Theory and Methods ARH 411

Film Gaze   "Rear Window”. PG 1954 ‧ Thriller/Mystery Directed by Alfred Hitchcock   We’ve all watched a movie in the movie theater, you know that feeling you get; being in the dark room, a big screen, some snacks and surrounded by strangers. We watch these moving images in “awe” completely engaged by images moving on the screen. Film was made for us to engage into; for us to follow a story, a plot. The creation of film history dates back to the late 1800’s and traditional cinema was made for the ideal white male and it was meant to feed his alter ego, give him something to look up to and admire something to desire. Yet 1 “ Man is reluctant to gaze at his exhibitionist ” Laura Mulvey states this in her essay, she’s basically calling men out to be these attention seekers yet they hide this through their roles in film, 2 “ Hence the split between spectacle and narrative supports the man's role as the active one of advancing the story, making things happen. The man controls the f...

AURA OF ART: The Reproduction Era When we compare analog photography with printmaking we can say that the concept is very much similar and they provide the same purpose to reproduce an original piece and make copies of those artworks. With analog photography they use a chemical process to transfer the original art to hard copies and it’s normally transferred to paper, but also can be put onto plates and films. While printmaking is another process that would rely more on the machinery coping of an original art work and has a longer process for development. Artworks have many ways of being reproduced and shared to the public. When we compare printed copies and photographic copies to painted copies there can be quite a few differences. Based on lighting, the environment and the artist who is recreating an art piece. When we look at the idea of another artist or the original artist to recreate an original we rely on their own perception of t...

     BEAUTY  Hickey believes himself to be different from the historians because he says he doesn’t believe in meaning, politics, and purpose behind art. He feels art is an emotional inflictor that everyone is supposed to agree and have the same terms with an art piece. During the assigned reading I noticed a lot of Hickey’s views of beauty tend to be subjective and came from his own belief of beauty, even though he wanted to claim himself as the arbiter of beauty, that was simply not the case. He felt that beauty was obvious and that we are meant to all view art in the same light as him. He denies that beauty is subjective and claims it to be objective as he would compare this idea to mapplethorpe’s art work which would mostly consist of naked black men. I think of why he would use mapplethorpe to depict his idea of beauty as objective, and I believe it was because he was focused on the sexual tension that came from the art. I don’t believe he would look at the art...