Spectacles and illusions:photography and commodity culture by Anandi Ramamurthy

The third aim of studying UVC as set out in my introductory post has been to relate ideas to photography, the degree for which I am signed up.

There are three unread chapters in the section of the Reader entitled Theorizing photography (Bourdieu's article was contained therein) and four more in a section entitled Institutions and practices in photography.  I will get round to these in due course but in this post, write about a chapter from Photography: a critical introduction edited by Liz Wells. 

THE SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE

From the title, one can elicit that Ramamurthy alludes to Debord:

"In societies dominated by modern conditions of production, life is presented as an immense accumulation of spectacles." (Debord, 1967)

Good quote from Ramamurthy:

"The photograph is both a cultural tool that has been commodified (think Bourdieu and his Middlebrow Art)  as well as a tool that has been used to express commodity culture through advertisements and other marketing material."

In Debord's world, people are passive an depoliticised as a society of spectacles (media) absorbs us into a world of false allusion. The spectacles are 'a permanent opium war'. People are powerless as they are overwhelmed by the saturation of media messages extolling glamour and entertainment. Debord views this as exploitative, Brouillard as 'hyperreality'. 

Photographic portraiture and commodity culture

Tagg (1988) points out that photography was integral to commodity culture in late nineteenth century - evidenced by demand for photographic portraits.  Commodification dulled the creativity side of the new medium initially.

Photojournalism, glamour and the paparazzi

Photojournalists are well aware of the need for spectacular images that will command editors' attention (e.g. the Vietnam child picture below):

 

(See http://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jun/02/girl-vietnam-napalm-photo-peace for how this photo changed the life of the girl. Kim Phuc)

Kuwait was an example of war being a spectacle more than a conflict.

The spectacle can be seen also in the journalism of the sensational. On the one hand, stars control the official images, on the other are paparazzi trying to take 'natural' images of the stars caught unawares (e.g. topless Kate).

Commercial photography, image banks and corporate media

Stock photography  - 'less than realistic' (Machin, 2004) images with blank background so that image is de contextualised and can therefore act as generic. Objects are symbolic - computer for office, had hat for construction. The photograph is now a symbol, not a witness. (of course post processing and creation of composites has exacerbated this trend). The context provides meaning so there is no balance between connotation and denotation, there is only connotation.

Getty images has transformed the world of photography, telling photographers what to take such that we end with 'striking, technically superb yet meaningless' so as not to conflict with clients' message (Morrish, 2001) (does this not conflict with idea that there is only connotation?).

Ramamurthy points out that searching for 'class conflict' in Getty images produces only fights in classrooms, 'labour conflict' results in three pages of images of difficulty juggling home and work.

Commodity spectacles in advertising photography

Ramamurthy says advertising photography has largely been ignored in history of the subject because it lacks genre, rather it borrows from all genres to enhance the meaning of commodities.

Was 1930s before the power of visualisng in adverts was recognised to any significant degree. 

Good quote from Ward (1990):

"The essence of advertising generally and advertising photography in particular is to turn something which is ostensibly mundane into an exciting and arresting image. The advertising photographer is selling dreams and aspirations - sometimes his own. Commercial photography of this nature means painstakingly creating an elaborate yet intimate image that invites the viewer to almost imagine a story rather than just see the objects in the shot."

 THE GRAMMAR OF THE AD

 Ramamurthy then does a case Study of Cindy Crawford wearing an Omega watch:

 

 (There were many adverts in this series but all had Crawford wearing Omega watch with arm against the face - this is image in chapter).

Key points:

• more liberated femininity;
• sensual desire exudes from Crawford and transferred to desire for watch;
• watch has human characteristics, as evidenced by the text;
• the construction of the photograph, the text anthropomorphoses the watch. We want the relationship with the watch as a surrogate (alibi) for our desire for human relations. The commodification of human emotions and relations is one of the most pervasive influences of modern advertising.
• Our association with CC as enduring supermodel is transferred to the watch;
• Says nothing about the production of the watch - appears natural not to even want to know the context of the production

The photographic message

 Ramamurthy discusses Barthesian analysis of above photograph. At the first level, Crawford is  sign of beauty and glamour, and acts as a signifier of Omega. At a second level, the signifier of Cindy wearing a watch with the words "Omega and Cindy together" creates a signification, a form of myth.

