This was my favorite chapter so far!!!
In a contemporary context of photography it is nearly impossible to divorce highbrow "art" photography from the photography found in advertisements. Whether it is because we are so bombarded with images that we allow these two seemingly separate realms of photography to influence each other or because these two industries enjoy responding/mocking/referencing each other, it is clear that when pursuing photography even in a strictly Fine Art sense one must now become well-versed in commodity culture. I found this chapter so vastly interesting as it covered everything from stock images to fashion photography to gender roles within advertisements. The common link between all of these different subjects discussed within the chapter however, I feel, was the use of photography as a means of objectifying people. For instance, in stock photography the photographer seeks out the nondescript. This contrasts radically with the photojournalist, who typically seeks out the extraordinary or sensational. Effective stock photography needs to be as banal as possible with as little indication of specificity or individualization as possible. The other aspect I found intriguing about this chapter was the trend of dislocating body parts to objectify and/or sexualize a person (such as in the Fashion ad where a woman's legs were shown coming out of an egg, or the ad where a black woman's head was cropped out). I think this chapter raises a lot of awareness to how images can be so manipulative and telling of society's gazes. While the chapter focused primarily on women, I think that men are also being widely objectified in advertisements today. It made me think a lot about how commercials now tend to try to find someone of ambiguous race in hopes that that will help a broader audience to connect. I also found the parts about the sexualization of non-Western women widely interesting. I think there is a sort of deep-seated fantasy that goes along with exoticism (such as that non-white women are more sexually available to men) that is still prevalent today and this chapter did an excellent job of highlighting that.
While I don't have any specific questions I want to ask, I am curious to see if my classmates think that there are any times or instances in which disjointing body parts in advertisements could be anything other than objectification. I'm also just really interested to hear what other people have to say on this chapter and I am definitely excited to talk about it tomorrow!
