Chapter One - What is truth or fiction?

How is Magritte’s painting an argument about the relationship of words and things?

Magritte admonishes us to beware of the "treachery of images" with his pipe that is not a pipe but rather an image of a pipe. In the image to the left, the egg is referred to as a tree, the shoe as a moon, the hat as snow, the candle as the ceiling, the glass as a storm, and the hammer as a desert. The title to this painting is "The Key of Dreams". If Magritte had not used words with his images, we would engage with this painting in a completely different way. As it is, I had to engage with the painting to translate the French words to English. What did I lose in translation?

What do the authors mean by the “myth of photographic truth?”

The general assumption is that whatever image is captured in the silver of the film becomes irrefutable truth. However, the camera is operated remotely or directly by a person. The person has the power of capturing the image as she sees fit. She can crop and frame what she likes and filter what she sees when she wants. One can equate this to a storyteller's art.

Digital cameras and image software like Photoshop have changed the nature of the photograph's perceived truth. Perhaps photography is more like painting now than in Barthes era. For example, I used Photoshop to remove the words that Magritte used on his painting (shown above right). I altered his painting and could do the same to a digital photograph.


What the difference between the denotative and connotative meanings of images (p. 20)?

"The denotative meaning of the image refers to its literal, explicit meaning. ... Connotative meanings are informed by the cultural and historical context of the image and its viewers' lived, felt knowledge of those circumstances --all that the image means to them personally and socially" (Sturken 20).

Arguably, I changed both denotative and connotative meaning of Magritte's painting by manipulating the image. Moreover, the connotation of the original painting is subject to change depending on the person looking at the painting.