Ideology through Images

Images can very powerful tools because they can be used to display, promote, interpret, and manipulate our own ideologies. Ideology basically means our values belief set. How we view everything in the world is based off of our own ideology.



This is an image of "Uncle Sam", Uncle Sam is a personification of the United States Government. I chose this image because it is a good image to use when trying to understanding the role that ideology effects how we view the world round us. To some people a picture of Uncle Sam represents large and all too powerful government that bullies its citizens while others view this image as an example of successful democracy and the strength of our country. I would say that political ideology plays a large role in how this image is viewed.

The text refers to "image icons" or an image that has great meaning to people because of what it represents. This was the most interesting section of the reading to me because this is the essence of the power of images. There are images that have the ability to incite all types of thoughts and emotions in people. An image icon can be a political statement like the image of the Olympic rings in the tank of the protestors of the 2008 summer games in Beijing, or religious such as the Madonna Figure to Christians.

The Myth of Photographic Truth

Chapter one of "Practices of Looking" by Marita Sturken and Lisa Cartwright introduced me to some new vocabulary and new insight to how we interpret images. The Author introduces "representation" which is how we use language and images to bring meaning to our lives and the world we live in. This can be done through different methods such as paintings and photography and is very effective for expressing our views or even capturing something for evidence or historical value. The author references a photo of Emmett Till who was brutally beaten and murdered in 1955 which was used to represent "the violent oppression of blacks in the time period".(pg. 11)

Here is a photo of Emmett Till


What is the myth of photographic truth?

The myth of photographic truth is the theory that photographs are associated with the truth and are exact copies of reality because they are produced by a mechanical device therefore not exposed to the subjectivity of humans. Also the belief that photography was invented to record reality.

However photographic truth is a myth because photographs are not objective. They are still exposed to human subjectivity because they selectively created and manipulated no less than say drawing or painting and can be used for representation in various ways.

In "Practices of Looking" theorist Roland Barthes uses the term "myth" in a different way. "For Barthes, myth is the hidden set of rules and conventions through which meanings, which are specific to certain groups, are made to seem universal and given for a whole society(pg. 20)". Barthes references a French advertisement of an Italian brand pasta and sauce as an example of this, he explains how the advertisement perpetrates stereotypes of Italian culture. When presented to the French people they will now have a romanticized sense of what Italian culture is supposed to be like.

Pictures Vs. Words

Everyone is very familiar with the phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words” but does this mean that pictures are actually more powerful than words themselves? This is surely one of those topics that are subjective but in my opinion both pictures and words can be equally effective at relaying thoughts, feelings, and emotion. Our daily lives are dependent on both pictures and words from the way we communicate to the way we get information and news and even the way we learn.

Everyday words are used as powerful tools to affect our world. An example of this is the way companies advertise their products on the radio. If you sit back and think I am 100% sure that you will be able to come up with a few jingles that have been embedded in your memory do to constant repetition of certain radio advertisements. The reason I use the medium of radio is because there are no images involved just sounds and words coming from your speakers. Printed word has been so powerful since the beginning of time that sometimes it’s scary. People such as Adolf Hitler have used words to bring about whole social and political movements, he found ways to control and manipulate media in his country to push and gain support for his own agendas and it worked. Martin Luther King Jr. used his words to bring about change and awareness to civil rights in America and it worked, through books and speeches he could make his words more powerful than guns. Surely everyone has heard of “I Have a Dream”.

Pictures can be just as powerful as words. Pictures can have no words but speak to you as if they were human. Many people choose to convey how they feel and think through images and art instead of using words as I am with this blog. I choose to not go in too deep about the power of pictures,why not use some images to convey these thoughts?

Words Vs Pictures? I can’t say that I believe there is a clear winner but both can have the same effect.