Aronofsky and Black Swan (2011) and Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis can be defined as ‘a method of mind investigation’ (FreudFile.org, 2015). With mind investigation, it can help understand the thoughts of society. There are many different concepts to understand with Psychoanalysis and the main concepts would be; Oedipus Complex, Phallus, Mirror stage, Castration anxiety, Super ego and Id.

The Oedipus complex would be where the father and his male child mentally compete for desire towards the mother and this desire would be in the form of attention from the mother. With this competition for the mother, the reason behind this that while the child is competing for affection from the mother, they have a fear that their father would be the one receiving the attention, and the child would then be sitting on the side lines. After the child begins to realise that the anatomy between both parents is different, they will then in the future begin to look for a mother substitute that they will receive affection from.

Phallus is a concept that has two views which is in the male and female perspective. The male perspective would be, that it shows the signs of both godliness as well as power. However, in the perspective of females, the phallus is a vision of desire as it can link to creation in the male’s perspective. But in general it can show a sign of power.

Mirror stage is the concept of where a child looks at their face in the mirror for the first time, and they begin to learn what their appearance is and also they realise that they are unique and different to everyone else.

Castration anxiety is the idea of where the males receive a fear of losing power towards the opposite gender as well as losing power in general. And is can also link to the concept of lack. Lack would be where the females are frightened of them losing power.

A personality is divided into three sections, which are; Id, Ego and Super ego. The id is the section that exists since birth and is responsible for desires and natural instincts. The ego has the responsibility of what happens throughout reality. And the super-ego in control of what rules are set and also is symbolised as authority as they set rules that have to be followed. And the super ego can be parents as they teach their child the language that they speak.

Black Swan is a psychological thriller film with psychological elements that help define it as a relation to psychoanalysis. The way that Black Swan relates to the psychoanalysis concepts is that it contains the concepts such as mentioned; Oedipus Complex, Phallus, Mirror stage, and Castration anxiety.

The Oedipus complex is a shortly visible concept and is shown when Nina’s mother is on the phone to Nina, and Nina ignores her mother’s call. This relates to the concept of Oedipus complex as it shows her mother is disappointed that her call has been ignored.

Phallus is a concept that appears multiple times. The first time that the Phallus concept appears is when Nina, the main character wears lipstick and enters the ballet director’s office to try and get the main role of the play, which is to be the Black Swan. And then the director kisses Nina and how this relates to Phallus is that with the lipstick, it seduces the director and he decides that Nina should have the role. With the director being seduced, it gives Nina the feeling of power as she receives the role of black Swan.

The second appearance of Phallus is that when the director, is in the dance lesson and is discussing the news of the Black Swan role. The relation is that when he taps dancers on their shoulder, these dancers are chosen to be in the play. This shows that he has the power over who is in the play or not.

Another sign of the phallic power is where the director is stood watching the dancers during their lesson, he is stood with his arms folded and this shows he has power. The reason that he has power is that being the leader is the most powerful figure in the school, down to the director being the leader giving him control over the school. So this shows that the director is a phallic symbol.

Mirror stage is one of the least popular concepts within Black Swan. This concept makes its appearance when Nina is in the dressing room with the other dancers, and looks in the mirror at her reflection. At this point, Nina realises that she is an individual ballet dancer that is trying to achieve her dream, which is to participate in the Swan Lake play but as the role of the Black Swan itself. This shows the concept of mirror stage because Nina recognises herself as a dancer when she glances in the mirror.

Castration anxiety appears when Nina is practising her audition dance and as she practising, her nail breaks on her toe. And this causes Nina to be devastated as she is worried if she is unable to audition for the role. The connection that this has with castration anxiety and lack is that with her toe injured, Nina is distressed that she has lost the power to land the role that she is working hard to achieve.

The split personality concept of; id, ego and super ego is shown during Nina’s audition for the Swan Lake play, and the role of the Swan Queen. The id is Nina trying to maintain her balance and elegance whilst auditioning simultaneously when the director standing at the front of the room watching her audition shows the super-ego. And this is visually shown by the camera at an angle where the screen is split with Nina dancing and the director watching, on either side of the screen. The reason that Nina auditioning is the id, is because it is reality. And the reason behind the director standing in front of the mirror is the super-ego is that he is the figure of authority and sets rules.

