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

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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.