49. The Society of Spectacle || 50. Representation and Difference

Summary: I can honestly say I don't understand these chapters.

A TV show I enjoy watching is Shaolin Showdown.
The martial arts the contestants preform is always interesting to watch and it's interesting to see how the obstacles challenge the arts each contestant preforms. I would love to be able to preform some of the moves shown or even be able to do the things they do in the challenges, even if i fail at it.

47. What does Art Do || 48. Interpretation of Art

1. Explain the Four functions of Art that Gowans deals with.

Substitute imagery: things like pictures or visual substitutes

illustration:  things that tell a story, it illustrates something in our mind.

conviction and persuasion: works that sell products or show different beliefs, things that are persuading

beautification: something beautiful and pleasing to the eye

2. [skip]

3. Compare and Contrast the four functions of art with the four theories of art.

substitution is based on how close it represents something

illustration is how well it tell the story

conviction is based on how strong it can persuade

beautification is how expressive of emotions it is.

4. Apply Gowan's theory to the mass media. Which functions dominate our media? Explain why.

Mass media for commercials is based on conviction because they need to convince people to buy something, however, for general television programs, all but conviction are used. This is because the beautification is necessary to appeal to audience's viewing pleasure, and illustration is used for the message to be relayed and substitution is used for how close the images are identifiable.

5. How can an artist "create reality"? What would Aristotle say? Why?

The artist can create emotions and different stories and thus creating a reality, not necessarily the reality we live in, but a reality none the less. Aristotle would say art is reality and thus artists create reality through their art.

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1. How does Sontag compare the "old style" and "new style" of interpretation?

2. What does she say about Marxist and Freudian modes of interpretations?

Marxist was social interpretations while Freudian was mental interpretations. Marxist is basing judgment on outside influences while Freudian is based on personal or internal influences.

3. Why does she argue that interpretation is the revenge of the intellect of art on the world?

4. Can we be exposed to a text without interoperating it? Justify our answer.

5. What would various theorists I've dealt with in this  book say about Sontag's argument.

42. The Power of Rock Music || 43 Artistic Texts

42. Power of Rock Music

Rock music is a primitive form, that uses an understanding of how sound sand rhythms have emotional effects. When music is added to lyrics that sound perfectly simple, the emotion generated is changed and becomes the importance of the song. Kids and teens alike seem to be able to relate to the music with the difficulties in their lives and the music seems to touch them and relate back.

43. Artistic Texts
Messages can be found as art and different arts can be considered the text. Art is supposed to be a dense media to understand and television merely skims the surface of what is communicated.

primitive- simple or unsophistocated
literature- a way people communicate through texts
art-a visual way of representation
weak art- superficial, something that simply comes and goes
elite art- something that leaves its mark that can be applied to any generation
cannonize- a way to lift something to a higher level

Favorite Lyrics- "Still Frame" by Trapt

Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down, this pictures frozen and i cant get out
Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down, this pictures frozen and I cant get out of here
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you

an every time I think ive finally made it
I learn I'm farther away than I have ever been before
I see the clock and its ticking away, and the hourglass empty
What the F***do I have to say

Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down, this pictures frozen and I cant get out
Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down, this pictures frozen and I cant get out of here
Release me, I'm just as lost as you
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you

Keep it inside, the image portrayed
As if I couldnt stand losing as if I couldn't be saved, no way
A small confession I think I'm starting to lose it
I think I'm drifting away from the people I really need
A small reflection on when we were younger
We had it all figured out 'cause we had everything covered
Now were older its getting harder to see
What this future will hold for us, what the F*** are we going to be?

Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down, this pictures frozen and I cant get out
Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down, this pictures frozen and I cant get out of here
Release me, I'm just as lost as you
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you

So lost, I'm just as lost as you
Oh well what am I going to do
I'm afraid I'm falling farther away (from where I want to be)

Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down, this pictures frozen and I cant get out
Please help me 'cause I'm breaking down, this pictures frozen and I cant get out of here
Release me, I'm just as lost as you
Believe me, I'm just as lost as you

46. Comedy

summary:

Aristotle was a great philospher who wrote many comedies and tragedies. There were apparently certain characteristics of comedy that needed to be fit:
-men lower than ordinary
-low status
-freedom
-not serious
-optimism
-pleasure
-cathexis

Questions:
1. Explain Aristotle's theory that art is based on imitation.

2. How does comedy fit into Aristotle's theory of art? Does that explain why sitcoms are so popular?

3. What other theories of art are there? Explain how they work.

4. What are the arguments in the debate on media violence? How do you feel? Justify your position.

5. What's the difference between tragedy and comedy? Between carthexis and cartharis?

6. How does Girard's theory of "mimetic desire" explain how advertising works.

45. Humor and Communication

Summary:
The way a person apparently gives their comedy act, it must be done in a way that communicates it's a joke. it cannot simply be a way for a small group to understand the joke, the joke must be a widely known topic that all can laugh about.

term:
meta-communication: communication about communication; when we express how a form of communication should be (i.e. humor)

Questions:
1. What does Fry mean by "play frames" and what role do they have in humor?
Play frames are what define the punchlines.

2. What does Fry say about different kinds of punch lines?
Punchlines are essential to humor and define that the joke is a joke vs. a short story.

3. What is "meta-communication?"? What role does Fray say it plays in humor?
meta communication is the way we communicate how ewe communicate. it gives us experience for how we are supposed know something is a joke, which keeps our superegos from believing it's serious.

4. How does humor "trick" the superego? Why does this give us pleasure?
Humor gives a sense of superiority, it makes us pick on those lower than us.

5. Explain the incongruity, masked aggression, and superiority theories of humor.
the humor can be very insulting and but sometimes hold a hint of negativity in it, however our sense of superiority will make us laugh at people we believe beneath us.

6. Use the forty-five techniques of humor to reveal the techniques at work in some jokes.

36. Smart Mobs 37. How Crowds Think

36.
Summary: The new era, which technology has birthed, has begun where our entire style of doing something has changed. When we once merely talked into phones, we now stare at.

example of smart mob: the laptop, nintendo DS

37.
Summary: While hte text is important, the majority of how things sell is through their image. Sometimes it's the image itself that is more important than the reality of things.

example of how something targets a crowd: clothing stores will decorate their stores to those the clothes are targeted to (youth, teen, old people, women, men) or magazines will decorate their layouts and covers according to those its targeted to. (pc world always has a windows logo somewhere on their cover, hidden perhaps but somewhere)