Seminar Notes - Jean Baudrillard and Hyperreality

What we kow Santa as was determined by an ad company at a certain moment in time - becomes the reality.

Plato's allegory of the cave
-prisoners in the cave - shadows on wall is all they know of reality
-more comfortable with a naive ignorance rather than facing the truth
-what people tell us about life are pale imitations of what life can be

Pepsi Challenge
-unconcious brain signals telling if you you have a preference to Pepsi or Coke
-brands have a physical/memorable effect on you
-when you cannot tell the difference between the two brands, when you don't know what they are

Guy Debord - ''Society of the Spectacle'' 1967

Baudrillard
- the systems of objects
-buying into the sign value of a product
-positive/negative symbolic value
-e.g. Ferrari/Larda

Simulacra
-copy of reality
-e.g. The Holy Sacrament - reflection of profound reality
-Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disneyland Park - imitation of Bhoemian architecture - not a functioning castle, just the idea
-approaching reality through a representation of reality - describing a castle as a 'Fairytale Castle' becomes the reality

Reality TV -construction
Documentaries and news - specific persons take on the world - editorial decisions

'The Gulf War did not take place'

Love - are you in love, having feelings or love, or are you just feeling what you think you should, through watching love movies and child programmes

Sex - hyperreal
-need images of fantasy

Lecture 5 - Reality, Virtuality, Hyperreality (Jean Baudrillard)

Jean Baudrillard - french philosopher, critic, social and cultural theorist, photographer, pionering theorist: semiotics, politcal economy, post modernism, post strucuralism

Coca Cola - illusion, tast the brand, tastes better in your mind

Post Structuralism:
-Gilles Deleuze
-Roland Barthes
-Jean B
-Jacques Dernda
-Helene Cixous
-Michael Foucalt
(Meanings of Signs)

Structuralism:
-Claude Levi-Strauss
-Roland Barthes
-Jacques lacan
-Louis Althusser
-Andre Leroi-Gourham
-Julia Kristeva

Guy Debord - ''Society of the Spectacle'' 1967

Karl Marx - pionering philosopher and political and economical theorist
-developed the 'critique of political economy'
-'labour theory of value'
-argues - capitalism constitutes one kind of 'mode of production' and that it would eventually be replaced by another one

Ferdinand de Saussure
-signified-signifier
-signifier-signified

Marcel Mauss - anthropologist - renowned for his analysis of the 'economy of the gif' in different societies

Georges Batille - renowned for his writings or transgression, death and general economy (gift economies, economies based on 'expenditure without return, e.g. the 'Potlatch')

Jean baudrillard
-Simulacra and Simulation 1981
-theory of simulacra - he developed since the 1970's
-according to him, simulacra are copies either of the thing they are intended to represent and stand in for or in recent history - are merely copies of other copies
-for a long time a controversial concept, the simulacrum as described by Baudrillard has become key

The Matrix - 'the desert of the real itself'

Simulacra:
-reflection of a profound reality
-religion - Catholic Church - body and blood of Christ - not actually as it is bread and wine
-masks and denatures a profound reality
-masks the absence of a profound reality
-sourcery - witchcraft, mythos, evil
-has no relation to any reality whatsoever, it is its own pure imulacrum
-Sleeping Beauty's castle (Disneyland Park, California) - exists and can be visited but is a recreation of the film

Coca Cola
-post modern image of Father Christmas
-neither Coke nor Santa are real

Another representation of Simulation
-Christmas markets (German)
-Father Christmas - used to wear green clothing
-1970's - The Loud Family - first reality TV show in America
-1990's - The Real World - reality TV
Charlie Brooker
-highlight bits that they want - to create meanings
Hence TV is not really real because it is hyperreal

Symbolic Exchange and Death (1976)
-Baudrillard - articulated the '3 orders of the Simulacra'
1. The Counterfeit - dominant schema of the classical period
2. Production - dominant schema of the industrial era
3. Simulation - dominant schema in the current code - governed phase

Kool Killer or the Insurrection of Signs
-spring 1972 New York - graffiti
-content neither political nor pornographic

Jean Baudrillard - 'The Gulf War did not take place'
-In the aftermath of the first conflict in the Persian Gulf between America and Iraq in the early 1990's, Baudrillard controversially claimed 'it did not take place'
-not intended to suggest it didn't happen...

