Finkelstein, J. (2018). The Art of Self Invention: Image and Identity in Popular Visual Culture. 1st ed. New York: I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd.
Page 3
By the mid twentieth century, the idea of a fixed personality based on a stable mentality became increasingly untenable and the counter idea, of identity or subjectivity being an asset to be groomed and presented to best effect, had gained acceptance.
Identity is continuously restyled and invented to suit the circumstances but, at the same time, it supposedly emanates from an inner quality that universalises the human condition.
Page 13
From the mid-twentieth century onwards much of the mass media around retailing and advertising has also promoted the idea of the self as a plastic commodity.
Page 26
Such is our infatuation with the importance of the self that it means we accept the need to groom and style it. We use physical appearance and material possessions to express identity; we accept a complementary connection between inner character and our material circumstances, yet, at the same time, we like to think there are more permanent qualities that define us.
Page 28
The exploration of self invention provokes questions about our relations to the material world, to consumerism, possession and the fashion ethic, and how these have influenced the semiotics of appearance.
Page 28
What are we to make of a mass media that addresses us so effectively and appears to capture our interests so accurately? Does this induce feelings of trust in the media, or nervousness and anxiety that it is remaking us in its image?
Page 31
We learn about our selves through the reaction of others. We learn that the controlled body is a passport to sociability.
Page 97
In such circumstances, seeking a physical makeover is more than a personal vanity, it is a sign of understanding how important the regulated physical body is perceived as being to the maintenance of an orderly society.
Page 116
By looking at the world of retail, advertising and fashion, we can see how identity has been styled into a commodity that is bought and sold in the thriving marketplace of the globalized and cosmopolitan society.
Page 132
Mauss saw the self anthropologically, as a cultural mask, performance and social role that every human irrespective of cultural background, strived to control.
Page 138
Roland Barthes refers to how we live in the world as the process that encourages 'the cunning of myself as other'.
Page 154
This is how advertisers of global products have inserted the desire for their products into our everyday life, by making it seem as if the values promoted with the products are the same values we should embrace for ourselves.
Page 160
Aspects of our identity are intimately tied to the material world and examining some of the mechanisms of marketing, the power of visuality and the allure of fashion provides insights into the charms of the object.
Page 173
The effectiveness of popular culture as a source of personal knowledge depicts the individual as transparent to the purveyors of consumer products. Identity is thus commodified and in terms commodities are infused with personality - a phenomenon that seems to make sense to us.
Page 197
Embedded in the circulation of status and identity are the pleasures of being on display, of being looked at by others, of imagining our own existence inserted into the minds eye of the other.
Page 213
Gilles Lipovetsky - the psychologizing of appearance is accompanied by the narcissistic pleasure of transforming oneself in ones own eyes and those of others
Definitions of selfhood or personal identity can be moved away from abstract attributes of morality and character towards a more material inventory of what objects an individual can own and command
summary
The self has become a commodity in recent years (due to modernity/modern society in twenty first century). Retail/advertising has amplified this through fashion/beauty products - using celebrities and models who consumers aspire to look like. Looks and presentation has overtaken character and morals in terms of identity. People are also far more concerned with others opinions of them - Finkelstein refers to status - status which can be achieved through material purchases and ownership of these material goods. Shows the rise of consumerism and capitalism in recent times. The media is mentioned alongside the issue of trust, Finkelstein subtly hints towards the fact the media may be corrupt and misleading. Also links to narcissism, Freud has touched on this.
Monday, 29 October 2018
Lifestyle Shopping - The Subject of Consumption
Shields, R. (1994). Lifestyle Shopping. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
Spaces for the subject of consumption
Rob shields
page 15-16
In the context of these 'tribes', a re-valorized sense of self is a specific, reflexive configuration of the body and psyche. While it is a form of 'individualism', its emphasis on exression, body centredness, and connection to a social and spatial milieu distinguishes it from the autonomous rational individuum which is the ideal type of classic froms of individulaism.
Neon cages
shopping for subjectivity
lauren langman
page 44
With the growth of capitalism and its provate realms outside public scrutiny, public displays of self became increasingly subject to manipulation and control and hence scrutiny by others to judge inner security and moral worth.
page 45
Every day life in the lived world can now be seen as situated in the institutionally required and rewarded activities where selfhood is realised and subjectivity experienced in typical routines, performances and discourses. These various perspectives suggest that selfhood is expressed in everyday practices and typifications that also allow expression of identity(ies) drawn from elements of the culture as well as the persons earlier identifications. Thus in a differentiated society with a plurality of life worlds there are specific regions for self presentation where salient aspects of an identity may be realised.
page 46
The routines of everyday life, like the commodity, appear at first to be quite simple. But closer scrutiny of these routines shows them to be like Marx's descriptions of commodities, 'very queer, to have strange metaphysical powers.' Everyday life, or at least its images and representations, have become a new realm of aesthetics (Featherstone, 91)
Page 47
The routines of everyday life depend on commodified mass marketing of goods and images to provide emotional gratifications to all consumers.
