Communication and Society

1924 Words8 Pages
Communication within our society is abundant. Everywhere we go our minds are flooded with new imagery. From advertisements to fine are, an impression is made on our individual self. As individuals each person interprets imagery differently and with different interpretations comes different reactions, mentally and emotionally. These reactions can cause people to live their lives a different way. Images hold power and the will to evoke strong emotions from spectators. Advertisers have been using focus groups for years to learn how to better have an affect on the general public with their advertisements. All of which contain imagery in some form. I have chosen two photographs of momentous occasions in history. They are very powerful images that can evoke great emotional reactions from people. These photographs also tell a story. Of hardship and turmoil for the people involved at the time of the images capture. Each image I will be relating to communication concepts that are relevant to the images I have chosen. Unlike advertising where the images are designed to cause a certain type of reaction, these images are of a raw, emotional and powerful. Power within this first image I am going to analyse is evident throughout. From the flames and explosion to the debris flying through the air you see instantly that the representation of this image is of danger and fear. Representation is like the politics that govern the way we understand our representation or reality. These politics are best explained compared to another form of communicating. Language. A language, for example English is governed by ‘rules on how to express and interpret meaning.’ (Sturken & Cartwright, p255, 2009) This is the same for paintings, film or digital media. The term used for this is representation. For years people have debated on weather the systems of representation reflect the world as we see
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