Consumerism

11th January Wednesday 2017

Consumerism: persuasion, society, brand, culture

-Adam Curtis- filmaker- the century of the self

• No logo- Naomi Klein

• Sigmund Freud 1856-1939:
• new theory of human nature
• physcoanalysis 
• hidden primitive sexual forces and animal instincts which need controlling
• The interpretation of dreams (1899)
• The unconscious (1915)
• The ego and the id (1923)
• Beyond the pleasure principle (1920)
• Civilisation and its discontents (1930)
• desire for sexual gratification, instant gratification, doesn't gel well with civil society
• Frued argued that we are constantly pressed by society as its incompatible with human instinct
• pleasure principle- if we believe were doing  stuff we enjoy, were pacified
• TIP OF THE ICEBERG DIAGRAM 
• ego- conscience sense of self
• id- primal, childlike, driving force

Edward Bernays 1891-1995:

• press agent
• employed by public information during WW1
• Propaganda
• Post war- set up ‘the council on public relations’
• birth of PR
• based on the ideas of Freud, his uncle
• Crystallising public opinion (1923)
• Propaganda (1923)
• PR- organised public opinion/ advertising fused
• persuades people to believe a certain thing
• ‘Torches of Freedom’ cigarette companies: women seen as unladylike to smoke, so women weren't buying cigarettes. he was employed by cigarette companies to break the taboo.
• Easter day parade 1929- hired glamorous actresses to dress up like high class debutantes in the parade, then in full view of everyone they would all light up a cigarette and start smoking it. He tipped of newspapers so it got  a lot of press, he told the news it was a political protest from suffragettes 
• “They’re not smoking, they're lighting torches of freedom” symbolic act of feminism
• product placement
• celebrity endorsements 
• the use of pseudo- scientific reports
• 1924- worked for Coolidge to release a jazz track by a famous musician to make Coolidge seem cool
• all of theses tactics are attempts to attach desirable qualities to things that weren't desirable before
• all of the desires that society doesn't allow us to realise, can be realised through buying into a product or acting a certain way

Fordism:

• Henry Ford (1863-1947)
• transpose taylorism to car factories of Detroit
• the production line
• moving assembly line
• in 17 years society becomes saturated with too many things being produced and people think they have enough stuff, they don't want to buy things anymore
• BRANDING now becomes really important
• Companies need to distinguish their products from others on the market, they need to stand out
• gave their products peoples names to make them seem more handmade and authentic e.g. Aunt Jemimas, or Hartleys jam
• Bernays sold cars under the guise of improving male virility- a man in charge
• sometimes works on the idea of envy, think of the lifestyle you could have with this certain product
• the desire to be loved, be successful, be popular
• if you can attach an idea of creativity to something, you can make it more popular, the desire to be more creative and authentic than others

Shift from a need culture to a desire culture:

• We don't need these new clothes or perfumes, we just desire them
• we start to see ourselves and our identities made up by our possessions 
• THE HIDDEN PERSUADERS- VANCE PACKARD- 1957
• Marketing hidden needs: selling emotional security, reassurance of worth, ego-gratification, creative outlets, love objects, sense of power, sense of roots, immortality
• e.g. fridge freezers= not just keeping food cold, also providing for your family, never going hungry
• ego- the person you think you are or want to be, ‘buy this and you can really be this person’

1920- The new elite is needed to manage the bewildered herd- Walter Lippmann

• You can create a social system out of this which will be harmonious, a group of people working beyond government to keep people working together
• in promising to meet our desires through products, we are plicated to feel like were happy, we believe that were free and happy where in reality this is questionable
• in the West, we haven't all mounted together and started a revolution, or gone against any regimes, were just passive and ‘happy’
• maybe this is a social system that has been implemented to keep us from thinking about social change and other valuable things and keep our minds on short term gratification through products

October 24, 1929, Black Tuesday, The Great Depression

• Roosevelt came into power
• New Deal 1933-36
• instead of backing big business, taxed people more, put restraints on the market
• reinvest money on infrastructure, housing projects
• markets didn't like the idea of being restrained, so they clubbed together, and tried to get Roosevelt out of power
• New Yorks World Fair, an advert for consumerism as the best way of life, businesses providing you with the answers to life and happiness
• all new gadgets at world fair
• organised by Bernays
• DEMOCRACITY
• proposes that you give people the belief that they're free, but really they're not

Conclusion:

• consumerism is an ideological project
• we believe that through consumption our desires can be met
• it can be a way of organising society 
• The Consumer SelF
• YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU OWN
• the legacy of Bernays and PR can be felt in all aspects of our society today 
• the conflicts between alternative models of social organisation continues to this day
• to what extent are our lives ‘free’ under the western consumerism society? 
• conforming to whats in the shops: trends, advertising, new gadgets 

Post-Christmas Feedback

Yesterday we had a really productive COP session which has definitely made me feel happier with the things I've been doing in my visual journal. 

