Critical Writing: Study task 03

Postmodernism is a lat 20th century style and concepts in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which repreents a departure from modrnism and is characterised by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of diferent artisitic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories.

Pastiche - an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period

Modernism and postmodernism from a Marxist perspective

The producers of culture have nowhere to turn to other than the past: the imitation of dead styles

Simulacrum - there is a real thing in the first instance and then you have the first representation of tht thing and then the representation of the representation.

Culture has come so far now, images and language are no longer originals. It is just representation after representations. Guy Debord and the idea of spectacle 
'the culture of the simulacrum comes to life in a society where exchange value has been generalised to the point at which the very memory of use value is effaced, a society of which Guy Debord has observed'.

Representation - how we communicate visually
Parody - form of representaion of the past as a mode of communication
Pastiche - negative opinion on pastiche as a mode of communication
Nostalgia - representation of the past is not in anyway accurate, based on stereatypes of what we interpret that time to be in order to convey the time period
Cultural production - images, text, film, music etc. become embedded within capitalist production and are subject to exchange value but by doing that it disables the actual value of these things. The value is embedded in capitalist production rather than the artefact itself.   

nostalgia films 
these films do not accurately represent the time period 
glamourises the times and the situations
- american graffiti
- rumble fish
- stranger things

Uses of pastiche in graphic design: 

Stranger & Stranger
- hand lettering 

hand lettering

art deco

Jonathan Barnbrook: Barnbrook Bible

- postmodernist typeface

Critical Writing: Study task 02

Male Gaze Theory

Laura Mulvey’s text Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (1975)

Break down of the structure of the 3 texts:
1. her use of psychoanalysis as a feminist critical tool 
Psychoanalytical theory (personality is formed through conflicts among three fundamental structures of the human mind: id, ego, and superego) is used as a political weapon, demonstrating the way the unconscious of patriarchal society has structured the film form. 
Castration is all about when the young boy develops his sense of subjectivity and raises that not everyone has the same penis he does. He develops a strong anxiety that someone will take his, he believes that women will do this because they do not have their own. The women is always the symbol of this threat in a non literal way. 

2. the opportunity in contemporary cinema for more radical forms that break away from patriarchal influence 
Modern cinema must start by reacting against these obsessions and assumptions so that the visual pleasure can be manipulated to move away from the 'normal' pleasurable expectations of the patriarchal influence. this will allow a new language of desire to be built. 

3. explanation of scopophilia ... how it relates to cinema 
Scopohilia is the pleasure in looking, of which Freud associated to be one of the component instincts of sexuality. Scopohilia is seen to be the act of taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze. The extreme contrast between the darkness in the auditorium and the brilliance of light on the screen creates an element of separation, allowing the audience to look in on the 'private' world and form a repressed desire onto the performer. 

4. explanation of narcissistic pleasure ... how it relates to cinema
A contradiction in cinematic pleasure has been identified; suggesting that we gain pleasure from looking at another individual without then knowing that we are looking (voyeuristic scopophilia - character acting as if we do not exist). Narcissistic scopophilia is when there is a connection between us and the character in which we have identified as an idealised version of ourselves. The job of the female character is to become the object of voyeuristic scopophilia and the job of the male character is to be the vessel for narcissistic scopophilia. It relates to the cinema because you recognise yourself in the characters that are on screen, it is the identification which then lets those character guide our personalities. 

5. summary of the two forms of visual pleasure ... and a discussion of the castration threat
It is the women that is always positioned as the threat that the men have to try to subjugate in some kind of way. The division is not thought to be enough to secure the male pleasure, meaning there is still a threat of castration anxiety. 
Two ways: narratively, the female character is punished for her 'misguided' lifestyle, and visually, where a fetishised object is used to 'replace' the missing phallus. (stilettos heels)

6.  the roles that men and women play in cinema and spectatorship - active/male, passive/women
Male characters drive the plot forward while female characters are just there to be seen. It has been shown that the female character performs for an audience of predominately men, not furthering the plot but only showing off the woman. 
The viewers are thought to identify with the characters on screen and put themselves in their lives, idealising them as characters. 

7. the constant threat of castration and how the male unconscious relinquishes it
Preoccupation wit the reenactment of the original trauma and being curious about the females body. 

Storey, J(2001) Cultural theory and Popular Culture:
Cine-psychoanalysis:

• analysis of Laura Mulvey's text, secondary text
• aimed at students, explains/explores the original text, interpretation
• recognise difference in texts, always look at primary texts

Dyer, R (1979) Stars:

• argument against Mulvey
• presenting a counter argument to counter but not contrast
• incorporates Mulvey's idea but develops them further with the psychoanalytical theory 

In terms of graphic design:

• male gaze used when investigating advertising and social media
• rekate theories to visual circumstances
• developing theories further based on argument

Diegesis - tone of voice
Verisimilitude - the appearance of being true or real

Critical Writing: Study task 01

Establishing a research question:

1. Focus on a specific graphic design discipline

2. The question must be open ended.

3. The question must allow for suitable theoretical research as well as visual exploration.

4. Position your research within contemporary graphic design practice - make it work for you.

5. Do some quick preliminary research to gauge how much literature is currently available... do the same to explore what is currently happening within the industry.

6. Consider what primary research methods could be used to support your research.


Graphic Design and political change in the 21st Century

• why do many of them operate anonymously or behind pseudonyms?
• modernism
• modern day propaganda
• most recent voting was many students frist time
• Corbyn aimed a change at the, to increase the amount of propaganda that was released into society
• scared to vote differently to peers
• Anderson + Valli argue that it is graphic culture, not art that reflects the mentality and concerns of our time
• each party has a very different visual style, does this effect the people interested in the particular party

OUGD501: Briefing

Module aims

• to identify and apply a range of methods of research, analysis and critical evaluation of theories, practices and contexts appropriate to increasingly individual concerns within art, design and media
• to further develop and examine effective approaches to the documentation and communication of analytical, critical and reflective responses to source material
• to establish and critically explore an integrated understanding of theoretical and practical contexts of increasingly individual creative practices and concerns
• to adequately prepare learners for the theoretical and practical research demands

Part 1: Critical writing

• 2500 word essay
• complex ideas, theories and concepts
• obective, specialised language all in 3rd person
• some quotes, but also your own words and reference author
• arguments and conclusions must be supported through an understanding of relevant literature, competent visual analysis and logical arguing

Part 2: Visual investigation

• design boards and final outcome
• explore the creative, practical and pragmatic issues surrounding your chosen topic