Ethnographic Analysis Of Women

“Never Just Pictures” by Susan Bordo, is about how today’s society is influenced by the mass medias unrealistic ideas of how they are supposed to look. In this essay, the author breaks down the images being showcased by today’s culture concerning the aesthetics of the female body. Bordo also talks about how what was considered ‘beautiful’ or ‘perfect’ before has changed. Lately, the world has been on a craze to look like the air brushed model in the picture. Bordo explains how a lot of people are becoming more obsessed with their physique, and depending on looking thin to make them happy, instead of focusing on being happy and healthy.

Before starting this project, I knew very little about photography, photographers, or exactly how much impact photographical images have had on our society. I have never taken a photography class, or researched too in depth about specific pictures or photographers. This project has allowed me to delve deeper into the world of photography in order to understand just how much influence pictures can have over society’s beliefs, emotions, and understandings’. I have have chosen two highly influential photographers, Diane Arbus and Dorothea Lange, who I have found to both resonate with me and perfectly capture human emotions in way that moves others.

People tend to views an image based on how society say it should be they tend to interpret the image on those assumption, but never their own assumptions. Susan Bordo and John Berger writes’ an argumentative essay in relation to how viewing images have an effect on the way we interpret images. Moreover, these arguments come into union to show what society plants into our minds acts itself out when viewing pictures. Both Susan Bordo and John Berger shows that based on assumptions this is what causes us to perceive an image in a certain way. Learning assumption plays into our everyday lives and both authors bring them into reality.

I hated my parents for what they did to me and my brother. They were alcoholics that's why we got taken away. They gave us away like we meant nothing to them And like alcohol was better than we were. That's when i knew i had to be mature,and grow up and look after Liam. We been in foster care for 2 years. We hated it. If we ask to change they would put me(Emma) in a all girls foster home and Liam in a all boy foster home. I Couldn’t leave him by himself. So we had to suck it up and deal with it.

Venezuela is just another chapter in my ongoing book. I was born in Tamaulipas, Mexico my home country and got moved 3 months later to New Orleans. It was uncommon for a Mexican family to move so constantly all over the world, we are known to migrate to US or not migrate at all. I don’t remember New Orleans so I regarded to my next move, Colombia as my home. Colombia was everything a 4 year old wanted, friends, close to family, wonderful house and most importantly the school was accepting of others. I felt as if I belonged, I even sang the national anthem with pride, seeing that it was my country. I knew Colombia inside out, I knew the language, culture, food, education which gave me comfort as for a long time I felt ordinary like any

According to Gefter, “Truth-telling is the promise of a photograph” (342), where we can witness an authentic moment with our own eyes “while not actually being there”. A photograph reflects not only the divergent issues of the prevailing society, but also serves as both documentation and verification of historic events. But is it a proof of what actually happened in reality? When we see a photograph, we try to judge its veracity by the context in which it

Sontag claims that “photography is, a social rite, but it can also be a defense against anxiety and a tool of power (page 130).” She backs her claim by stating “photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possessions of space in which they are insecure.” (Sontag page 131). In other words, having pictures allows people to tell stories that may not be exactly true. I agree with Sontag because I have witnessed and experienced how pictures can hurt someone emotionally while empowering others.

Photography is a great source to have for reminiscing on your life. However, it doesn’t accurately depict reality. It has the ability to deceive society of what is really happening around the world and often times has become a “form of mental pollution.” It’s hard to grasp any form of knowledge that isn’t “sentimentalism” because pathos is being used more in pictures, and hiding the truth of the situation. For example, propaganda has been around for a long time. Its main purpose is to lead you to believe something that is everything but the truth. Thus, no political knowledge is gained because due to the fact that people accept the “the world … as the camera records it” because they think it does not harm. Life has to be experienced without

