Folly

In Anne Wysocki’s, “The Sticky Embrace of Beauty” we delve into the ideas of “beauty”. Wysocki argues for a different understanding of beauty, aesthetic, and form that is rooted in the particular rather than universal generalities and tenets that visual designers use for composing images and texts, universal rules that were developed first through Kant’s philosophy.

One of Wysocki’s arguments is how distant we as readers feel to the woman in the text Wysocki analyzes. The distant emotion is due to the fact that the person is in fact not a person. We see her as an “object or abstract body” (Wysocki, 157). Wysocki later states, “When women and other Others are subjected to this aesthetic formalizing, they are made distant, objects to be observed, not people to be lived with” (Wysocki, 168). My idea is to argue that in the context of such advertisements, covers, or visual texts found in The New Yorker or Vogue or any “hip” and “modern” text that is not the goal. Readers are not trying to find a soul or “people to live with”, and that is why Wysocki’s argument is weak. She is taking the images out of context. The context of such texts is to stimulate a chic, high fashion, or highly sophisticated tone. A huge reason why this interests me is because I am an active reader of magazines and have never “felt” the anger described by Wysocki, because it would be foolish to expect that. It would be folly on my part to flip through visual texts today and expect to see an overweight woman in a bikini selling lotion, or for me to see an acne faced girl on the cover. I have never felt that because that is bringing emotion where it does not belong. You cannot expect to walk into Burger King and get organic fruits and vegetables; just as you cannot expect to open The New Yorker, Vogue, Time, or Vanity Fair to see in visual texts someone that is not distantly beautiful but looks just like your gap toothed sister.

Wysocki also argues that we do not focus enough on the “strangeness” in beauty. That we should look to make “objects unfamiliar” (Wysocki, 171). The problem with these statements is that some of the most strange and unfamiliar beauties are found in texts such as The New Yorker or Vogue. Tell me, is it more common and familiar to see an overweight, poorly dressed, bleach blond haired woman walking down the street next to you today, or a 6’1 green eyed, bone thin, wheat blond haired woman? The women portrayed in specifically Vogue for example completely dissipates Wysocki’s argument towards the particular. In such contexts as Vogue we are not supposed to focus on the soul of the woman. Who opens up a magazine and thinks, “Man, I hope I see someone who looks like my Mother in here so that I actually feel something towards the model instead of feeling distant from her.”? The main purpose of my argument will be that Wysocki and others who feel the same way cannot expect to buy organic food from Burger King nor can they expect to see women in magazines or visual texts as someone they know, but someone who truly is unfamiliar.

Absolute vs. Relative

I am certain that I want to write on Anne Wysocki’s chapter “The Sticky Embrace of Beauty”. I enjoyed the intricate and complex ideas thrown out, and I think its a very relative and modern topic that I would enjoy. The main idea that I think Wysocki is interacting with is the view of Absolute vs. Relative beauty. How can we define what "beautiful" is? Can we? Why is it that when I open up a magazine and see a woman I can say for certain, "THAT is beautiful."?

I think my purpose in this is because I do not even know what I think yet. I do not know if beauty is absolute or relative. I think I know what I think, but I have no reason why I think it. I would love to delve into possibly different cultures and see how they produce "beauty" in multimodal texts. (i.e. South African magazines, German advertisements, etc.) I also wonder if because of media and technology today if the cultural standards of beauty have become more generic and not as different as they used to be. I wonder if what used to be ugly to America and beautiful to Asia is now not as vast or stark of a difference. This would call me to really delve into a lot of cultural aspects and research of beauty. (Possibly see how "beauty" has evolved over the past few decades?) Wysocki argues that beauty is not a tangible object but an essence; however, what if it is a tangible object? What if certain forms of beauty transcend culture or background or time?