Hall (1993) suggests three possible readings of an image:

• dominant, or preferred - advertisers will use combination text and image to restrict our interpretation;
• negotiated reading partly conforms to intended; 
• oppositional - total conflict with meaning intended - example is Tiger Woods advertising Nike with slogan "Winning takes care of Everything". see http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/03/26/is-nike-sending-the-wrong-message-with-this-tiger-woods-ad/.

HEGEMONY IN PHOTOGRAPHIC REPRESENTATION

Commercial photography are designed to promote commodities or services are implicitly designed not to challenge societal norms and thus have "aided in the construction and perpetuation of stereotypes to the point where they have appeared natural and eternal".

Photomantage:concealing social relations
 

Advertisements are effectively only simple photomontages produced for commercial purposes.

Berger (1972) points out that one advantage of photomantage is that everything that is cut out keeps its familiar photographic appearance: We are still looking first at things and only afterwards at symbols." The result is a feeling of naturalness around a constructed image.

Three key issues are:

• the power of photographic images to foster desire, e.g. food adverts that suggest the naturalness of processed food by juxtaposition with uncooked items;

• concealing labour relations: Williamson discusses in context of Lancia car advertisment where car owner stands by car gazing at peasants working in the fields. Hard-working artisan is often used (e.g. in whiskey adverts).

• Genderisations - Berger (1972a) has highlighted this. Women often as objects to be surveyed - passive objects of sexual desire. (scoptophilic gaze?). The Sophie Dahl advert of Yves Saint Laurent Opium is the classic but more recently the mobile app 3D nude scanner . Winship (1987) note that while male hands are usually photographed as active and controlling, female hands are represented as decorative and caressing. Digital photography has exacerbated this by airbrushing deformities and make models thinner.

Use the phrase 'natural and eternal' in respect of this tacit exploitative nature of advertisments.

THE CONTEXT OF THE IMAGE

 
Slater (1983) criticises Barthes' analysis as lacking social and historical context - even omitting the date and magazine. 

Then discusses at length the Benetron advertising campaign and the use of of images of Toscani. United Colors theme dated from 1984. Aided the idea of young people around the world wearing Benetton clothing - exports grew from 26% of sales in 1978 to >50% by 1983. The contradiction of global harmony in consumption with the Third World production process. Crude metaphors such as depiction of USSR and USA (see p241).

Toscani realised the ambiguity of his images so next step was to cease representing clothes at all - period of shocking adverts - e.g. black woman nurses white child, echoing slave relations, even cropping the head of the woman.  

Last phase was 'trendy ambiguity' of pseudo documentary photographs, e.g. man dying from AIDS, fir bombed car. But always in fantastic colours. 

All ended when Toscani could not apply the trendy photography to men on death row in US. He wished to highlight the plight of possible miscarriages of justice, and abhorrence of death penalty, but had adverse reaction (including loss of contract for 100 stores in Sears) and he relationship ceased. 

"Campaigning is not my subject, I am an entrepreneur" Luciano Benneton (2001)

 Conclusion

This is a very useful article demonstrating the messages and symbolism in a range of photograpphy: photojournalism, stock photography, commercial advertising, fashion. many useful references for Assignment 3.

References:

Berger (1972a) Ways of Seeing Harmondsworth, Penguin

Berger (1972b) The Political Uses of Photomontage in Selected Essays and Articles:The Look of Things, Harmondsworth, Penguiin

Debord (1967) The Society of the Spectacle, Detroit, Black and Red

Hall (1993) Encoding/Decoding in During (ed.) The Cultural Studies Reader, London, Routledge 

Machin (2004) Building the world's visual language: The increasing global importance of image banks in corporate media' Journal of Visual Communication 3(3)

Morrish (2001) Business 2.0. April edition, Bizjournals, Seattle

Slater (1983) Marketing and Mass Photography in Davis and Walton (eds.) Language, Image and Media

Ward (1990) Photography for Advertising London, MacDonald

Winship (1987) Handling Sex in Benetton (ed.) Looking On: Images of Femininity in the Visual Arts and Media