Lizzy Bee

This read was a unique one at best. It seemed to move along at a nice pace up until around the middle. In this area I kept having to reread paragraphs or having to put the work down and come back to it later. For me this area lost a little of the flow and style the first half had.

The first had vivid descriptions of things and created an atmosphere to the reading. (I honestly kept picturing a Tim Burton work with all the talk about plagues and lepers). I noticed Foucault seemed to repeat certain ideas every so often as if to remind the reader what was going on. The area discussing how to be seen, but not really be seen reminded me of Berger’s work.

The last half I’ve read twice and I’m still not really sure what was being said. 

I found this reading to be rather boring. It was just an excessive fact list to me and there weren’t really any interesting facts in there. Although, I didn’t know a web camera was that old (1991). The only really thing I really have a comment on is the whole video surveillance of places. I understand how it can make some people uncomfortable, but as a whole it’s for our best interest and safety. There is a difference between safety and spying. Surveillance of a shopping floor is fine, but taping the people in the changing room would be going to far.

The author could have added some personal stories or other people’s personal stories to break up the facts some and add a little more interest and personal connection with the readers. 

In Susan Bordo’s reading “Beauty (Re)discovers the Male Body,” she mentions in different areas throughout her work about society’s view on masculine men. How they aren’t supposed to worry over their looks or act prissy in life. She mention’s John Travolta’s role as Tony in “Saturday Night Fever” and how he is vain about his looks and takes time getting ready before going out, even protecting his shirt with a napkin while eating dinner. He was a straight characther acting feminine. This brought to mind how playing a gay role in a movie could effect how an actor is viewed in Hollywood and by society.

Heath Ledger played a famously gay role in “Brokeback Mountain” and fellow actor Will Smith played a gay character in the movie “Six Degrees of Separation”. Both men received critical acclaim for their work, but their sexual orientation wasn’t really questioned. Why is this? Is it because both men are considered masculine? Or because they both had known relationships with women? They escaped rumors of their sexuality simply because they fit society’s view on what a straight man should act like and look like.

Jonathan Taylor Thomas played a gay character in a TV movie and didn’t receive the luxury of escaping gay rumors. (Although, appearing on the cover of The Advocate, a gay magazine, because of his role probably didn’t help). Jonathon may not fit the masculine mold; he went to Harvard and to study philosophy and history and was quoted stating he wanted to return to school to study theater. He’s also a known vegetarian, which also isn’t considered to be the most masculine thing in the world. Simply because he isn’t super manly he had to deal with gay rumors. (I’ve also read some rumors where he is engaged to his girlfriend, but the gay rumor threads outnumber the engagement threads)

Sean Hayes played the gay character Jack in the TV show “Will & Grace” he is surrounded with gay rumors because of this role. He played the gay stereotype of a gay man very well, maybe to well some believe, which means he has to be gay right? That is what we are leading ourselves to believe; he plays the girly gay man just a little to well.  Sean Hayes has never officially stated he is gay; it’s what the majority of people believe.  Although, there are rumors that he is in fact married to a woman with two children. Why does he not discuss this with others? Simply because he wants to keep his private life private, but once again that is just a rumor. Why do we find it easier to believe he is a gay man playing a gay role rather than he is a straight man playing a gay role? Is it because Sean falls into gay stereotype? Would it be harder to believe he was gay if he taller and extremely built? Probably.

Just imagine if Vin Diesel came out stating he was gay, that would be a huge shocker compared to if someone like Edward Norton did.

Another role of a straight man playing a gay role worth mentioning, Tom Hanks in “Philadelphia”.

          Berger begins his essay with the observation of how we see before we can speak. He starts a ramble stating that we are affecting the way we see with things we already know and believe about the subject. He goes on with how we relate, “seeing” to ourselves, we look at more than one thing constantly moving our sight around and judging and relating the subjects around us.

            An image is a sight that has been recreated or reproduced. Images are taken by a viewer to represent something at a moment in time. Then we view the image and see what we see and proceed to figure out what the original viewer saw. So, photos are just the takers sight or perception, but we still come in with our own perceptions and views on the image.

            Berger moves into the world of painting, mainly historical paintings and how they are just records of how person X saw person A. He also states that these images can be considered more precious than literature because images can offer a direct testimony to what was happening at that time. After the importance of paintings were stated, Berger moves on into saying how paintings are not one hundred percent accurate because the sitters in the paintings would have influenced the painter. Our assumptions of the past also influence how we see paintings, we see richer upper class people portrayed in paintings and read historians versions of history and their attempts to “justify” these people’s places in upper class.

            An example of a painter who is portraying the sitter a certain way was Fans Hals. Frans Hals was a poor man who was given charity by the public and the Governors and Governesses of an Alms House who were the administrators of public charity.  Apparently Frans Hals would not have painted these two badly or inappropriately because he would have viewed them as good people who helped him. He would want them painted “nicely” and seen that way by others. He gives an example of painting who has a man with a drunken look and crooked hat, Berger gave the impression that historians defended this by saying it was fashion at the time to have a sideways hat and maybe his look was because of facial paralysis. (I don’t think he took into account that maybe the artist just wasn’t the best artist. Just like every professional out there isn’t the best. In general the richer you were the better of an artist you could afford, so I doubt those who run a charity could afford an amazing painter.)

            The invention of the camera came along and somewhat destroyed the uniqueness of paintings. Since you had to travel to a certain place to see a painting you also took in the painting’s surroundings and “saw” the life of the building it was in. The camera made it possible for the painting to be anywhere, even your own home, which took away the uniqueness and the meaning of the painting when it was created. We also “see” paintings as art because of its age and because of who painted it. Meaning we think Van Gough’s work is amazing simply because Van Gough painted it rather than it’s actual meaning or technique behind it. Berger felt paintings are slowly using value because of how fast they are being reproduced because of new technology. Another thing that art reproduction does is change the way the painting was originally done. Like making a portrait of a single girl out of an image with five people.

            In short this essay stated that we use our past knowledge and beliefs to judge the things we “see” around us and we relate them to ourselves. What we “see” may be inaccuracies because the image could have been altered by the taker to influence the viewers. Meanings of things of the past, in particular paintings, have lost some of its value because these images are being reproduced so quickly and placed anywhere. Taking it away from its original home which helped us “see” the daily life of this paintings and its relationship with it’s surroundings. 

This is the first post for our blogs for English 102.

I'm a student at the University of South Carolina (USC) and I'm a photography major. This semester I'm taking my first photography class, photography 1 Black & White.