Project 26 Ecclesiastes misquoted

Project 26 Esslesiastes misquoted

The Blade Runner - the Directors Cut

In this the director Ridley Scott finally reveals the answer to a plot which has been a topic of fierce debate for almost 2 decades.  Fans have been divided over whether Harrison Ford's portrayal of the hard boiled cop character Deckard was not human but a genetically engineered 'replicant' the very creatures he is tasked to destroy.

The clue is the appearance of a unicorn on screen while Deckard is lost in thought. Yet another hint comes from the number of 'replicants which Deckard is hunting.  We see that six had made their way to earth one of whom was killed.  Deckard is then looking for 4 begging the question "Who is the 5th 'replicant?

In the film The Matrix which can be interpreted as a criticum of the unreal consumer culture we live in, a culture that may be distracting us from the reality  (that we are being exploited by someone or something ) just as the machines exploited the humans in the Matrix for bio-electricity.

The film bought up two references to the work of Baudrillard.  The first being near to start of the film - when Neo grabs the authors book 'Simulacra and Simulation' to retrieve some mind altering substances hidden in it.  The second is Morpheus when he shows Neo the "real world" - saying  "welcome to the desert of the real"

In fact the 1997 script had Morpheus saying  to Neo "as in Baudrillards vision, your whole life  has been spent inside the map not the territory. This is Chicago as it exists today  the desert of the real".

In an interview entitled "Baudrillard decodes the Matrix" in the Le Niuvel Observatur after the release of the movie, Baudrillard said he had been contacted by the production team regarding his contribution, "It was not really conceivable" he pointed out that the movie failed to investigate the implications of Simulation.

Notes on Baudrillards book Simulacra and Simulations

In the 1980 Baudrillard moved from economically based theory to the consideration of mediation and mass communication (media) he still retained his interest in Saussurean Semiolies and the logic of symbolic exchange (as influenced by Marcel Mauss).  Baudrillard turned his attention to the work of Marshall McLuhan on ideas how the nature of social relations is determined by communications that society employs. 

" The simulacrum is never what hides the truth- it is truth that hides the fact that there is none.  The simulacrum is true".

Badrillard was concerned with the cultural impact of mass/electronic media.  Our culture of simulation has progressed to the point that simulation no longer refers to the world.  Reality has been replaced by nested systems of signs, all referring to one another.  Baudrillard calls " precession of simulacra".  These images began as a reflection of reality, are now not related to reality (but now to other images).

An example of this is Disneyland an imaginary world, set up to mask the fact that America is itself only a simulation in which people take on roles but never truly interact.  In some ways electronic media makes everything a simulation e.i. political scandals that mask broader truths about the capitalist system.

Baudrillard also mentions historical movies which are more "real" that the reality was history is no longer an active force all cultures are congealing into one, and all that is left is nostalgia taken on the extreme e.i. culture content in museums is merely a support for the sedium to operate ( the visitor experience) the point is to encourage visitors, not to transmit the culture, this applies in advertising and propaganda which are more and more becoming powerful fractures of mass media publicity  all that matters not ideas or meanings.

Baudrillards book argues that late 20th century consumer culture is a world which simulations or imitations of reality have become more real then reality itself (he called this "hyper-real" one example of this is walking and running are not nearly as important as they were in pre-modern times, but jogging is a recreational  pastime (with special shoes, clothes, books etc) Whereas before you made do with what you had  these days you must be using or wearing the best that money can buy to be considered worthy of pursuing your sport etc. 

Another example is not much of our food is produced  locally, as in days gone by, but we have "health food" that enables to replicate the experience of a peasants diet. Though  "jogging and health food is somewhat dated the point still holds today.

Baudillard goes on the say that the consumer culture has gone from a state of being surrounded by representations or imitations of things that really exist to a state of which our lives are filled with simulations.  In this situation the world of simulations takes on a life of its own and reality erodes to the point that it becomes a desert. 

Project 25 Illusion is sacred truth profane

Project 25 illusion is sacred truth profane



While spectacle may be seen as an illusory - the unreal- by some for Debord "it says nothing more than that which appears is good, that which is good appears". Could this quote be taken as a metaplor for advertising and how our lives will be changed by purchasing the commodities the companies are selling?

Selling products or lifestyles

One trend that is becoming more and more common in advertising is to appeal to the emotions rather than the features or functionalists of the product.  Rather than talk about why we should purchase the product and discuss some of the practical features, many advertisements go about painting a lifestyle that you would want to have and placing their product in that wonderful new lifestyle.   For example:-

Three examples of current advertising that sells by appeal to lifestyle rather than the virtues of the product itself

The first of these being the television advertisement for Virgin Airlines  the running headline is "Your airline either has got it or it hasn't"  This advert stands true to the core of advertising which is to sell and or market goods by creating associations between the product or brand and present and desirable circumstance events or people .  In this commercial it seeks to associate flying with Virgin Airlines as a fun and glamorous adventure that will leave you wanting more. Visually the advert itself is stunning creating a glamorous world that seems to associate Virgin Airlines with mysterious and fantastical adventures right from the beginning when seen though the crowds at the airport a row of beautiful air hostesses in their red  uniforms (for the male interest) while waking behind them is a member of the male crew ( for the female viewer).  The aim I think is to create a sense of awe and the possible subliminal message that behind this particular scene that Virgin Airlines towers over the other airlines..  Music to the advert is Relax don't do it by  Frankie goes to Hollywood.