References:

FreudFile.org (2015) What is Psychoanalysis? Available at: http://www.freudfile.org/psychoanalysis/definition.html [Accessed 15 Mar 15]

Critical analysis of music video culture and their relationship to advertising

I will be examining as well as critically analyzing how music videos have a relation towards advertisements and standardisation. What I will be examining is what the relation is between music videos and advertisements. I will also be examining the effects in what music videos have on society, and this would be the negatives as well as the positives. However, I will also be finding the similarities between music videos and advertisements.

The effects that music videos have within society are both negative as well as positive. The negatives are that there is product placement throughout music videos and this can have a really strong effect on society as it can subconsciously cause the viewer to want to purchase a product that has been seen within a video. Subsequently, they then realise that what they have bought is not as useful as they expected the product to be.

The younger audiences of music videos can be easily affected with the negative of being pressured upon what their body image should be, and if their body image were not “perfect”, society would judge them on what their image is and if it is right or wrong. The way that young women would be judged on their judged body image would be what they wear as well as their size which mainly would be if they are skinny or not. Kasey Serdar states ‘women are negatively affected by constant exposure to models that fulfil the unrealistic media ideal of beauty’ (Serdar, 2015) to back this up, it translates that seeing models and being exposed to them, shows an un-natural role of what their body image should be due to the media as it sets a false standard for what the ideal female body should be. An example of a music video that promotes poor body image is Jai Ho! (2009) by The Pussycat Dolls.

Throughout music videos, there can be sights of alcohol, drugs and smoking and when these are used in music videos, it makes the viewers think that substance abuse is a fashionable lifestyle. There are also references to alcohol within music lyrics that have the same effects as visual references in videos. An example of this would in Kesha’s song Tik Tok as she mentions ‘Brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack’ meaning that she would brush her teeth with whisky and this could cause listeners of the song to follow the lyrics.

However, there are positives that are found to have a positive effect upon society. To begin the positives, music videos can be seen as an inspiration for fashion. An example of how music videos can be a fashion inspiration is when a viewer sees an outfit that an artist is wearing within the video, they would want to wear that outfit or find an accessible alternative, this is possible as Basil G. Englis has quoted that ‘they provide information about fashion, cosmetics’ (Englis, 1991), what this is saying is that music videos and the styling show fashion and ways that it could be worn and viewers would be inspired by the fashion seen.

With music videos, inspiration for jobs can be created. How the inspiration can be formed is that when a music video is viewed, the effects as well as the clothing styling can be seen an idea for a career that a viewer would want. An example of a music video that could be used as inspiration for a career in either styling or set design would be California Gurls (2010) by Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg. How this would be an inspiring example is that with the video being in a candy-style setting as if it is dream and with its quirkiness, it would create inspiration in that it could make the viewers want a job in the music industry, especially with designing music video sets as well as costumes.

Music videos can be viewed as a form of art and this is a positive seeing as this shows the sole purpose of music videos, which is to entertain the viewers. An example of an artistic music video would be Hideaway (2014) by Kiesza, how this video is artistic is that it shows various dance styles in a sequenced order whilst being filmed within an urban setting in Brooklyn, New York, USA.

Music videos have another positive and this would be that as AACAP quotes that music videos can be ‘important in learning and the communication of culture’ (AACAP, 2008). This states that when people of all ages are watching music videos, they can be learning about what is happening within the cultures in their home country as well as global cultures worldwide.

Music videos have a relation with advertisements and the way that this is possible is that within music videos contain product placement. Product placement is where a product is seen with in a music video for the purpose of advertising a product to fans of the artist who purposely uses the product in the video so that fans and channel surfers may notice it and want to buy it for themselves, and either the product is in the background, foreground or the artist is using the product to advertise it. An example of a music video that has product placement within is Bang Bang (2014) by Jessie J, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande. This music video has six scenes that all feature products from Beats by Dr. Dre. Thomas Gorton quotes that product placement is ‘transforming the music video from a valued part of an artist’s creative output and into a blank canvas for advertisers’ (Gorton, 2014) meaning that the aura of a music video has been destroyed as the purpose and definition of music videos has been changed from entertaining viewers and showcasing talent into a chance in where advertisers place their products within music videos thus almost turning music videos with product placement in them into moving billboards that people will inevitably notice.