To sum up my feedback:
- I need to use a bit more direction while sketching in terms of talking about offence and context
- this will help me to more effectively link my essays and the visual journal without me having to sit and explain the meanings behind the sketches (they should speak for themselves)
- I could mind-map each image used for my essay individually and use that to strengthen the images I'm making in the journal

Starting My Visual Journal

Hallelujah god be praised today I finally started my COP journal! 

Better late than never eh?

I started by brainstorming the subject of society and its relationships with line, colour, texture, shape and collage and was pleasantly surprised with the amount of links that I found between them. I was particularly taken with the ideas I was coming up with for line and shape so I started working on these in the actual concertina journal. 

These are what I think are my most successful attempts:

• For the first one I was thinking about intersecting lines and how we, as members of society have to intersect and co-exists with each other (or try to) to get along in life.
• The second one was brought about by thinking about diversity, in particular, my Mum when she uses one of her most-used sayings "It takes all sorts to make a world". Which admittedly she mostly uses when she's trying to get her head round someone doing something that she personally wouldn't do, but I guess it is quite true. Our societies are made up of all sorts of people of various sizes, shapes, colours and cultures and that's what makes them so unique.

• This first one now that I'm looking at it looks a bit like a chocolate chip cookie, but again I was trying to get across the diversity of the people in our societies using mark making. I just sat down with my brush, drew the circle and them filled it with marks using brushes, nibs and inks until my hand hurt. 
• The second one is the same principle but executed better. 

Going forward:

• I'm excited to get on with this project because I've actually really enjoyed sitting down and just mark making without having to really think too much about a final outcome or having to make anything resembling a functioning image. I've also been pleased with how much of what we've learnt in our visual language classes has been making its way into my work, I've been trying to use different line qualities that I'd never have thought to use before and pushing myself to experiment more with more diverse techniques.
• I'm also excited to have my COP tutorial/ presentation thing today to see what everyone else is doing and hopefully get some feedback on whether what I've been doing is in-fact total cack.

Presentation

Donald Trump 'Nope'

Donald Trump Nope meme, 2016

• Meme created by unknown person 
• uses the iconic colours and style of Shephard Faireys 'Hope' poster
• patriotic red white and blue colour scheme
• nope in big capital letters 
• uses very unflattering picture of Trump with his hair really out of place and a dumb look on his face 
• juxtaposed with the powerful pose Obama donned for his poster
• computer generated 

• Made during the run up to the 2016 presidential election 
• America
• presumably made to try and ridicule Trump
• most likely made by a non-supporter of Trump is the picture doesn't paint him in the best light
• I would guess its been made by some one of the younger generation as it was originally only posted online
• also is a parody of the Obama poster and satirises Trump and his policies, has a lot of humour so was likely again made by someone younger who finds the situation laughable
• Trumps main demographic were white voters, and a large amount were male
• He also has a large amount of black and Hispanic voters working against him as well as a large base of women who dislike him (these could all enjoy and consume the image satirising him
• HOWEVER it could be argued that this meme has had no negative impact on his campaign at all, possibly even giving him more exposure for free
• He won the election in the end so its obviously not dented his chances too badly
• Many people state his upfront manner as the reason they voted for him, so maybe they don't mind him being made fun of? Is that part of his 'charm'?

• This relates to Politics as it directly involves one of the presidential candidates
• Republican party
• It could also relate to class and cultural studies as that is what divided so many of his supporters and opponents, the controversial things he said about people of colour, women, and many more
• relates to my text about satire and maybe 
• supporters of Trump might find this image offencive and unfair, whereas for his opponents it seems completely just as it portrays him int he way that they see him too

Quotes is could relate to:

"Power breeds corruption. It also invites ridicule. The ridicule often provokes retaliation from the powerful."

"The satirist, according to the late Victorian caricaturist and essayist Max Beerbohm, is "a fellow laying about him lustily, for the purpose of hurting, of injuring people who, in his opinion, ought to be hurt and injured"

"The weapon of choice for satirists is wit, a cerebral and cutting form of humour. Wit according to Freud, is one of the means by which we release our repressed hostilities; "By belittling and humbling our enemy, by scorning and ridiculing him, we indirectly obtain the pleasure of his defeat by the laughter of the third person, the inactive spectator"

Most likely I'll go with the third quote as I feel it most directly links to what I'm trying to say, I could turn it into a conversation about what deems satire to be acceptable and justified? Who decides whether a person is deserving of being mocked or not? And can we justify satire by telling ourselves its ok because of this laughing, unseen third party?