My next advent is  The Apple I -Pad

 
This 2003 advertisement by Apple is another example of how modern day advertising has advanced from selling a product to seeing a lifestyle that can be associated with that product instead of seeing the I Pad Apple is selling the lifestyle obtained be ownership of the I Pad.  This visual emphasis is not on her but on the implied careful attitude suggested be the dancing.  The consumer is not distanced from the subject because it is familiar.  This familiarity fools the viewer into believing that it is simple to obtain this lifestyle- purchase the item and obtain the lifestyle!

My third product is

Abercrombie and Fitch Clothing

With this image of rugged country and the muscular figure this advertisement promotes what a REAL Man should be.  The bold text `FIERCE` grabs your attention, but instead of the text advertising the product being sold this billboard advertises what the end result will be if you purchase the product. Since the man's head is not clearly being portrayed as an individual- (his head is not included in the image) - so becomes an object or ideal that can be had by buying the retailers clothing which are counter-intuitively not been displayed in the advert.

Comparing advertisements  for products before the 2nd world war in the modernist period with the same products in today era.

Moet Chandon Dry ~Imperial

"Champagne is the only thing that leaves a woman beautiful after drinking it"  Bette Davies.

This advertisement  was made by using the work of Alphonse Mucha 1860-1939 an Art Nouveau painter and print maker.  He succeeded in bringing art to the ordinary people something he was passionate about
In this case the buyer received not only one of the best champagnes  but also an interesting art work as well may be in the hope that it would encourage the buyer to look more into art.  Though I suspect the company would rather they bought more champagne!

Moet & Chandon champagne 2011

This new campaign features Scarlett Johnsson - the brands celebrity ambassador since 2009.
Scarlett stands precariously on a ladder in her strapless pearl ball grown clutching a bottle of champagne in a huge ballroom with hundreds of champagne flutes stacked up on the floor.  The vintage dress adds to her sexiness and shows off her tiny waist and curves which flashing a toned slender leg at the same time. I think this would possibly encourage a man to purchase a bottle of  champagne.

OXO Cubes

These stock cubes have been around for more that a century - these two advertisements emphasis on family values and show only a modest development in graphic presentation.  The first shows a certain jauntiness creeping in to the picture (with the subversive notion of a man in the kitchen) for most part sobriety rules as it was considered a woman's domain preparing the meals.  The second goes on to say that you do not run a proper house (meal wise) without having oxo in your store cupboard.  Press advertisement's were complemented by free recipe books and colouring books for the nations children.

21st century OXO

The traditional oxe cube could soon disappear from British advertisements and kitchens after a century of service as the cooking product is being axed in favour of an X (the shape of the OXO) The company Premier Foods say that this a new format and will be a limited edition is see that consumers reaction which they hope will be positive to this object of fun.  So gone are the adverts which are to encourage and sell that product i.e. The OXO family which ran for many years to be replaced with a simple shape.  Which the company hope will send a message to other brands that Premier Foods is forward looking and not weded to nostalgia.

project 24 White

Project 24  White



Whiteness    Richard Dyer uses cinema to support the representation  of white  verses black. The films we are to study are Jezebel, Simba, Night of the Living dead and The battle of Algiers. These four different films embody the characteristics required for analysis.  They show the defiance of the white female who lives through her coloured help because she is trapped and comes to accept the rules and society required of her in society - the sorrow of white rule and the black response to it.  ( the book called The Help by Kathryn Stockett comes to mind here which was recently made into a film).




The makers of these films used black heroes  to encourage the white people to see whiteness as a culture they belong to.  Dryer discusses the whiteness in the mind of a white person and relates to each other as (British middle class ugly etc). The purpose of these films was to recognise and to change the way in which we create otherness (i.e. you black me o.k.) To realise that it is wrong to marginalise because of colour.

Night of the Living Dead



This was a 1968 film directed by George Romero.  The plot follows Ben, Barbra and five other trapped in a rural farmhouse. While the house is attacked by reanimated corpses known as ghouls.  The lead role was played by an unknown stage actor Duana Jones, he depicted the role Ben as a comparatively calm and resourceful negro. Which in 1968 was potentially controversial as at that time it was not typical for a African American to be the hero of a film when the rest of the cast were white.

Social commentators saw the casting as significant - but Romero said that Jones "simply gave the best audition.  While Romero (director)  denies he hired Duane Jones because he was black, film reviewer Mark Deming notes that "the grim fate to Duane - the sole heroic figure and only African American had added resonance with the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X still fresh in the minds for Americans.  Stein adds "In the first ever subversive horror movie the resourceful black hero survives the zombies only to be killed by the redneck posse".   Romero confessed that the film was designed to reflect the tensions of the time. (1968).

This is similar to Baraka's play The Dutchman where the male protagonist is thrown off the train by the white passengers after being stabbed here again the coloured man is surrounded by white people and is powerless to defend himself.  What is happening is wrong and no one is fixing it with present methods - to try something else by getting to the problem and stop killing each other.  Dyer concluded that he has no answers for us.  He would like more discussion, discourse and deliberation to get to the bottom of it.  What is left is further deliberation and questions for all colour,race and creed is 'What Now' we all know something is wrong but no one is providing us with any answers!!!


Jezebel

This Film tells of a headstrong woman ( young southern belle) who was used to having her own way and everything done for her by her coloured maid.  Whose actions cost her the man she loves.  In this film colour or creed do not come into it.  This time it is a woman trying to overpower the man and not succeeding.

This film was said by some  to be on a par with Gone With The Wind but without the Yankees.  Instead the enemy is yellow fever and greed.  It takes place in the 1850s in New Orleans although there are references to the abolitionists and the prospect of war the story takes part pre-war.  It focuses on the southern lifestyle of the period and the life and times of a very spirited woman Julia Marsden (known as Jezebel).