Music videos and their relation towards advertisements relate to Theodor Adorno’s theory of Standardisation and this is as stated by David Darbyshire that music videos and advertisements use ‘the same formula to appeal to the masses’ (Darbyshire, 2011). What this means is that music videos and advertisements can reach a large audience, they are similar and follow a standard so that it can lure large audiences in to either purchasing the video or the song for the video, or the product within the video or the advertisement.

With the theory of standardisation and that it can help draw a large audience, music videos and advertisements are easily accessible in the forms of TV, magazines, websites and shopping centres as well as billboards. With music videos and advertisements being unavoidable, viewers fall into the subconscious trick that is created in which is as mentioned; that people buy products that have been seen within the music videos as well as advertisements. And Adorno quotes ‘people are not only, as the saying goes, falling for the swindle’ (Adorno, 1972: 103) and this means that with music videos being inescapable, causing people to fall into the trick of being made to purchase an advertised product when you then later realise that you would not need what is being advertised to you.

I argue that music videos have a relation towards advertisements, as I believe that this is a route in which the music industry has taken with music videos and advertisements becoming similar. Also with modern music videos, they are slowly becoming advertisements and this is that there are more and more sightings of product placement throughout. Society is impacted negatively greater than it is positively and the most common negative impact found is that with product placement found within music videos. And what this has on the society is that it causes viewers of the videos to purchase products advertised, rather than focus on the integrity of the music itself. Music videos as well as advertisements are becoming more and more inescapable as they are accessible in many different ways such as on TV, in magazines or on billboards.

References:

AACAP (2008) The Influences of Music and Music Videos Available at: https://www.aacap.org/aacap/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/Facts_for_Families_Pages/The_Influence_Of_Music_And_Music_Videos_40.aspx [Accessed 1 Jun. 2015]

AdiMediaUK (2010) [image] Available at: http://www.adimediauk.com/shopping-centres-printed-advertising.html [Accessed 15 May 2015

Breaking Rocks (2015) [image] Available at: http://www.breakingrocksclothing.com/blog/music-monday-kiesza-hideaway/ [Accessed 14 May 2015]

CitySweetTooth (2010) [image] Available at: http://www.citysweettooth.com/2010/07/05/california-gurls-video/ [Accessed 18 May 2015]

Darbyshire, D (2011) Culture Industries and Adorno’s theory of Standardisation Available at: https://loudmimedave.wordpress.com/2011/10/12/culture-industries-and-adornos-theory-of-standardisation/ [Accessed 15 May 290125

Dekneef, M (2014) There Are No Music Videos Anymore in 2014, Only Beats by Dre Commercials Available at: http://www.hollyscoop.com/ariana-grande/there-are-no-music-videos-anymore-2014-only-beats-dre-commercials.html [Accessed 14 May 2015]

Emimusic (2010) Katy Perry – California Gurls ft. Snoop Dogg Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F57P9C4SAW4 [Accessed 18 May 2015]

Englis, Basil G (1991) Music Television and Its Influences on Consumer Culture, and the Transmission of Consumption Messages Available at: http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/7147/volumes/v18/NA-18 [Accessed 14 May. 2015]

Gorton, T (2014) Get ready for retroactive product placement in music videos Available at: http://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/22005/1/get-ready-for-retroactive-product-placement-in-music-videos [Accessed 14 May 2015]

Horkheimer, M and Adorno, T (1972). Dialectic of Enlightenment. New York: Herder and Herder [Accessed 10 May 2015]

Jane (2009) [image] Available at: http://www.prettytough.com/dolls-team-with-ar-rahman-for-slumdogs-jai-ho/ [Accessed 13 May 2015]

Jessie J Vevo (2014) Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj – Bang Bang ft. Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HDdjwpPM3Y [Accessed 14 May 2015]

LokalLegend (2014) Kiesza – Hideaway (Official Video) Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESXgJ9-H-2U [Accessed 14 May 2015]

Serdar, Kasey L. (2015) The Myriad: Westminster’s Interactive Academic Journal Available at: http://www.westminstercollege.edu/myriad/index.cfm?parent=…&detail=4475&content=4795 [Accessed 13 May 2015]

