One last hurrah!

For my final class project, I am creating a circus museum in Second Life using Special Collections objects including a number of photos and rare posters. Special Collections is located in Milner Library at Illinois State University. The Gamma Phi circus is going to perform on campus this April. Illinois State is one of two universities that has an 'in-house' circus training program, which is what Gamma Phi is. Florida State University is the other university that has a circus. I was doing some research for an NEH grant as part of my graduate assistant duties when I discovered this information. I was researching the history of ISU in order to discover when Art, Theater and Music history started to be taught. In order to do that I had to begin with the earliest course catalogs, which start almost with ISU's charter in 1857.

Physical education was introduced very early in the university curriculum and began with a YMCA facility in Bloomington/Normal. It was also considered important for women to "have a healthy complexion" fostered by 'appropriate' physical exercise. I believe this is clear indication of a specific sort of rhetoric aimed at the "fairer sex".

On campus, last week, I saw a poster that advertised the upcoming performance. The visual rhetoric of the image included a picture of a scantly clad female circus perform. Based on my review of hundreds of posters and photos from the ISU collection (mostly from the 1920's, 30's, and 40's) times have not changed much as far as what is used to 'sell' the circus.

I was not able to find an electronic version of the current poster. However, you can see an image from the past (or is it present?).

Metropolis - Cyborg Women in Film

I am reviewing the original script for Metropolis by both Fritz Lang and Thea von Harbou for a Visual Culture seminar discussion. I find it curious that Lang's final film includes a different representation of women's roles (vamp vs. virgin) than Harbou's does. I am not really surprised, but it is interesting to see how film as evolved, or not, as the case may be.

Harbou is certainly a product of her time, but her explanation for why Rotwang creates a female 'robot' is much clearer in her screenplay than it is in the movie where the Vamp 'bot is referred to as a Machine Man.

As I have been reading about Laura Mulvey's analysis of the gaze in film and Donna Haraway's Cyborg Manifesto, I have had a different experience when contemplating this visually compelling film.

Document Designs

Over the past few weeks I have been working on my ideas for a final project. As I consider how to proceed, I find that I think of my self as a "communication architect", which our author Schriver describes so well.

In this role I plan to create a virtual space in Second Life, that will really let me 'play' with this role. By creating a 3D-like space, I will be able to be a virtual communication architect. In this space I will be able to experiment with 2D document designs, typography, photoshop, and communication planning.

I have included an image of the planned space that I have created thus far. Let me know what you think.

Science and the Gaze

In Chicago, in 2006, I went to see Gunther von Hagen's Body Worlds. At the time, I was not aware of the controversy surrounding both his labor practices in China or the source of his 'specimens'.

I took my children to the exhibit to try to explain to them what had happened to both of their grandfathers, who had both died within the year. We were able to see examples of cancer in the body, which really helped them understand what happened in one instance. We were also able to see how Parkinson's disease affects healthy brain matter. One grandpa donated his body to a medical school so doctors could learn more about Parkinson's disease by looking at what happened to his brain (although he would not have wanted to be on permanent display). His body was returned after cremation. The other grandpa spent $10,000 on a funeral. This was money that he did not have. I was conflicted about these issues at the time.

People asked me why I took my children to this and how they felt about it. I explained that I wanted them to understand that death was not to be feared, but rather understood so that we could make the most out of the time we have to live. Furthermore, the kids were not afraid or disgusted probably because my husband and I weren't. Other patrons of the museum were respectful as well.

I realize there are cultural differences in the interpretation of Body Worlds. I also now know that there were serious ethical concerns. Some of the bodies on display may have been of executed Chinese political prisoners. Hagen's has addressed this, but not to universal satisfaction. Also, Hagen's factory was in China where the labor practices were questionable. When he tried to purchase a facility in Poland for plastination of human bodies, there was an uproar due to the history of Nazi death camps in the region.

Now, as the picture above infers, Hagen's is processing more animals for his exhibits, again the factory is in China. It should be interesting to see if he gets as much flack for this as he does for his human exhibitions.

Pictura, Inscriptio and Subscriptio

As a final note to my 'traveling' panorama, today I realized that I intuitively employed some of the theoretical strategies that Hanno Ehses and Ellen Lupton suggest in their joint article Design Papers: Rhetorical Handbook.

When I created the panorama, I used principles of the didactic emblem books of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (see Ottavio Scarlattini (1623-1699) image on this post for an example). Those principles were pictura, inscriptio, and subscriptio. Pictura refers to images; inscriptio, refers to titles or mottos; and, subscriptio refers to narrative text.

Ehses and Lupton say that, "The combination of image and narrative usually results in a riddle, the solution of which comes about through an explanatory third part, the narrative text. An emblematic image is not simply a mute representation but refers to didactic and moral meanings" (Ehses and Lupton 5-6).

While I realized that my rhetorical strategy for this module was not new, it was interesting to see that the intuitive process I used could be justified on another level than the way I justified it in my memo.

Ehses, Hanno and Lupton, Ellen. "Design Papers: Rhetorical Handbook." Cooper Union, NY. 1988. Call letters: P 93.5 . R54, 1988.

Uncle Tom's Pancake House

As I was recording my visual experience for the module five, I noted a particular sign that I find troubling every time I pass by it. It is just off of I-55, exit 165 to be precise, when you are entering Bloomington. The sign is yellow and red and says Uncle Tom's Pancake House. Can you imagine why I find this troubling. If not, a quick google search should give you a 'heads-up'. "Uncle Tom is a perjorative term for a black person who is perceived by others as behaving in a subservient manner to white authority figures, or as seeking ingratiation with them by way of unnecessary accommodation." (Wordnet.princeton.edu. Retrieved March 31, 2010)

I pass by this sign every day and even though I am not a person of color, I find it offensive. The stock characterization of a group of people isn't right and I think signage like this perpetuates stereotypes.

I know I'm on a soapbox here, but really what's in a sign is more than mere letters. The visual rhetoric of this particular sign screams 'slur'.

Colonialism, Orientalism and Cultural Imperialism

I selected Slumdog Millionaire for (re)interpretation. I did this for three reasons. First, the representation of Indians by white, Englishmen disturbed me because the representations smack of residual colonialism. Second, the changes in the actor's skin color from the early part of the film to the end of the film serve to orientalize people of color. Third, there appeared to be several layers of cultural imperialism inherent in this film, including inter-India caste conflicts, Hindu and Muslim disputes, and perceived povertiy of India's populace by Westerners.

Now, that I have described my approach to viewing Slumdog I will proceed in defining the three primary concepts based on my understanding of colonialism, orientalism, and cultural imperialism.

Colonialism in this context refers to the domination of India under British colonial rule. In this film, the director, screenwriter, and producers are all white, Englishmen of means. Yet, they are appropriating Indian culture to stage this movie.

Orientalism in this context refers to the objectification of the primary female character, Latika (Freida Pinto). Rather than being soley a feminist perspective, this is infact orientalism on the level with Ingres in Grand Odalisque. Pinto fills the role of the 'other' as an object of the male gaze. Furthermore, Latika's oppressors are portrayed as violent men of color, which seems to be a pretty stable concept of Orientalism.

Cultural imperialism in this context refers to the domination of one religion over another. In this case it is Hindu versus Muslim. There appear to be Indian caste differences played out in the ethnic characteristics of the actors as well. Finally, the urban Indian slums depicted in this movie evoke cultural imperialism as well in regard to a Western gaze.