The Global Flow of Visual Culture

1.Cultural Imperialism:

Example: American Series

Take the American Series as an example, the media products of the America that represent some parts of America culture. It has been influencing lots of young people who have different culture background around the world. For most America series, when we are watching, we not only get entertainment, but also absorb the concept unconsciously of two sides of gender in current America culture. At the same time, most of us probably have already forgotten to concern the concept of our original culture background. This is a cultural Imperialism in our generation.

Not only the entertainments such as movies and cartoon influence other cultures but also language is the most important element. We may say it is a powerful imperialism; McDonald’s would be a good example.

Moreover, American popular culture is not also effect teenager, but also effect adult. More and more women agree with the sex concepts of the American Series “Sex and the City”. Therefore, to sum up, it’s important that American is a capitalism society and contains lots of media information.

2. Global Niche Markets

Example: eReader

Niche marketing is a process of finding small but potential profitable market segments and designing custom-made products for them. A niche market is a focused, targetable portion of a market. Any company wants to be a member in Niche market, need to face on worldwide for developing his business.

eReader is one of a niche market products; it likes Barnes & Noble Nook . If it compares with ipad or other tablets, it is easy to discover that its only has reading and browsing function. The main advantage is that it is easy to carry on. Even if the price is superiorities than tablets, how marketing this nonfunctional item and attracting customers’ sight, it would be a big issue for sellers. Definitely there are many people love it as a useful tool for reading, so that it has its own market shares in desktops.

3.Global Brands

Example: Apple computer Inc.

Recently “Apple” is famous because “Apple” has good reputation of their brand image. They design a clean and simple user interface for the appearance of the computer. It also has its own operating system, which is more stable comparing with other software cooperation. You can set more than twenty different languages on the apple products. For desktop, when you buy it from different countries, you can get different kinds of languages system where you are. That make the brand becomes globalization and leads to “Apple” become one of the global brands in the world.

Scientific Looking in Cultural Contexts

Topic 1: The Digital Body

http://www.hemmy.net/2007/09/09/amusing-natan-jewelry-advertisement/

These two Ads are from famous jewelry company Natan. They put a quirk on the before and after handing someone a piece of jewelry. The photos show that even ugly men can become good looking when women accept their rings.

This Ad uses same people’s face and changes their features for main idea indication. It shows the jewelry too important to effects woman’s imagination for a man. Some digital photo edit soft wares can help to complete this purpose as we saw.

This Ad exhibiting objective phenomenon focuses on a society fact between man and woman. It is a good issue to discuss the value of looking, especially in sexual relationship. Meanwhile it discovers the role of jewelry in women’s life, stresses the main point.

Topic 2: Visualizing Pharmaceuticals

Example: Relacore

Relacore is a weight loss aid that has been engineered around the theory that increased stress equals the increased storage of fat, specifically the harmful fat around your midsection. A pharmaceutical company creates this product and claims that the Relacore with cortisol fights and shrinks belly fat, reduce stress, reduce mild anxiety, and reduce certain types of depression while increasing energy.



Relacore doesn’t give us a comprehensive list of ingredients and with so much already against it we feel that this product should be avoided. There are plenty of products available on the current market that contain proven ingredients and that will give you the weight loss edge you are looking for. You suggest you find something else and leave Relacore to rot on shelf.


People usually watch advertisements and knowing the information from media rather than from medical personnel. Therefore, the way the pharmaceutical company promotes their product directly to the consumers. The consumers could buy the medicine without a prescription.

It is not ethical because the way the advertisement only show to the customers the effectiveness. Those aggressive loosed-weight people would be attracted easily by the exaggerate advertisements.

PO MO movie

Trainspotting movie trailer

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose a three piece suit on hire purchased in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose a future. Choose life . . . But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose something else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?

Renton, Trainspotting

The movie, Trainspotting, is a typical post modern movie. It describes the common subculture of British teens in the 90s. The teens in the movie use drugs to escape from their regular living and to avoid social rules and responsibilities. As much as it may seem abnormal to many, the teens are satisfied with the lifestyle and do not wish to change.

Subcultures are the minority cultures in the society. They are usually deemed irregular by the predominating culture as they many times disagree with the social norms. The subcultures exist because the world around them is open to interpretations. An interpretation can be as valid as any dominating cultures to some if they found it justified. This movie is showing an ostensible image of a fragile society.

Postmodernism in films

Run Lora Run

Run Lora Run is a German movie was produced in 1998. Lora, the leading character in the movie, has to collect 100 thousand Mark in 20 minutes to save her boy friend. Otherwise he is going to be killed by his boss, a drug dealer. The context of the story described in the three ways is not too difficult to understand. Different way has a different consequence. The director used postmodernism expressive method in the movie presents different perspective, the first run, she is killed by a police officer after her boy friend and she robed a supermarket; the second run, after Lora robed her father’s bank with a gun, she arrived the place on time that her boy friend and she suppose to meet but unfortunately while she meets her boyfriend, he is killed by a accident. So Lora stars her third run, this time she does not try to get any money from her father and keep running. She goes to casino, buys a 100 single mark chip and bets number 20 on a roulette table. By dramatically consecutive wins she earns 129 thousand Mark that is enough to rescue her boy’s life while her boy find the beggar who took his money in the beginning of the story, and gets his money back. Lora’s hysterically screaming, vivid color and fast-paced narrative method, as postmodernism elements arranged by director‘s purpose made this movie as a classic postmodernism works.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmrHq_EYH0o&feature=related

Po Mo in the Movies

Rachel Ju

Nov. 15. 2010

Postmodern movies prevail in most of the world in multiple style, eye-catching images and hi-technological skills. But it's not easily to describe what the characteristics of postmodern movies are, because they don't have certain forms and patterns.