Bibliography

Evans, J and Hall, S (1999) Visual Culture: A reader. London: Sage [Accessed 18 May 2015] 

Scott, D (2000) Music, Culture, and Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press [Accessed 18 May 2015]

Sicardi, A (2014) How Music Videos are Becoming More Like Beauty Product Infomercials Available at: http://fashionista.com/2014/07/music-video-beauty-product-placement [Accessed 17 May 2015]

Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) [Deconstruction]

This artistic painting Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) was created by the popularly renowned artist Pablo Picasso in the early 1900s. This painting has binary oppositions that are defined as opposites that such as true and false. The binary oppositions found within the painting are that there are five females that are prostitutes that are spilt in two, with three of them being elegant whereas the other two have been given African masks that symbolise being contaminated with diseases. The meaning behind these masks is they symbolise the diseases that prostitutes would have such as syphilis. The mask-like faces of the women on the right show the culture of Africa, and it gives the other women on the left, which are opinionated, as European, a good reputation as they are not symbolised with diseases. And this gives the painting a park of racism as the African masked women have ‘diseases’ and the European women don’t have diseases. An additional binary opposition of the women within the painting would be that one of the women wearing the masks, is lower than the others, this could symbolise that when suffering diseases, they would feel lower than everyone else. And to separate the women that are either wearing the African masks or not, they are on either the left or the right. The women are not wearing the masks are positioned on the left of the painting, and the women with the masks, are on the right. This also shows that they are opposites with wearing masks or not. The colour of the women’s skins being different colours is binary opposites that are black and white. The women that are wearing the masks have a dark skin colour, and however the women that are on the left have light skin colour. Also, the women that are not wearing the masks are clean and beautiful and however, the women that have the masks to show diseases are impure. And this shows the opposites of being spotless and unhygienic. The orientalism within this painting is discovered, as there is the use of African masks. And orientalism is the use of different cultures within art. ‘That these white women might be […transformed] is a cause for terror […] because mongrels are viewed as impure, degenerate, and corrupting’ (Chave, A.C 1994 p.604) This quote states that the women wearing the masks have been transformed from looking pretty, to looking horrible with the masks. Abjection would be defined in art as the system within in a painting being changed and as Kristeva states ‘desire turns aside; sickened’ (Kristeva, 1982 p10) as it is discovered within this painting is message behind the masks which is that the prostitutes’ faces are disfigured due to the disease known as syphilis and the African masks are used to represent this.

References:

Anon (2015) [image] Available at: http://www.pearltrees.com/s/pic/or/les-demoiselles-avignon-1907-55930788 [Accessed 13 Apr 15]

Chave, A.C (1994) New Encounters with Les Demoiselles d’Avignon: Gender, Race, and the origins of Cubism in The Art Bulletin, Vol. 76, No.4 (Dec., 1994), New York: College Art Association [Accessed 13 Apr. 2015] 

Kristeva, J (1982) Powers of Horror – An Essay on Abjection Guilford: Columbia University Press [Accessed 31 May 2015]

Tea Towel Hook [Deconstruction]

I was asked to deconstruct the meaning of an object that I was given and then recreate a deconstructed design. The object that I was give was a tea towel hook, but this tea towel hook had to be different to ones that were already existing. How this was possible was by deconstructing the definition of a tea towel hook. The definition of a tea towel hook is that it is a simple hook that is used to hang a towel upon. I have deconstructed the idea of a tea towel hook as it is decorative as well as functional, and i have created a 2D model of a reindeer head with its antlers used as the hook for the tea towels. And the face would be used for the purpose of being used as a decorative feature when the antlers are not being used.

What the binary oppositions for the tea towel hook are:

• Simple/complex
• Sharp/soft 
• Decorative/functional

To deconstruct the design that I had created, I had to find out how the design has destroyed the binary oppositions. How the binary oppositions have been destroyed are that; binary oppositions are opposites, and this design I had created, has no opposites. There are no opposites as the sculpture of the reindeer head, is simple yet complex and this is that the antlers are used as the simple tea towel hook. And the face is complex as it is a decorative feature.

The head is soft as there is nothing sharp as it would be a soft art deco feature. And the antlers are sharp as they are used as the hooks for the tea towel(s). And this disrupts the binary oppositions as this design features both oppositions instead of having either sharp or soft.