Mass media falsely claims to be an advocate for self-acceptance and the idea that every woman is naturally beautiful, while it simultaneously uses Photoshop to erase all trace of that natural beauty—imagine how much they would Photoshop women if they did not extol real, non-enhanced, beauty! The women in these digitally improved photos look, quite frankly, as real as Barbie and her friends, and few women actually believe that the women in the pictures look that flawless in person. However, these pictures have the power to make any woman, including those in the pictures, feel inadequate because she is not as “attractive” as a Photoshopped image, the power to make a woman detest herself

There is a belief that woman remember places such as landmarks/pictures while men use maps without the need for pictures and this is still believed in today’s society. A newspaper article by Revill J. (1999), mentioned that women lack the spatial skill needed to read a map. There have been many studies related to this topic, such the kind of strategy each gender use to remember maps, is it the nature that men possess the skills needed to read maps or is each gender nurtured to have such difference? And if visual-spatial memory is related to remembering maps. This study can help us understand if gender plays a role in map reading and uncover the myth on whether women really can’t read maps. My topic will confirm that women can read maps without

While the vast majority of images of females are being digitally enhanced, so is our appreciation for normal, healthy, beautiful, and attainable. Photoshop has gone over the top with how they make pictures look, so much that it’s negatively affecting vulnerable children, and teens with low self-esteem issues. One important justification for why people go through serious issues with their bodies like self-esteem, and eating disorders is because of the media. The media plays a huge role in our everyday life, and when a person sees an image they are automatically influenced by what that image portrays.

Social media, it is our modern cave wall, the cave wall paintings have shown us that even early man have wanted to create an identity through art, even though we don not have knowledge of the individual(s) identity, we know of their existence. Throughout humanity the image can be viewed as a conceptual idea, the actual capturing an image, making this object has only been around for 170 years, however are brains have the ability to capture images, not only that it can capture images and renders them into dreams. This imaginary ‘visions’ are our own and are completely unreal, but can be the realist part of our day, Plato talked about our exposure to the world, are concept of the world can be imaginary, it may not be real, but when confined to our own imagination it cant be any less real. Photography has a deeper meaning than taking an image, we want to photograph so we can see, we want to photograph to capture imaginations and share what we have found.

Photographs nowadays are mostly lying and affecting us negatively. They are able to lie right in front of our face, deceiving us from reality. For example, images in business advertising which is not foreseeable, but affects us mentally, psychologically, physically, and socially. One of top lying and negative images are models. Images of women in advertising lies to us completely, eliminating the truth and reality. Models are portrayed in images as absolute flawlessness, not a single line or pore to be seen, which cannot possibly be achieved. Images of women in advertising manipulates by telling them who they are and who they should be by showing ideal women, portraying them as objects revolving around sex. Even male models in advertising images lie and deceive but not as severe as women. A model, Cindy Crawford said, “I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford”. She knows she can’t possibly look like herself in the photo. These manipulating and deceiving images of models are affecting girls’ self-esteem by expecting them to be thin, hot, and flawless. The massive objectification of women in photographs rises violence against women and is also one of the main causes of anorexia. The way images/photographs are able to control and manipulate us is not foreseeable. Many would say it doesn’t affect them at all but overtime, it conquers your mind, more of a subconscious. Images don’t always lie in certain cases but are very powerful in achieving the desired goal, like they say, “ads sell more than products”. It’s not the product/object that attracts people, it’s the

Basically if the reality is there and is represented, it is there. It doesn’t make it good or bad, (Blaustein 2013: http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2013/03/20/roger-ballen-interview) which consequently makes it neutral and leaves it up to the observer to express their opinion based on what it brings up for them as individual. Roger’s work conveys the strain and inner chaos that documenting photography can never show to be true.

Taking photographs has become a staple for many individuals to document important life events in recent years. These photographs later become cues for individuals to recall their memories of what had happened during the time that the photo was taken. Since photographs usually capture real and memorable events, it would make sense to assume that the memories that photographs produce are going to be real and true memories. However, memories created by photos might not always be reliable. For example, if a group of individuals were presented with a fabricated picture from an important political event, one might assume that the individuals would simply claim to have no memory of the event happening. This, however, is not always what occurs.