25th October 2022

Reading weeks coincided with half term, this is where I admit defeat a little and that I am a ludite with technology and embracing this whole blog process. I’m a mature student juggling the part time job, with a full time course and a family. I missed the memo that said read the books and write just a little about them in your blog.

I read the chapters from Practices of Looking by Sturken and Cartwright, and re-read John Berger’s Ways of Seeing. I just didn’t log my opinion or interpretation of what I’ve read.

I would like to think that some of the views in John Berger’s Ways of Seeing are outdated, especially the ones about the onlooker being male and the male perspective of the viewer for advertisers etc. However, it hasn’t. Yes we have adverts directed at women as the voyeur and basically that’s what it is. I’m wondering if people think that to market certain products they have to objectify the person in the picture be it male or female? Do they think that if they objectify men to gain more female customers, it’s ok? It balances out objectifying women over the years? I know that’s a bit of an extreme point of view, but we are bringing up the next generations in a crazy social media society that is used to instant gratification. You want a new drill? a new hoover? a new car? with online, next day delivery its there. We are very much a throw away society of almost everything, trends change so quickly what’s in one week is out the next.

The general idealogy of what is the “perfect (woman/man/car/dog/body/hairstyle etc etc)” is still being manipulated by those with power. The big corporations, the politicians, religious leaders, the media, the wealthy and unfortunately a lot of them are men or controlled by men. We don’t accept change in society very well, and some parts of the world have undone 20yrs of progress with regards to equal rights and acceptance of all areas of society. This is clear in the images they are broadcasting to the world. Even in western culture we have a fear of change, a fear of moving away from some of this false idealism.

Reading these two books, I strongly feel that until we change the way we deliver the messages, we won’t change the way we see the world.

There are a few strong, individuals who are brave enough to try