The binary oppositions of decorative and functional have been disrupted as the tea towel hook is both decorative and functional. As it can be used as a decoration when not in use and when it is in use, it is functional.

With the deconstructed tea towel hook, the binary oppositions are not the only disruption, the order has been disrupted too. The order in reality would be a simple hook with a tea towel resting on the hook. How my design has disrupted the order is that it is more than just a tea towel hook, it is a decorative sculpture as well even when it is not in use as it serves two purposes of being decorative and functional.

To justify the techniques I have used to create the design; I used the bevel effect for the antlers as it shows that for tea towels to be hooked on the model, the antlers would need to be 3D.

I used the ‘Paste Into’ tool as it allowed me to paste my own design of a tea towel into the outline of the towel that would be placed on to the antler of the reindeer tea towel hook. 

Fairytale visual design – Psychoanalysis

I have been required to create a visual of a fairytale, but to choose a section that I feel has a relation to the idea of Psychoanalysis. The fairytale that I have chosen is ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’, and the section that I have chosen is where the Queen has asked the mirror on her wall who is the prettiest and orders her huntsman to try and kill Snow White as the mirror states that Snow White is the prettiest, and the Queen is annoyed at this.

“But one day the mirror answered Snow White was the fairest in the land, and in a rage the queen gave orders to one of her Huntsmen to take Snow White into the woods and kill her.”

The lack within this narrative is that Snow White is not powerful as she is the victim of being killed. The Queen is the super-ego as she is ordering the huntsman to find snow white and then kill her to return Snow White’s heart to the Queen. Queen wants the mirror to say that she is “the fairest” and this states that she is vain and this links to the idea of her being narcissistic. The cathexis would be that the huntsman finds Snow White attractive and this stops him from killing her. When the mirror tells the Queen that Snow white is the fairest, the Queen suffers castration anxiety as she fears she could lose her powers.

Behind the section of the narrative used for the visual, I used a tutorial to create an effect of old paper, and this was to make the narrative look as if it was taken from a book. And the fairytale of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ was written in early 1800s and the vintage style paper was used to give the story age.  

I had created what appears to be as if the image has been cut and blood is seeping from the cut, and the blood was to show what would have happened to an innocent character if the huntsman had killed. Also it gives the design an aspect of horror and to make it more gruesome. And for the realistic effect for the blood, I used the Bevel tool so that the blood was more 3D. The reason that I had made the blood 3D is that it makes it stand out and is more realistic.

I used a gold layer style for the crown that the evil Queen wears, as it shows her power as gold is a connotation of royal, wealth and power.

References:

HowToPs (2014) How to create Old Paper Texture | Photoshop Tutorial Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGrKp6TQj98  [Accessed 19 May 2015]

OverPlayers (2015) The Story of Snow White Available at:http://www.overplayers.org.uk/html/snowstory.html [Accessed 19 May 2015]

Money Super Market Ad #EpicStrut

The Money Supermarket advertisement titled as ‘#EpicStrut’ (2015) is of a man that is happy that he has saved money on his car insurance and is showing the people on the streets his excitement.

The denotations as well as the connotations of this advert are that Dave is the main ‘character’, is seen dancing while walking on the street and this would symbolise that he is happy with saving money on his car insurance. 

Also, there are people that are looking at him with shocked and perplexed faces and the would signify that they are shocked at how much money could be saved on their insurance. As well as that there are people joining Dave in his dancing which would mean that they would want to join in, in saving money via using money supermarket for their insurance.

What the advert is saying about the quality of the product in this case would be saving money, is that the consumers and customers will feel happy with the savings.

The quality implied which is the customers being happy in saving insurance money, is that is almost relates to the use. The way that is almost a relation to the use is that it is a simulation, meaning that it is a representation in how the customers will feel happy, but that is not always true.

This advertisement relates the ideas of theorist Jean Baudrillard in that this advertisement has the signs of consumerism. The man has been made to look sexy and exotic and when the customers purchase their insurance through the company, they will feel happy and this would attract countless customers to the insurance company.

Cliche free Valentines Day card.