Seminar Notes - The Gaze

-Manifestations
-Power of looking
-Gender

John Berger
-men look at women
-women look at themselves being looked at
-glance - judgement - reminding them of how they should look
-the nudes
  -naked - yourself
  -nude - object, fugure, someboday else's idea
  -(the distinction between the two)

Hans Memling 'Vanity' 1485

-mans idea of woman
-painting for a man by a man
-the dog represents fidelity - loyalty towards woman
-title - 'vanity' - she likes to look at herself - objectifying her - attaack
-allows you to laugh at her for being vain - aggressive
-religion - harder on women than men

Page 3
-designed for men to look at
-'News in brief' - women quotes and their opinions on what is going on in the world - allows men to oggle women but laugh as well as she can't be sexy and intellectual at the same time - sexist joke

Alexandre Cabanel 'Birth of Venus' 1863

-inviting gaze

-passive female

Ingres 'Le Grand Odalisque' 1814

-2 gazes - power and objectification

-men gazing at woman

-West gazing at East

-oriental, sexual fantasy

-less sophisticated - more available

-patronising

Manet 'Bar at the Folies Bergenes' 1882

-put into the position of a man looking at a woman

-close proximity

-woman not meeting/challenging gaze

Jeff Wall 'Picture for Women' 1979

-still male dominated

-photograph (paintings are lies)

Portfolio Task 2 - On Popular Music

Quickly read Adorno's (1941) article 'On Popular Music'. In no more than a few paragraphs, summarise his ideas on pop music, concentrating on key points such as 'standardisation', 'psuedo-individualisation' etc.
Post a link to a YouTube pop video that, in your opinion, epitomises Adorno's sentiments. Explain why, trying to emphasise the links to the wider 'culture industry' in general.


Adorno claimed that the fundamental characteristic of popular music is 'standardization'. He also compares pop music in an inferior way to 'serious music'. He believes that pop music is predictable and pre-digestive, that if you like the style of a song then you will like other songs with that same style. This means the consumers decision has already been for them. Adorno says that ''Structural Standardization Aims at Standard Reactions'' (Adorno, p76), which therefore reduces the effort on the part of those working in the music industry, as they know how people will react. He explains that the whole structure of pop music standardized, even when an artist tries to be different, because they are still conforming to a set of rules, for example; the breakdown of a song consists of a chorus and verse pattern, and therefore the consumer has ''the same familiar experience''(Adorno, p74).

Adorno goes on speaking about the correlation between muscial standardization and 'pseudo-individualization', he states that ''Concentration and control in our culture hide themselves in their manifestation. Unhidden they would provoke resitance.''(Adorno, p78), meaning that if people knew they were being controlled they would resist against it, so therefore they are under the illusion of individualism, even though what they listen to is 'pre-digested'.

Adorno also believes that people who listen to popular music do so as a distraction from their everyday lives. It does not demand their attention, however it produces passivity through rhythmic repetitiveness, and emotional adjustment, that music is an escape from reality. The listeners don't realise this repetitiveness, as their thinking has been done for them.

[Adorno, T., (1941), 'On Popular Music' In 'Studies in Philosophy and Social Science', New York: Institute of Social Research]

Westlife's cover of 'Uptown Girl', epitomises Adorno's beliefs about popular music. The fact that it is cover of an original is an obvious reason for this choice, with Billy Joel first releasing the song in 1983 it reached number one in the UK charts, proving it's inital popularity. Westlife knew this in 2001 when they released their cover, which also reached number one in the UK chart, and became the band's biggest selling single in the UK. Adorno's idea of music being 'pre-digestive' is apparent here, with the band working deliberately to set out to win favour with the people, knwoing the reactio nthe first time around. The doo-wop beat and close harmonies, makes the song catchy and memorable, which is common within popular music.

