¶ … Visual in Western Thinking and Culture
It is true that, as a society, we tend to focus on the visual in most of our endeavors. One only needs to look at the many aspects of vision that permeate our lives. Aspects of entertainment like movies, magazines, and the electronic media fill our hours with an endless array of visual material to be used and consumed towards different ends. Even in education, a lecture becomes much more interesting if visual images accompany them. Visual images also tend to enhance a text of reading material. Children learn by means of visual images, and this is an aspect they do not seem to lose as they grow up. In most classrooms, visual materials are considered one of the most important aspects of learning.
Hence, the texts offer some interesting analyses of the way in which culture has evolved to become what is referred to as the "visual" culture of today. Most interesting is the way in which vision plays a role in the representation of the "other." When slavery was an accepted part of culture, for example, this was promoted in many ways via images. Propaganda was spread to justify the use of slavery in plantations and to promote the superiority of the white as opposed to other races. The "other" was considered only from the Western viewpoint and sketched as such. This continued even long after the abolishment of slavery and during the segregation eras throughout the world. The oppression of blacks and other races was perpetuated...
This in itself speaks of the power of visual images in the Western mind. There are few things as powerfully influencing is the visual image. This is also evident in advertising today.
Women and young girls, for example, place their faith in advertising when considering what is acceptable not only in terms of fashion, but also in terms of physical beauty. The visual media creates a certain expectation in terms of body image. Women in the media are considered beautiful only if they are thin and have flawless skin. Not very long ago, the image of races other than white did not play a small role in this. Beauty was considered to be the privilege of the white race only, with images of non-white people taking a subordinate position in terms of both power and beauty in media images.
I particularly enjoyed the consideration of films in chapter 4, where the authors note that the culture of oppression was perpetuated by presenting the "other" in films as subordinate to the power of the white race. This was presented as a value that was good and right to uphold. However, once this conception of culture has been overthrown, there have been a number of "revenge films" in which the black was presented as powerful and strong, fighting for the justice that has so long eluded the black race.
This shows, I believe, that cultural development drives the kind of images to which we are subjected. These images are…