I had created a valentines day card that had to have no cliches within it. The bright colours are used to show a retro style linking to the cassette tape. The tag line ‘Opposites a-track-t’ is a pun towards the cassette tape and it makes humour towards the word ‘attract’. The bright colours are also to make the card eye catching and draw attention. The image of the cassette tape is to show a way of reminding someone of their favourite songs and this could reflect that it could be a reminder of the time spent together. The cliches that I have avoided are:

1. Teddy bears as gifts or characters
2. Chocolates
3. Heart shapes
4. The colours; red, and pink for the association of love
5. Love/Rhyme messages
6. Flowers e.g. roses
7. Cupid, and bow and arrow

To justify the techniques used; I used the line tool to create the envelope, as it was a simple way of creating a graphic of an envelope. I also used the shape tool, especially the Rectangle to create the outline of the cassette tape and the label, as this was a simple yet effective way of creating a cassette tape graphic.

For a simple way of creating the bass clef note that is seen on the cassette, I used the pen tool so that I could draw it as accurately as possible.

My valentines day card avoids the cliches of the culture industry  as Adorno states “What parades as progress in the culture industry, as the incessantly new which it offers up, remains the disguise for an eternal sameness” (Adorno, 1992 p100). This means that new objects that represent older ones with only a few changes becomes a disguise for what is already the same object to show an excuse to the public to almost resell the same object. A way that I have avoided using cliches is that the card has no cliche images within it as well as on it. With there being no cliches, it is unique in that there is no card like this one which gives it its authenticity.

References 

Adorno, T and Horkheimer, M (1992) Dialectic of Enlightenment New York: Herder and Herder [Accessed 1 Jun. 2015]

Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror: 15 Million Merits (2011) is an analogy of the Culture Industry in contemporary society. Discuss.

Describe how the key themes of Adorno’s The Culture Industry relate to the themes within Charlie Brooker’s 15 Million Credits. Include at least 2 references from Adorno’s essay to support your argument.

With this essay, I will be explaining the key themes that are within Theodor Adorno’s The Culture Industry and how these themes then link with what is in Charlie Brooker’s 15 Million Merits.

What is learnt from Adorno’s The Culture Industry is pseudo individualisation which is where an object, situation, or a person behaves as if they are original but in reality they are not. An example of something that could claim to be unique would be TV programmes such as animal rescue. In the trailers, the voiceover would state the show would be different but when compared to previous animal rescue programmes, they are in reality very similar. Standardisation is another key theme that outlines that materials have been reduced to duplications. An everyday example of standardisation would be where record labels release a song and claim that it is original when it is actually like previously released. Commodification has been discovered as another theme from The Culture Industry and this would be where items would be changed so they become marketable and an everyday example of this could be a piece of glass that could be altered into a paperweight.

The final theme in ’15 Million Merits’ would be Authenticity and this would be items or materials that have a feeling of being distinctive and original. An example of authenticity in everyday could be upcycling objects making them a one off using the skills such as painting and sawing, and also decorating.

With 15 Million Merits, Pseudo individualisation is the most noticeable theme; this is that it is the theme that stands out the most. How this theme is used within the film is that the characters choose their food, but their choice seem individual but they have a limited choice on what is to choose from the vending machines. With the pornographic advert ‘Wraith Babes’, the advert may seem different each time to the viewers of the programme as well as the characters but the pseudo is that the adverts are actually the same. What the judges say to the contestants on the talent show ‘Hot Shot’ is that they would ‘show their talent to everyone’ and they claim to be an original talent but when the contestant is successful, they end up appearing upon the pornographic show ‘Wraith babes’ instead of following their dreams of being a singer or a dancer etc.

The work that the characters do within their world is shown as standardisation as they follow a routine daily. This would be such as being on the same allocated bike everyday earning merits and these merits would be used for food as well as drink, and repeated daily. How the merits are shown, as standardisation is that they are used for toothpaste, food and drink, and when they have 15 million of the merits, they are then able to enter the talent show. The clothes that are worn are the same everyday as well as for the characters, what they wear is casual grey sports clothes to possibly make it look to them as if they are part of a group. The show that some of the characters participate on, ‘Hot Shot’ is reduced to the same format as the popular talent shows; Britain’s Got Talent, and The X Factor. How the show ‘Hot Shot’, is the same format is that the judges would ask the contestant to introduce themselves and their act, after the act is attempted, the judges would then say the same phrase repeatedly to each contestant which is ‘we have never seen anything like this’. When the characters are in their rooms which appear to have virtual images such as a rooster for the alarm, as well as their personal avatars which are shown as the audience when they are watching Hot Shot, shows the same adverts repeatedly such as; for the talent show as well as the ‘Wraith Babes’ show. Whenever someone refuses to watch an advert, they are fined by their merits, as these are used as penalties by being deducted as a consequence. To summarise, as Adorno states ‘it refers to the standardisation of the thing itself’ (1947 p100), the Culture Industry essay shows its connection to the 15 Million Merits program as the merits are used constantly and are used in the same fashion daily and it shows they are standardised with their purpose.