Page 55
Identity consists of reflexive awareness of who one is, personal standards of evaluating situations and actions, a continually revised biography, goals for the future and plans to attain them.
Page 66
There are increasing disjunctions between such situationally specific expressions of selfhood. Some go as far as to question the very possibility of selfhood as transitional, self reflexive image and practice. The post modern consumer culture has witnessed a pluralisation of life worlds and ever greater multiplicities of feelings, gratifications and self-images provided by mass mediated imagery.
Page 71
In so far as the commodified images of the hyper real characters of movies, TV and the commercials seem to have more recognition and gratification than we do, we feel especially envious.
Page 73
Starting with penetrating observations of Simmel and Goffman and a depth psychology of feelings, we noted how a postmodern society of spectacles colonizes childhood to appropriate desires and images of self t be realized in the intertwining of hyper real consumption and mundane routines of everyday life in the pluralisitic life worlds of amusement society.
Have you got the look
masculinities and shopping spectacle
sean nixon
Page 152
This narcissism, which could permeate acts of looking, provided Freud - and later, within a more rigorous framework, Lacan - with the mechanics for theorizing the dynamics of identification, the pathways which form the identities lived by individuals. Identification, then, involves an act of self-recognition in an image, a representation, a from of address.
Spaces for the subject of consumption
Rob shields
page 15-16
In the context of these 'tribes', a re-valorized sense of self is a specific, reflexive configuration of the body and psyche. While it is a form of 'individualism', its emphasis on exression, body centredness, and connection to a social and spatial milieu distinguishes it from the autonomous rational individuum which is the ideal type of classic froms of individulaism.
Neon cages
shopping for subjectivity
lauren langman
page 44
With the growth of capitalism and its provate realms outside public scrutiny, public displays of self became increasingly subject to manipulation and control and hence scrutiny by others to judge inner security and moral worth.
page 45
Every day life in the lived world can now be seen as situated in the institutionally required and rewarded activities where selfhood is realised and subjectivity experienced in typical routines, performances and discourses. These various perspectives suggest that selfhood is expressed in everyday practices and typifications that also allow expression of identity(ies) drawn from elements of the culture as well as the persons earlier identifications. Thus in a differentiated society with a plurality of life worlds there are specific regions for self presentation where salient aspects of an identity may be realised.
page 46
The routines of everyday life, like the commodity, appear at first to be quite simple. But closer scrutiny of these routines shows them to be like Marx's descriptions of commodities, 'very queer, to have strange metaphysical powers.' Everyday life, or at least its images and representations, have become a new realm of aesthetics (Featherstone, 91)
Page 47
The routines of everyday life depend on commodified mass marketing of goods and images to provide emotional gratifications to all consumers.
Page 55
Identity consists of reflexive awareness of who one is, personal standards of evaluating situations and actions, a continually revised biography, goals for the future and plans to attain them.
Page 66
There are increasing disjunctions between such situationally specific expressions of selfhood. Some go as far as to question the very possibility of selfhood as transitional, self reflexive image and practice. The post modern consumer culture has witnessed a pluralisation of life worlds and ever greater multiplicities of feelings, gratifications and self-images provided by mass mediated imagery.
Page 71
In so far as the commodified images of the hyper real characters of movies, TV and the commercials seem to have more recognition and gratification than we do, we feel especially envious.
Page 73
Starting with penetrating observations of Simmel and Goffman and a depth psychology of feelings, we noted how a postmodern society of spectacles colonizes childhood to appropriate desires and images of self t be realized in the intertwining of hyper real consumption and mundane routines of everyday life in the pluralisitic life worlds of amusement society.
Have you got the look
masculinities and shopping spectacle
sean nixon
Page 152
This narcissism, which could permeate acts of looking, provided Freud - and later, within a more rigorous framework, Lacan - with the mechanics for theorizing the dynamics of identification, the pathways which form the identities lived by individuals. Identification, then, involves an act of self-recognition in an image, a representation, a from of address.
COP Briefing
Deadline 18th December by 3pm
Feedback 29th Jan
Blogs
Essay (5000 words)
intro
development of argument
conclusion
Practical Outcome + Design Boards
Project Statement (how does written work relate to design work)
Google books
Google Scholar
Jstor
Tutor: Simon Jones
PLANNING
Feedback 29th Jan
Blogs
Essay (5000 words)
intro
development of argument
conclusion
Practical Outcome + Design Boards
Project Statement (how does written work relate to design work)
Google books
Google Scholar
Jstor
Tutor: Simon Jones
PLANNING
w/c 22/10/18
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Tutorial 1 – time planning
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w/c 29/10/18
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Independent study
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w/c 05/11/18
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Tutorial 2 – structure, argument, framework
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w/c 12/11/18
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Independent study
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w/c 19/11/18
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Tutorial 3 – group crit: practical, final structure/draft paragraph
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w/c 26/11/18
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Independent study
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w/c 03/12/18
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Tutorial 4 – Full draft
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w/c 10/12/18
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Tutorial 5 – Final draft / Crits
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w/c 17/12/18
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Submission
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