“Fight Club (1999)” is an example that contains strong colorful and take “dead” as a main theme. This is a different way to describe a movie. The theme of “Fight Club” is not only express violence, but also describe the society full of pressure. The story is about an office worker who tried the bore and pressure environment. As a result, that cause he changed his personality in order to relieve pressure. But, he became violence and not able to stop.

This movie caused polarization in that time. Some people like it others don’t. However, this is one of the postmodern films to express that “you are the one to represent yourself.”

Po Mo in the Movies--A Clockwork Orange

A Clockwork Orange

This film presents a dystrophy examination of ultra-violence, social conditioning, free will, and post-industrial alienation.

A Clockwork Orange is a societal work. The first half is a romp through the youth crimes but the second half focuses on the human rights he lost once imprisoned and cured. The shift takes the audience away from direct contact with such an impulsive character. It comforts the audience because they know the film didn't donate to the ideals of its horrific leading character.

It definitely targets human nature, which destabilize the moralities of transitional line.

It no any distinction between culture and society, besides confuses over time and space. For that reason, "A Clockwork Orange" is a wonderful illustration of postmodernism film.

 Cecilia

Postmodern

Group 4:

"A master narrative is a framework that purports to explain society, if not the world, in comprehensive terms. Religion, science, Marxism, psychoanalysis, Enlightenment myths of progress, and other theories that each set out to explain all facets of life are master theories or master narratives."

Lady GAGA with her modern style

Lady gaga wore a “meat dress” on MTV video Awards in 2010. “Fears that human will be treated as meat, which has no rights in the eyes of the law” Lady gaga said. Most of her modern style is not really acceptable for some people in the common society although it may become one kinds of subculture.

In the past, most of the people will not accept this kind of modern style; however, people have changed their ethic rules because influence from media. We honestly, do appreciate her sense of creativity, but this meat dress has taken it to a whole new level. She isn’t standing up for animals rights at all. PETA, an animal rights activist group doesn’t do this kind of thing to support animal rights, they do go to the extreme but they don’t wear suits of animals to show people what animals are goingthrough or wear human skin for human rights. Humans have plenty of rights that are why we are taking animal rights away so Gaga can shove it. Just like us against people wear mink coat, because it is endanger animal.

Forrest Gump was a successful critique master narrative movie that was directed by Robert Zemeckis in 1996, starring Tom Hanks, Gray Sinise and Robin Wright Penn. The story basing on America history of late 20th century describes several different period of time in Forrest Gump’s life. In the story Gump is counted in a subnormal refused goes to primary school when he was a kid. Although, when he grows up, he is not only a hero in college football team but also is a hero in Vietnam War. As a successful feature, Gump undergoes most of America history events, meeting historical figures, involving popular culture, and attending the ping pang games. An average intelligence person gains most of desire that most people cannot reach; the whole life of Gump as a postmodern critiques conventional concept is dramatic.

Chapter 7

1. What is the commodity self and commodity culture? Find an example of the commodity self or commodity culture used in a movie, a television ad or an internet ad. Explain the commodity culture that the ad/movie targets.

Commodity self means a product can be trade bought and sold. Commodity culture argues society is in a way shaped by the resources, which in the case, commodities, that are available to us. We may think people select the merchandises, but in fact our identity is constructed in part by the limited selection of commodities around us. People start to identity

a person with the commodities one associate with. As a result, the real self of a person became irrelative defining a person.

http://art8amby.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/victorias-secret-online-ss-2010-alessandra-ambrosio-erin-heatherton-lindsay-ellingson-aminata-niaria-candice-swanepoel-and-rosie-huntington-whiteley.jpg

http://thataintkosher.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/victorias-secret.jpg

The two flyers above are Victoria’s Secret. Their advertising sells an idea of sexy. Thus when consumers wear their products, they could convey others they are sexy.

2. Market coolness? Fine an example of an ad that uses a counterculture or anti-consumerism to sell it’s product. Explain the approach of the example.

This condom advertisement is a nice idea that use of humor in advertising campaigns. It does not only get the attention of consumers, it also makes the product or service easier to recall or remember. This advertisement shows two firemen with a naked man are put out a fire. This humor advertisement is easier to catch peoples’ attention and let people want to know what this advertisement talks about. However, it is a metaphor to letting people knows calm down and “Don't be stupid, protect yourself. Use condoms.” Using firemen make of humor to get the attention of people and reach the market coolness.

3. What is an Anti-Ad? What is Culture Jamming? Find an example and explain the strategy of the ad.

ANTI-Ad refers to the practice of making spoofs or parodies of corporate and political advertisements . It may take the form of a new image or an alteration to an existing image, often in a satirical manner.

Culture jamming is an interesting mode of political communication that has emerged in response to the commercial separation of public life. Practitioners of culture jamming argue that saturated commercial environments have bent culture, politics, and social values from corporate logos on sports facilities, to tube content designed exclusively to deliver targeted audiences to producers and sponsors.

The text says:

“Every year 6 million animals are killed from cosmetic testing. Please refuse animal-tested products.”

There is mascara on the top of injector, humorously revealed the relationship between cosmetic and animal testing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEpD4YOfz9I

KFC Anti-AD

It showed chicken were killed by KFC.