The Holy Virgin Mary

The Holy Virgin Mary- Chris Ofili- 1996

• The colour in the background is very rich golds
• blue robes- traditional in depictions of the virgin Mary
• virgin Mary at centre of image with female genitalia collaged around her
• black Madonna
• incorporates elephant dung on one breast- inspired by a period of time spent in Zimbabwe
• classic christian iconography given a modern and multicultural perspective
• "hip-hop version of an old master painting"

• made in around the same time scale as Myra and exhibited in the same controversial exhibition
• CONTEXT: THIS EXHIBITION WAS CRITICISED BY MANY AND THOUGHT TO BE TRYING TO BOOST THE VALUE OF CERTAIN WORKS BY SHOWING THEM IN INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC MUSEUMS
• INCLUDED OTHER 'OFFENSIVE' WORKS BY TRACEY EMIN AND SARAH LUCAS
• UPON ENTRY TO THE EXHIBITION VIEWERS WERE WARNED "There will be works of art on display in the Sensation exhibition which some people may find distasteful. Parents should exercise their judgment in bringing their children to the exhibition. One gallery will not be open to those under the age of 18"
• obviously depicts religious iconography so is religious but also has a self proclaimed hip-hop element, as well as depicting a black Madonna so might appeal to people of colour
• Quote from Chris Ofili- I don’t feel as though I have to defend it. The people who are attacking this painting are attacking their own interpretation, not mine. You never know what’s going to offend people, and I don’t feel it’s my place to say any more.

• This relates to religion, as it depicts as holy figure and the ways that various people reacted to this- e.g. devout christians being offended by the juxtapose of 'pornographic' images being placed next to the virgin Mary, seen as anti-religion and anti-catholic
• For some context Chris Ofili was an altar boy in his youth and also didn't understand why people were offended as he said "it's only a picture of The Virgin Mary, not the actual thing"
• Could also relate to cultural issues as it was the elephant dung that offended many, but this was used to africanise the virgin Mary, and as a response to the artists time in Zimbabwe where he felt particularly connected to nature, animals and the earth
• Quotes that could relate are:

"Offence is clearly personal and idiosyncratic; but offence can also be the shared property of a community"

"I argue that cultural conflict has a distinctive local profile. Cities exhibit different profiles of contention contention, based in part on the demographic, institutional and political makeup of the city. Fights over art and culture are not just the result of clashing personalities or contending value; they also represent the democratic outcome of citizens negotiating the consequences of social change within their communities."

"My premise is straightforward, I believe controversies over art and expression are symptomatic of deeper community struggles. Artworks often serve as lightning rods, bringing forward and giving voice to underlying tension caused by social change. When communities experience a new influx of new populations, new institutions, new types of families, new patterns of leisure, and new technologies, community members fight over symbols such as art and culture as a way to assert themselves."

I think that I'll either end up using the second or third quote in my essay as I think they say the most, in the most concise way. They both really get across the tone of the rest of the extract and the way the author himself feels about the subject in a very non-biased way.

Myra

Myra- Marcus Harvey-1995:

• Black, white and grey
• mugshot style image with very intense gaze (puts you in position of those killed?)
• taken after her arrest
• iconic
• made using casts of children's hands (juxtaposing the "innocent child with the depraved world of adults"

• was made in 1995, Myra was on trial in 1966 so was made after the fact
• was part of the controversial exhibition 'sensation' exhibiting young British artists at the Royal Academy of Art in London 1997
• bought by Charles Saatchi
• very 'high brow' (maybe couldn't be understood? out of context art?
• would be seen by many as was in big exhibit, so would have possibly shocked and offended not only those that came to view the other works in the gallery but parent of murdered children specific to this case and to others
• seen by many as an important work that needed to be seen, but by others as vulgar and in poor taste

• this image relates directly to the idea of the relevancy of context in art as brought up by Erin Tapely in Scrutinized Art 
• says that from her position she can take into account a persons possible inspirations and look past that to see valuable art but that she realises that others could interpret differently
• just as the images discussed in Erin Tapelys article could offend people on the basis of religious, political, and pornographic offence, Myra could offend members of society. 
• this offence could be seen as societal, cultural or just pure tastelessness offence. Some could find just the image of this woman's face so distasteful that they cant see any reason for it
• Myra herself (the lady, not the painting) said that she would like for it to be taken down as the work was "a sole disregard not only for the emotional pain and trauma that would inevitably be experienced by the families of the Moors victims but also the families of any child victim."
• Quotes that could relate:

"He also added that those who viewed the poster regarded the woman as 'nude', which became the most objectionable part of the image. Having been conditioned perhaps by art history, I mentioned that I hardly saw the nudity factor of this poster, but of course I would respond as he had asked."

"The connection to Serranos work- allegedly about the numbing effects of "spirituality" in the United States- was uncanny. But I knew that anyone could interpret it differently."

"While people often maintain that nudity or violence in art should be allowed, they draw the line when such themes construed as pornographic, tasteless, or blasphemous. The real question is, what definition or parameters will ever satisfy everyone?"

I think the final quote is going to be the one I pick as it raises the question of where we should all draw the line with offence and what constitutes as tasteless in our society. Does the art need to be important of relevant in order to warrant its offensive nature?