Billy Joel's 'Uptown Girl' -


Westlife's cover -

Seminar Notes - Popular Culture

Lecture 2:
important ------ unimportant
culture ------ popular cultures
upperclass ------ working class
classical ------ pop
Shakespear ------ Harry potter
poetry ------ advertising jingles
language ------ slang
art ------ design
power ------ politics
taste v class

Alot of people don't care for art and they don't understand, however, most people engage with graphic design in some way, yet graphic design is labelled insignificant.

Marxism:

Base-
-forces of production - worker, tools, skills, technologies, materials
-relations of productions
   -employer/employees
   -master/slave
   -ruling/exploited
   -upper class/ lower class

Superstructure-
-methods of control
-religion
-politics
-law
-police
-army
-education

Ideologies
-forms of consciousness
culture -art

The Base determines the Superstructure
The Superstructure re-inforces the Base, ligitimises it and makes it stronger

Materialism
-surround yourself with commodities
-let be judged by possessions rather than who you are as a person

Ideology
-system of beliefs/ideas that unite people
-selective system of ideas reinforces power relations
-presents the interests of a few disguised as the interests of all - false consciousness
E.g. - X Factor - Simon Cowell - contestants image is what he wants them to look like - to please the masses - gain publicity

Capitalism - pyramid of capitalist system

When you get the rise of the working class (1800's particularly) Matthew Arnold writes - 'Culture & Anarchy' - when says the 'diseased spirit' - means challenging the authority, threat to power
culture - serves the interest of few
          -civilise yourself to become like the few
          -behave like ruling class

F.R. Leavis - Leavism
-judgements directly from the base
-loosing authority

Popular

Frankfurt School - consumption of popular culture stops you from resisting against the upper class
the culture industry - homogeneity and predictability

Reference - popular music text
-standardisation - reduces effort of designers and consumers
-pre-digested
-shortcut - no effort
-summarises for you

Psuedo-individualism
e.g. Goths - think they are individual - yet they are the same as eachother - participate in standardised culture
appears new/individual - but is a sequel

Song covers - song that is already proved popular - appears new if it is done by another artist - bring their own style to it but is psuedo-individual

The more people watch X Factor, the more producers will keep making these programmes (mindless programmes)
The less you interact with the world, the more you retract from it

Punk - anti-capitalist merged from poverty
-London - 70's - Anarchy in the UK
-black/white/reggae/punk

''youth cultural styles begin by issuing symbolic challenges, but they must end by establishing new conventions, by creating new commodities, new industries,, or rejuvenating old ones'' - Hebidige, D 1979
-subculture
-not about rebelling anymore- as it becomes neutralised

50 cent looks dangerous and edgy - but his music is not - sales - popular

Lecture 4 - Communication Theory

Lasswell's Maxim - ''Who says what to whom in what channelw ith what effect''

Tradtions of Communication Theory:
-Cybernetic Theory:
Infor Source- Transmitter- Noise Source- Reciever- Destination   (Destination to Info Source)

3 leveles of potential communication problems:
-1- Technical - accuracy, systems of encoding/decoding, compatability of systems
-2- Sematic - language precision, how much of the message can be lost without meaning being lost - language used
-3- Effectiveness - does message effect behaviour the way we want it to what can be done if the required effect fails to happen

Systems Theory:
-can switch between mathematical biological, psychological
-BARB (Broadcaster's Audience research Board)
-audience categories - sub-categories/sub-demographic groups

