Spectacles and Illusions - Anandi Ramamurthy

I read this chapter of the course reader  'Photography - a critical Introduction' edited by Liz Wells, and found it to be very informative with regards to how advertising photography operates in a modern day capitalist society. The chapter begins by introducing Guy Debord, a Situationist, who has written on the nature of working class society in the industrialised world and how it has become passive and depoliticised. The means by which this has happened is, Debord states, by an ever encroaching society of spectacles in the mass media that holds our attention away from more extreme political acts or injustices. We become absorbed into this world into a state of false consciousness, thinking that we have choices and freedoms in a democratic society, but ultimately, we are slaves to a capitalist commodity culture. One that wants us to constantly consume products to make profit for corporations. Advertising photography plays a very large role in this practice.

Advertising photography is described in detail, breaking down its function and process. The history of photography and its popular appeal and how that has been subsumed into a means to make a profit in commodity culture is touched upon. By glamorising products using photography and advertising they have become fetishised and imbued with false meanings.

Semiotics is discussed and how signs and symbols play a part in the way that advertising images are encoded and decoded. It is possible for images to be interpreted in many different ways, because of cultural and other factors, and advertisers frequently use montage and text to try and lock down the meaning of their images.

Because advertising photography is used ultimately to sell products and make profit, by their nature they do not tend to challenge the status quo. This means that ideas in society that are dominant are perpetuated. This leads to the construction and reinforcing of stereotypes that has increased until they appear natural.

I have ordered the book 'Society of the Spectacle' by Guy Debord as it is referenced a lot during this chapter of the course reader. I imagine it is hard going but I think to try and understand some of the concepts of Marxist thinking about Capitalist society will prove very useful in my studies.