VCC304H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Bejai, Roland Barthes, Fredric Jameson

• School: UTM
• Department: Visual Culture and Communication
• Course: VCC304H5
• Professor: Cheryl Thompson

Document Summary

Mirzoeff (cid:862)visual (cid:272)ultu(cid:396)e is (cid:272)o(cid:374)(cid:272)e(cid:396)(cid:374)ed (cid:449)ith (cid:448)isual e(cid:448)e(cid:374)ts i(cid:374) (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h i(cid:374)fo(cid:396)(cid:373)atio(cid:374), (cid:373)ea(cid:374)i(cid:374)g o(cid:396) pleasu(cid:396)e is sought (cid:271)(cid:455) the (cid:272)o(cid:374)su(cid:373)e(cid:396) i(cid:374) a(cid:374) i(cid:374)te(cid:396)fa(cid:272)e (cid:449)ith (cid:448)isual te(cid:272)h(cid:374)olog(cid:455)(cid:863) (cid:894)p. (cid:1007)(cid:895). Sturken and cartwright (cid:862)visual (cid:272)ultu(cid:396)e e(cid:374)(cid:272)o(cid:373)passes (cid:373)a(cid:374)(cid:455) (cid:373)edia fo(cid:396)(cid:373)s (cid:396)a(cid:374)gi(cid:374)g f(cid:396)o(cid:373) fine art to popular film and television to advertising to visual data in fields such as the s(cid:272)ie(cid:374)(cid:272)es, la(cid:449), a(cid:374)d (cid:373)edi(cid:272)i(cid:374)e(cid:863) (cid:894)p. (cid:1006)(cid:895). I(cid:374) (cid:862)the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction(cid:863), walte(cid:396) be(cid:374)ja(cid:373)i(cid:374), (cid:449)(cid:396)ites of the loss of the aura through the mechanical reproduction of art itself. The aura for benjamin represented the originality and authenticity of a work of art that had not been reproduced. Example: a painting has an aura while a photograph does not; for benjamin, the photograph is an image of an image while the painting remains utterly original. Now these means of representation no longer seem convincing without any alternative having emerged.