#4, All Ears

PART I

Do you hear that? There are sounds all around us everyday. We have become so acustom to noise and sounds that we rarely listen. In Heidi Mckee's, "Sound Matters: Notes toward the analysis and desgin of a sound in multimodal webtexts" she dives deep into the process and importance of sounds and even states, "We live immersed in sounds" (Mckee, 335). Mckee's essay argues the importance of sound and the different approaches or type of sound. The main elements that Mckee focuses on are volcal delivery, music, special effects, and silence.

As a culture "immersed" in sound we are not coming across the problem of how sound interacts with writing. Mckee opens this essay by asking questions. Questions such as: Where can composition instructions begin when it comes to interacting and diologuing with students about sound? How can we begin to develop a vocabulary and intellegent discussions about sound and its role in our writing? (paraphrase, Mckee, 336). She came to these questions when she cotaught a creative multimodal web composition course. Mckee uses both academic, scholoarly resources as well as personal experience to strengthen her aruguements.

Writing is no longer alphabetic text on a piece of paper. As technology developes and expands so does our form of writing. Mckee begins by stating, "With the continued developement of digitized technologies, sound is also becoming integral to our writing process as well" (Mckee, 336). Sound is central to multimodal texts and communitcation today. The role of sound is to enhance what alphabetic words or pictures are already present. Sound is the adgent that draws out the deeper meaning of a text, film, or webpage.

As Mckee takes us deeper into the thoughts of sound, we derive from her arugements and quotes from other academic professionals that sound stimulates meaning. The combonation of both a visual as well as an aural can evoke a high sense of meaning. "There is no separation of I see in the image and I hear on the track. Instead, there is the I feel, I experience through the grand-total of picture and track combined" (Mckee quote of Douane, 1985, 56). We may be able to seperate both visual an aural but the affect that the comination can have on an audience is worth putting the two together. The combination of the two allows the audience to no longer participate in 2 out of the 5 senses, but something that transcends. We as an audience now step into an emotion instead of merely a natural sense. Sound helps to create that emotion.

Meaning is not solely carried in one element but in many. Verbal delivery is another element used in sound that Mckee finds important. Within this element there are different facets that can affect the quality of the verbal delivery such as tension, breathiness, volume, pitch, or vibrato. Mckee argues that spoken performance or the delivery's composition can dictate the mood (paraphrase, Mckee, 341). Deepending on the facet of the verbal delivery, we can be drawn into a mood or aura. A simple change in pitch, volume, or breathiness can result into a type of context for the audience. Verbal and vocal delivery can "set the scene" more than we know.

Music is a key component to the puzzle of sound. Music can make powerful or subtle statements when it comes to writing. Mckee offers the idea that music can add a "layered" or "complexity" to a piece (Mckee, 346). Music is a messanger used to represent. That is why music is typically not a monomodal form of composition when it comes to writing, but it is a representation and a reverborator of what is already being "said" or "shown". Without the element of music we can lose such complexity in writing.

"Clearly sound effects matter" (Mckee, 347). Sound effects must be placed with precision and tact. Mckee states that sound effects DO in fact matter, but must be used properly; too many effects and the piece can "disrupt" the experience (paraphrase, Mckee, 347). Sound effects can be used to even hold the audiences attention. Mckee used the example of watching an eight minute video clip that did in fact hold her attention, "...part because of the power of the images in relation to the text and in part too because of the soundtrack, which is both mesmerizing and jarring" (Mckee, 348). The importance of sound effects is pivotal to holding a viewer's attention and keeping it there.

Sound is an important form of multimodal writing that can often be overlooked. "Sound is not something to be added as an afterthought. Sound and all the elements of sound play crucial roles in such important areas as setting the mood, building atmosphere, carrying the narrative, directing attention, and developing themes in multimodal works" (Mckee, 352). Mckee wants instructors as well as students to understand the importance and gravity that sound carries. Mckee may not know where to start with the education of sound in society, but she does call forth that we need to begin studying and discussing sound with students and instructing peers alike. As we study writing and composition, to exlude sound from those would only be folly on our part.