Semiotics:
-Sematics - what does a sign stand for?
-dictionaries - semantics reference book - tell us what a sign means
-syntactics - relationships among signs
-programtics
-Semiotics and the Semiosphere -the whole semiotic space of the culture
-''Damien Hurst'' - designer
-Levi Strauss for ethnography
-Lacan for the unconcious
-Barthes
-trainer - footwear - culture, sends sign to others whilst you wear them - status
-ads use semiotics - objects create cultural value - 'buy them and you will achieve this social status'
-road signs - danger - stipulated - no language - even if it's a visual one it's self explanatory - language have to be learnt

The Phenomenological Tradition:
-is the process of knowing through direct experience. It is the process of knowing through direct experience. It is the way in which humans come the understand the world.
-Phenomenon refers to the appearance of an object, event or condition in one's perception
-makes actual lived experience

The Embodied Mind:
-communication seen as an extension of the nervous sytem
-langauge is seen as part of that system existing as neuronal pathways that are linked within the brain
-the key is a psychological...

Emotions:
-what faces mean (smile means happy - frown means sad)
-interpretation - the process of interpretations is central

Rhetoric:
-Socrates
-Aristotle
-personification as rhetoric is mostly used to humanze inanimate objects of ideas, such a rhetoric itself. It is a type of 'rhetoric trope' such as hyperbole - irony - personification
-hyperboel - take things to extreme - push to limit
-how you are going to achieve certain effects from the audience
-persuades us to see things differently
-pictures without context are meaningless - they need to be anchored
-The use of 'pathos' a means of persuasion in classical rhetoric that appeals to the audience's emotions

Metaphor:
-meaning transfer, is langauge that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects or activities
-enables us to grasp new concepts and remember things by creating associations, and links to something like it - memory

-Christoph Niemann

The Sociopsychological Tradition:
-the study of the individual as a social being
-expression/interaction/influence
-the act of sending a message to a reciever and assessing the feelings and thoughts to the reciever upon interpreting the message and how these will effect an understanding of the message
-useful for deep analysis of the memories of communication

Gestat Psychology:
-a type of cognitive theory
-cognitive theory
-changes in behaviour
-biological

The Sociocultural Tradition:
-in defining yourself in terms of your identity with terms such as father, Catholic, student,...
-identity as part of a group and this group frames your cultural identity
-the socioculture tradition looks at how these cultural understandings, roles, and rules are worked out ineractively in communication
-context is seen as being crucial to forms and meanings of communication

Critical Communication Theory:
-synthesis of philosophy and social science
-Foucalt - how power affects how we communicate
-feminist studies - influential area within the critical tradition
-postcolonian

Portfolio Task 1 - Panopticism

Task 1: Choose an example of one aspect of contemporary culture that is, in your opinion, panoptic. Write an explanation of this, in approximately 200-300 words, employing key Foucauldian language, such as 'Docile Bodies' or 'self-regulation, and using not less than 5 quotes from the text 'Panopticism' in Thomas, J. (2000) 'Reading Images', NY, Palgrave McMillan.



A work office could be an example of a 'panoptic environment'. Each employee is situated at their own desk or cubicle to 'ensure that control over people is easily maintained,' and this total individualisation creates 'docile bodies' when 'he is the object of information, never a subject in communication', were workers are expected to automatically get on with their work with no distractions from others.

Surveillance cameras within the office enforces 'self regualtion' in the workers, as they think they are always being watched by the boss. This automatic function of power is visible by defiable as 'one is totally seen, without ever seeing' and 'must never know whether he is being looked at at any one moment; but he must be sure that he may always be so', therefore induced in the workers is a 'state of conscious and permant visibility', for them to then adopt their behaviour to how they think they should act. This 'panoptic mechanism' gives the boss automatic power, as it is 'unverifiable', and removes power from the individual.

Self regulation and discipline can also be seen within the office enviroment, when colleagues compete with eachother to gain the approval of the boss, who is seen to have 'omnipresent and omniscient power', therefore guaranteeing order within the office environment.