Week 5 Two tailed weirdo

Weird Wolf

Mirzoeff textbook, How to See the World Chapter 1

Quote 1 How, then, should the king be shown to convey a sense of this power? …European royalty devised the concept known as the body of the king, which we can call majesty. Majesty does not sleep, get ill, or become old. It is visualized, not seen. Any action that diminished majesty was a crime called lèsemajesté, violating majesty, which could be severely punished. It even became a criminal offence to take a piece of paper with the king’s name o
n it and crumple it up. Physical attacks on the monarch were met with truly spectacular punishments because it was a double attack on the person of the king or queen and the institution of majesty. (pp. 34-35). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.

Response: The concept of majesty seems hilarious. The idea that a monarch never gets ill, sleep, or becomes old is something of North Korea today but it was semi-taken seriously just a few centuries ago. That writing some name on a paper and destroying it was attacking the monarch is just stupid as that name could be of some unimportant person. To treat it as such a high crime is just ridiculous.

Quote 2 “Despite the name, the selfie is really about social groups and communications within those groups. The majority of these pictures are taken by young women, mostly teenagers, and are largely intended to be seen by their friends. In an analysis for the website SelfieCity, media scholar Lev Manovich has shown that—worldwide—women take the majority of selfies, sometimes by overwhelming margins...(SelfieCity). They are then shared in social circles that are likely to be mostly women, regardless of sexual orientation. As fashion critics have long asserted, (straight) women dress as much for each other as for men and the same can be said of the selfie. Some have suggested that the premium on attractiveness indicates that the selfie is still subject to the male gaze. Sociology professor Ben Agger has claimed in media interviews that the selfie is the male gaze gone viral, part of what he calls “the dating and mating game.” (pp. 63-64). Basic Books. Kindle Edition.

Response: It’s quite interesting how women take the most selfies as though it is a reflection of what society deems women (self-centered narcissists who only care about their looks and image). Even so, most are shared amongst friends regardless of sexual orientation which shows that these images represent at least to women a non-sexual view of themselves. While in greater society many would be looked through the male gaze that sexualizes them. Also, the “the dating and mating game.” Is quite a disgusting concept if paired with the idea of selfies being sexual objects to look at and decide if you want to feign interest in the person to just have sex with them.

Wangechi Mutu Dresses Cultural Critique in Freakishly Beautiful Disguises

Quote 1: The main gallery is dominated by Mutu’s cerulean-painted “wounded wall,” as she calls it, which is pockmarked as if hit by bullets or mortar. The “wounds” are stained red, making the implicit violence seem almost bodily. Installed here is Sleeping Heads (2006), essentially a set of eight “portraits” turned on their sides as a comment on ineffec­tual leaders. In this context, however, their sleep seems to be eternal and to have been brought about brutally.

Response: Her gallery is extremely striking and captivating. See it described here there is such deep layers to her work and what she is trying to say. It is like opening a new book on a whole new topic just by thinking about it.

Quote 2:”In the Ark works, the pornographic poses are unmistak­able—legs spread, hands reaching down, fingers posi­tioned to part labia or buttocks—but Mutu has obliterated all the explicit parts. Another features a rear view of a porn subject whose hands reach back, landing not on her posterior but floating over a per­pendicular image of a woman grinding grain in a hut. It is in this series that Mutu’s critique is most sharply felt..”

Response: This image elicits one response and yet it’s broken when you look at it. If I were to glance at it, I would fill in the image blanks as something quite elicit. Yet, when you look at is just something so innocent and mundane. The image both entices and destroys the male gaze at the same time.