PART II

One of the passages that quickly took my attention was the passage about silence. Rarely do we think of silence as a strategically placed sound. Mckee explains how silence is not an absence but a presence (Mckee, 349). Mckee quotes Alberto Cavlacanit, "Silence can be the loudest of noises, just as black, in a brilliant design, can be the brightest of colors" (Mckee quote of Cavlacnit, p.111, 349). Silence is often overlooked and filled in American culture as we busy ourselves with constant aural distractions. We have become a culture that fills the silence, whether thats an "awkward pause" in conversation or discussion or not being able to study without some background music. We have become a culture addicted to sound that we have become deft to silence. "When there is noise on the screen there are also silences to be heard...Silence should not be considered separate from sound but rather an integral and important element of sound, one whose relationship to the other elements needs to be analyzed" (Mckee, 351). Do we even hear or note the silence in multimodal texts? When visiting other countries I have learned that there is something sacred about silence. That in silence you can find things, ideas, or thoughts that you would never be able to find in noise. Silence represents comfort. How many times have we heard someone talk about the people you are closest to are the ones you can sit in silence with and it is not awkward. What if a multimodal author of a text could integrate silence in such a way as to stimulate comfort?

Appealing Still Image

This Axe print ad is sheer genius. Axe's lead product is the fragranced aerosol deodorant body spray and marketed towards younger men. This ad is showing that men do not have to choose between the "bad boy" or the "nice guy" that ultimately, you can be both. Axe is wisely scattering the seed into young males' mind that you can be the male on the left (a man who has a stunning young woman and is looking at the "romance" section) ,but you don't have to give up your "bad" side either (the other half of the man's body who is looking at adult entertainment). I find it ironic (and perhaps Axe did this on purpose) that one part of the man is leading with his heart (on the left) and the other with his crotch (on the right). Axe is offering both your emotions and heart, but not forsaking your primal and sexual instinct as a man. Space is a key element used in this ad. The large space in the middle of the ad allows your eye to focus on the man and woman on the right first and then realizing that his legs are left on the left hand side. Then, your eyes naturally gravitate towards the text or "Romance" and "XXX Adult" which is also a form of repetition. This is repeating and reinforcing what the image is already "saying". I think the overall vibe from Axe can sometimes be that its ok to not be in monogamous relationships. This could perhaps be a cultural implication, that men today do not want to commit to one single person. Why would they when they can have two? This ad might even give off the idea of being in two places at once, which implies an invincibility of men.

Absolute Beauty (#3 part 1 and 2)

Part I

What is "beauty"? How can we define a tangible example of something "beautiful"? In Anne Wysocki's chapter "The Sticky Embrace of Beauty" we delve deeper into these questions. Wysocki centralizes this chapter on an advertisement she stumbled across in the New Yorker. The advertisement both evoked both an appreciation and anger from Wysocki.

Wysocki argues that when interpreting a "text" (both written and/or visual pictures) many of us fall short in an analytical understanding. If one cannot understand how to interpreter a text, one will also be unable to teach others how to do so. "I'll be arguing that approaches many of us now use for teaching the visual aspects of texts are incomplete and, in fact, may work against helping students acquire critical and thoughtful agency with the visual, precisely because these approaches cannot account for a lot of what's going on in the Peek [the New Yorker's advertisement] composition" (Wysocki, 149). Wysocki is saying that there are many shortcomings in the approaches we use to critiquing a visual text. The elements of color, composition, or graphic design may explain the feeling of appreciation or pleasure from Wysocki when looking at this text, but these elements do not explain the feeling of anger. In the mind of Wysocki, this is an unacceptable limitation.

