Chapter 3: "Our experiences and perceptual apparatus serve as lenses through which we experience the world."
This quote resonates with me because students do not get to experience the world like I did when I was a kid. I first noticed this when I mentioned pyramids to my students and they all thought of cheerleaders. My son, for example, is a high school student who gets to travel the country and race motorcycles. He is going to have a better idea of geography, distance, and time better than a student who has never been out of the country. My daughter, a nurse, can look at a sick person and notice things about their skin, eyes, or body language and gauge how sick they really are; whereas I just see someone who doesn't feel well. If we do not have the life experiences to understand something new, then our perceptions of things will be completely different.
Chapter 4: "Changes in communicative environments suggest that social practices related to multimodality and literacy are being reshaped as advances in technology provide new social environments and possibilities for producers and interpreters of multimodal texts."
This quote is basically how we live our lives daily. We would not be taking an online course, blogging, or communicating with each other without new social practices. I would not be able to attain my Master's degree if I had to sit in a classroom on campus. One can look at how children talk to one another. I can call my son and he will not answer, yet send him a snapchat and he responds immediately. The advancements of today open the world up to everyone who can access the Internet. Our reach to people is not determined by environments anymore but how well we are connected online.
Chapter 5: "There is no guaranteed connection between a symbol or motif and a particular meaning. The connections between symbol and meaning are constructed in the social contexts of their use, and conventionalized over time."
I could not agree more with this quote. The McDonald's arch is almost universal but I doubt it means anything to a person who lives deep in the Congo. Cultures make a symbol connect to a certain theme, message, or object. If someone in America gives someone else the middle finger, there is a negative connotation that is associated with it. It is considered an obscene gesture. If one gives an "thumbs up" in parts of the middle east, it is an insult and basically means "up yours". This same gesture in America means "good job".
2. Find an image, symbol or motif and upload it to your blog.
3. Conduct a content analysis:
What do you see?
A lady folding her arms
What is the image about?
This is a popular photograph named "The Mona Lisa" that was painted by the an Italian artist named Leonardo da Vinci.
Are there people in the image? What are they doing? How are they presented?
There is a woman who is sitting down with her arms crossed. She appears as if she is half-smiling/smirking at someone and gazing into the eyes of the viewer.
Can the image be looked at different ways? Explain how the image might be interpreted from two different socio-cultural perspecitves. Which perspective is dominate?
This image could be viewed many different ways. It is a painting during the Renaissance Era and only wealthy people had their portraits painted. One could view the image from an artist perspective, from a history perspective, or just look at it knowing that it is a famous painting.
How effective is the image as a visual message.
This painting isn't giving me a message. I know the history behind the portrait so the meaning to me is in the mystery. The image itself does not lend us to know anything about the woman as the muse.
4. Conduct a visual analysis: Use the Chapter on Elements of Art, Design and Visual composition to assist your visual analysis.
How is the image composed? What is in the background, and what is in the foreground?
The Mona Lisa is one of the most talked about paintings of all time. The background is of a landscape but water is taking up most of the scenery. The woman is the dominant focal point of the painting. It is almost an odd pairing of visuals because the woman looks as if she is sitting against a background (like we do with children and Christmas pictures).
What are the most important visual elements in the image? How can you tell?
The arms catch your eyes and you start looking up at the portraits eyes and then down at her smile. The background has a 'fade out' quality to it that many photographers try to capture today.
How is color used?
It seems that color is used to create illusions of space within the picture. The warm, flesh tones make the woman appear close and the green/cooler blue colors fade into the background.
Can the image be looked at different ways?
This painting is viewed by so many different people (it is supposed to be the most viewed painting at the Lourve in Paris) and I am sure that each person comes away with different views. Some may love the background and some may think it was thrown in by Da Vinci at the last minute. Some may think the portrait was never finished (since it was not delivered to the person who commissioned it's painting). There is a mysterious mood to the image and one uses their imagination as to why or who was in the painting. I think that because it is such a mystery, more people are drawn to it.
What meanings are conveyed by design choices?
If one knows the history of the time period (1500's) then the meanings are very different than today. Da Vinci was actually groundbreaking in his choices of painting a 'face-forward' portrait (which we still use today) and to frame the picture so that only half (or 3/4) of her is shown versus the traditional full length portraits of the time period.
WORKS CITED:
- Serafini, F. (2014). Reading the visual: an introduction to teaching multimodal literacy. New York: Teachers Collage Press.
- Leonardo's "Mona Lisa". (n.d.). Mona Lisa. Retrieved June 21, 2014, from http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/leonardo-mona-lisa.html
I think that every blog I have looked at states that their image can be viewed differently, which I agree with, especially if the image chosen was a painting. I also agree with you in the sense that the painting isn't giving you a message, which falls back to viewing the images in different ways--- some people may look at this painting and get a profound message from it while others just see a woman sitting for a picture. As far as the socio-cultural aspect, I think most paintings done a long time ago were done of richer people, therefore, it is going to be more appealing to the upper class.
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