September 5, 2007

Children of the Storm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWsGxZGkENw

In light of the 2 year anniversary of Hurrican Katrina recently, I wanted to share a video that I came across. The silence and images can be just as powerful as these kids stories.

Comment on Doisneau, Eisenstaedt, and Berger




In the photograph (smaller one) known as the Kiss by the Hotel de ville, as taken by Doiseneau, as mentioned in the readings from last week, this photographer made his living by selling emotion. This photograph was actually posed with actors and taken in 1950. In comparison, the larger photo, taken by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, was shot in 1945 and he did not know the subjects. I think both images display what Berger is quoted as saying as "men act and women appear"...and that "...thus she turns herself into an object- and most particualary an object of vision: a sight." This is more obvious in the Eisenstaedt photo since the sailor is kissing a nurse, complete in a white uniform, who could be seen as a whole host of symbols.

Demonstration


This is a post. I am including an image of a sign that I saw in PHI.

September 3, 2007

Seeing is fraught

One of my undergraduate students used this youtube.com video for an assignment that asked them to "show looking" in a cultural artifact. It is a good piece, one I wanted to remember. So I'm putting it here.