In order for Wysocki to prove her point of these shortcomings, she uses several examples from well acclaimed, design books. She speaks of design principles such as "contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity" (Wysocki, 150) and how these direct our eyes. "Visual layout is not magic but is instead rationally organized and can be formally analyzed" (Wysocki, 151). She argues that layout is like an equation. By applying a clear visual ladder, any text can appear professional(paraphrase, Wysocki, 150-151). Layout can be very similar to algebra. An author or creator of the text just simply needs the tools/equation (i.e. contrast or repetition) to get the correct answer or a "professional" look. This makes layout cognitive and sterile. This supports Wysocki's argument of not be able to explain her feeling of anger towards the text. These elements may be able to explain her feeling of appreciation but falls short when dealing with the emotion of anger.

Wysocki continues to delve into popular ways of understanding visual texts, but then encourages her readers to not merely focus on form (or formal approaches of interpretation of a text) and stop there, but to begin shape a new way of "looking" at a text. "I am not at all comfortable in using these approaches as they come, by themselves, unchanged... we could teach contrast and repetition and centering and other formal terms that show up in other texts about visual design, and then augment our teaching with texts that help students and us question how photographs teach us about gender and race and class" (Wysocki, 158). She is beckoning her audience into the idea of allowing ourselves to step into not just form but "content (gender and raced bodies, for example)" (Wysocki, 158).
Wysocki continues to poke holes in the formal approach and opinions. One of her strongest rebuttal's is to Kant's case that beauty is absolute. She paraphrases Kant by saying, "When we judge something to be beautiful, it is because beauty is formal inherent in the object" (Wysocki, 164). She refutes this by saying Kant is completely ignoring the fact that he has a perception developed by his context in life (where he grew up, being a male, etc.) not the context of others (paraphrase, Wysocki, 164). Kant is viewing the world and it's elements through a lens that has developed based on his circumstances. Things may be viewed differently by others based on how their lens was shaped.

Wrapping up the chapter, Wysocki's gives her readers a call to action. She wants us to begin to reteach students that beauty is not absolute but relative. "We should look on these formal approaches with anger, and we should be working to change them...I want people in my classes, then, to learn the social and temporal expectations of visual composition so that they can, eventually, perhaps, change some of the results of those expectations (Wysocki, 169, 172). Beauty should bind us together not make us feel distant and cold. A mother pushing her daughter on the swing is a genuine beauty that we relate to and feel close to, no airbrushing required.


Part II

1.) When speaking of the advertisement in the New Yorker, Wysocki states, "Such a formal beauty has nothing to do with me or with you" (Wysocki, 167). Form forces our definition of beauty into a box. Wysocki's feeling of anger is because society has told her what is beautiful instead of her discovering on her own. I suppose I have never thought of how images in magazine, on billboards, etc. have shaped my "view" of beauty. Formal beauty rarely evokes a positive feeling inside of me. I usually only feel jealousy or frustration with myself. Wysocki's statement is so true it has nothing to do with me. We must push past our traditional critiques and judgements into a realm of how texts can shape our feelings or opinions, and then we can shape our own feelings and opinions. We must refuse to be spoon fed the definition of what beauty is.

2.) "We often speak as if beauty were a property of objects. Some people or artworks "have it" and some do not. [Instead...] Beauty is an unstable property because it is not a property at all" (Wysocki, 169). We often subconsciously see beauty in a tangible, solid form. This is beautiful and that is not. Wysocki wants us to not see beauty as a tangible object (as if beauty were another element on the periodical table) but something that suggests a special relation between it and our self. Today, men are often reprimanded for treating women like "a piece of meat" or an object instead of a soul. If advertisement and media continues to publish these formal types of beauty as an object these two forces will grate against each other. We are being told two separate ideas. How can we begin to teach the younger generations that people are a "he/she" not a "that" if the media continues to force beauty to be a tangible property (i.e. a woman with big breast an blond hair or a man with tan skin and a rock solid stomach). Wysocki begs us as readers to ask the question, "Am I going to accept media's view of "beauty" or will I ask myself, 'What do I think is beautiful?'"