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7 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Introduction |
Language = information exchange Sign system: pictures, drawings, linguistic signs, gestures, musical sounds For signification mediality is important |
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Culture |
"Man is a symbol-making animal" Culture-> symbolic system and a social activity as well (because a symbol only makes sense if there is sb who understands it and responds to it Culture is self-reflexive (ensemble stories we tell ourselves about ourselves Stories are constracted, made up-> to some extent fiction Cumultative cultural evolution - "rathet-effect"- when a generation acquires a knowledge and the next generation inherits it and modifies it-> human specific way of inheriting culture |
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The mediality of culture (the multimediality of culture) |
Cultural representation -> multimedial and intermedial Cult.repr.: A symbolic system and social practice by which a community constructs, interprets and represents its own identity Culture: a social practice of multimedial, self-reflexive and narrative representations+by othering, it separates from other communities |
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The multimediality of culture II - Disciplinary areas |
If culture is a symbolic system, we have to study the structure of symbols, their behaviour and working (Carl Gustav Jung and others)If culture is a multimedial representation, we have to study the nature of mediality and the characteristics of the various media (2 great turns: linguistic-Jakobson, Saussure, pictorial-Hans Belting); If culture is a social practice and a mechanism to construct identity, we have to study the ideological contexts and the pragmatics of symbolic signs (2 main aspects: interpretation of symbols (Wittgenstein), politics of their use (Foucault) If all human action can be seen as a cultural representation->all forms of art are cultural representationsArtistic representation: art is what the interpretive community uses as art |
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Symbols |
Important to understand cultural representations, 2 different approaches: Pre-modern: all kinds of figurative images are symbols (e.g. lion standing for power, cross for Christ), Post-Enlightenment: symbols w/allegories (creates an undividable unity btw image and idea) and metaphors (connects the image to different concepts), founded by Goethe, confirmed by Coleridge, sign-system created by humanity is lg Needs overcoding: cultural symbols carry further layers of meaning (Umberto Eco) Tradition-based cultural representations: iconographical symbols, a fresco (we can only interpret it if we have multiple Biblical referencing |
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The politics of images |
Four attitudes: iconophilia, iconophobia, iconoclasm, fetishism Political power of images: for example Nicholas Zrini and Suleiman were enemies back in the 16th century but when Turkey tried to join the EU, the Turkish government sponsored a common memorial to the two heroes (the picture about them serves a different meaning over time) |
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Examples |
Disney movies' development of feminist movements Pre-Transition: Cinderella Portrait of women's domesticity, gender stereotypes, passive princesses, active men Transition: Pocahontas Aftereffects of the 2nd wave of feminism, sexism, criticism of gendered patterns of socialization->female protagonist experiencing the need to be free from societal bond, BUT her happy end depends on her return to the role expected from women Progression: Frozen 3rd wave of feminism, breaks the traditional role of princesses, independent, not accepting social norms As we see, movies reflect culture ans cultural changes |
