camp for two weeks. As they board the buses, Coach Boone played by Denzel Washington, realizes the separation and decides to mix it up by making the team sit with the person that plays the same position as them. The person who they sat on the bus with is also the person they would be sharing a room with for two weeks at the camp. Towards the end of the scene when they get to the camp and move into their dorms, it shows the confliction between the two races. For example, the part where the black player wanted sleep on the lower bunk but the white player insisted that it was his bed. Showing that as a white player on the team  has dominance over the black player on the team.

Since this was the beginning of integration the fans and the student body of the school were not okay with mixing the races. In Michiko Has’s article, “Race in Soccer as a Global Sport”, he writes, “On the one hand, according to Garland and Rowe, a common puzzle to many in debates about racism in contemporary football is the tendency for spectators to racially abuse black players on opposing teams while remaining loyal and supportive towards black members of their own side.” (306). Even though there is a colored person on the fan’s favorite team, he or she will still support him or her. Meanwhile, the opponent team playing against their team also has colored players- it is as if the rules change because the colored person is not on his or her team so he or she does not deserve the respect from them.

The following scene starts off with an interview with the coach from the other team. The coach uses the term “chocolate” to describe the interracial Titans team. This portrays the idea of how the blacks are so dark colored that they are the same color as a chocolate bar.

As the scene goes on to showing the game, it is known that the referees were just calling random violations on the black players on the Titans team because they did not want the Titans to win due to having black players on the team. Another example of this prejudice idea being portrayed is the next clip. Here is a scene of protesters that do want interracial schools but the Titans football players are fine playing with a mixed team. When one of white players introduced his girlfriend to another player on the team that was black, she refused to shake his hand.

This film in general incorporates a lot culture in way that focuses on the ideology of race back in the 1970s. Since this movie was based on a true story, it is interesting to see how the sport of football has changed over the years. Back then it was a predominately white man’s sport. Now comparing it today, the NFL has a huge up percentage difference of African American players than it did when the sport was first played.

Brian Inch

Zoo Visit

            I went to the Oakland Zoo today. I walked through all of the exhibits, and I observed the displays and people’s reactions to the animals in front of them. The Oakland Zoo is like many other Zoos. With each exhibit they are trying to display to you a different part of the world. I will take you through various exhibits that I saw, and I will try and explain to you the intentions behind each one of their exhibits, and the emotions that they want to evoke.

            Like “Touch the Magic” the Oakland Zoo can “take viewers to spectacularly inaccessible, invisible, or little-known places (Susan G. Davis). For example I was at a display for an animal called a Siamang, which is an ape. This example is a perfect example for this quote in the fact that it is really trying to make the viewer feel like they are in this animal’s habitat. The Siamang exhibit had little concealment, except for a mote, and a 3-foot high fence with bushes on the exhibit side. This little fence was just high enough for small children to peer over, with their perspective of the exhibit it seemed like they were actually in the jungle. With such a minimal barrier, it makes the viewer really feel like they are on the border of a different reality that this animal belongs to. The zoo wishes to create a world that “humans should wish to approach more closely. The notion of far-away worlds trying to contact us…(Davis). The zoo wants to create welcoming settings, with animals that are peaceful, and friendly looking.  An exhibit that I thought felt rather welcoming was the Camel exhibit. The viewer was level with the Camels, and there was nothing in between the fence and Camel. The Camel had the ability to walk within feet of the viewer. While I was walking up to the display, the camels trotted down, in a manner that appeared to quite playful. The zoo wants to make the viewer feel like the camels want to come and play with viewer. But in actuality they are coming to receive food. It says on the fence “don’t feed the animals”. This sign hinted me that the camels come to the viewer often in search of food. But the display isn’t focusing on that, it is the idea that the viewer is to be welcomed into this new reality by a playful camel.

            Another idea that the Zoo wants the viewer to realize is that the animals appear to share similarities to them. “…it is about relationships, feelings, and families”(Davis). An exhibit that I found it blatant was in this tiny exhibit for these tiny turtles. They were in a small tropic rainforest display, which was like mini paradise.  All the turtles in the display were paired up. They want the viewer to see how things should be, in the sense of having your mate. The turtles are only seen in pairs, and it is basically telling the viewer what is natural, and that relationships are important to these turtles like they are to us. The frogs in the display next to them were in basically the same habitat, paired in couples as well.  To me it was clear about how these exhibits wanted to portray how common relationships are in the animal kingdom in parallel with our own. The actions that these critters do really makes the viewer or viewers connect with these animals, and make them believe they have an understanding of their world.

One of the displays that I found particularly interesting was the monkey display. It was pretty simple; it was a little island in the middle of a small mote. It appears that the viewer is wondering through their habitat.  A monkey was swinging non-stop is the tree that had its branches all shifted in the view of the people. This was well placed so that the monkey could appear to be putting on a show for its viewers. But in actuality the monkey probably has no such intentions, it is just within their nature to swing. But with how the tree is situated it created close and sometimes eye-to-eye contact with this swinging monkey. “…lack of a common language, its silence, guarantees it’s distance, it’s exclusion from and of man”(Berger). We look at these swinging animals and try and interpret that they are trying to play with us, or show off, and act human. But in actuality these animals as Berger says don’t confirm anything with men. So we have no idea the reason of his swinging nature. This barrier of silence leads its actions up for interpretation by the viewer, which turns the monkey’s behavior into a performance, rather than it’s natural behavior.  The last exhibit that I visited that really made me think that the zoo was trying to establish a connection between humans and animals is the petting zoo. “...animals offer man companionship which is different from any offered from human exchange”(Berger). At the petting zoo this exhibit creates a bond between small children and animals. From an early age this exhibit creates companionship, and a different type of love for animals. This is the display that fixes in the viewers disappointment in not getting to fully engage with the rest of the animals. They want to make the animals friends of the viewers. The tigers at their display are all given friendly names like Grace, Molly, Ginger. This creates a further connection with these beasts, and makes them more human because they share names with a percentage of the viewers.

I found my visit to the zoo interesting. Each display had a message or a desired idea that they wanted the animal to display. I never really looked at it this way, but the Zoo now appears to me to be a way for the Oakland Zoo to show people the unseen of their daily lives. Now that nature is so separate from our society it is their responsibility to portray it in whatever way they want.