Another theme would be commodification. What this would be is a combination of a commodity that is a marketable item and modification that is the meaning of transforming/changing something. So commodification is truly a commodity that is transformed into an item that helps generate profit. How this is shown in 15 Million Merits is that the main character enters the talent contest with a shard of glass. So that he can say a speech that he would be unable to without it, he places it to his neck as he spreads the truth about the contest. How this shard of glass becomes a commodification is that when he wins the contest, he ends up having his own live stream to other people. And this is available for the characters’ avatars so that they can buy a version of the shard that their avatar places to their neck. How this links to The Culture Industry is that Adorno quotes that ‘each product of the culture industry becomes its own advertisement’ (1947 p100) as it is that the main character’s shard has become a commodification as already mentioned as it was transformed as a prop for the live stream as well as an avatar accessory.

With most of the themes being about reducing people to a lower state or not being truthful, there is some goodness with and this is the theme of Authenticity. The authenticity with the Black Mirror is that when the main character’s friend creates an origami penguin, she is only allowed for the item to be kept for 24 hours and then it is discarded of, this that they are no allowed to be unique as they are to be forced to follow a routine day in and day out. What is also unique is that the same woman has a different voice when singing as well as the song that she had sung and the judges say this but they actually don’t follow with what they said.

To conclude, I would believe that the themes within Adorno’s The Culture Industry have a connection to the themes discovered Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror: 15 Million Merits.

References:

Adorno, T (1947) The Culture Industry Reconsidered, London: Routledge

Digital Surrealism portrait of Katy Perry

For my Surrealism portrait, I used two different images of artist Katy Perry. The first image was of her alter ego ‘Kathy Beth Terry’, and the second image was of Katy Perry herself. To create the style of Surrealism, I wanted to crop the images in half and place them together.

To continue with the theme of Surrealism, I added a colourful background. Also, the opacity of the photographs was reduced so that the background was slightly visible.

I as well included tiger skins in the foreground individually using the ‘Perspective’ transform tool so that it looks like the ‘skin’ is disappearing in to the ‘vanishing point’.

I also added a Sudoku image as well as a planet image for the ‘alter ego’ as it shows her imagination.

For the tiger’s eye, I used the Lasso tool so that I could select the eye of an image of a tiger. The purpose in why I have used an image of a tiger’s eye is that is relates to Katy Perry’s imagination.

The way that this image links to the style of Surrealism is that according to ArtRepublic (2015) surrealism is ‘dedicated to expressing the imagination’. This means that Surrealists express their imagination in their work.

My version of surrealism art shows a juxtaposition of the person featured, the way that it shows the juxtaposition of Katy Perry is that one half is of her alter ego ‘Katy Beth Terry’ and the other is of Katy Perry herself.

Reference:

ArtRepublic (2015) Surrealism definition Available at: http://www.artrepublic.com/art_terms/19-surrealism.html [Accessed: 5 Jan. 2015]

Deep in Thought – ‘Simulated’ movie poster

This is a movie poster that I had created following the themes of Postmodernism.

Why this poster follows the movement of ‘Postmodernism’ is that it is a simulation. the way that the image is a simulation is that it is parody of a movie poster as well as a popular film ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’.

This image is also a “dream” because it has been created the way that i wanted it to be and it is also symbolic to the genre of the “film” which is Romance. The way that the poster is symbolic is that it contains the denotations and connotations and these would be; the flowers which mean love. And also the pink background would say that the film would be about romance as that colour is widely used in romantic film posters.

This poster was created to show my persona which is that I am usually found thinking, hence why the film is named as ‘Deep in Thought’.