nichole benjamin

Section six says, "The cult of remembrance of loved ones, absent or dead, offers a last refuge for the cult value of the picture." (24).
I stopped to think about this quote after I first read it because, as a student of photography myself, I never really thought about finding refuge in a picture. I have recently become opposed to photography because I had a revelation on day that picture taking impairs our own imagination. As we also discussed in class, a film director impairs our imagination of a book it is based upon. I personally would LIKE to remember a vacation or family member as I do in my mind which is more often than not a positive representation. I also think that Americans feel so pressed to work more to spend more, also known as Marx's "new consumerism", that when Americans travel, they are SO uncomfortable relaxing for once in their lives that they feel as though they have to work on vacation. Often times photography can fill that void on a vacation.
Section six also brings this up: "The meaning of each single picture appears to be prescribed by the sequence of all preceding ones" (24) I have had this discussion with professor Tillmann in CMC 100 last semester but find it appropriate to bring up here too. So, as in a film, each picture you see processes in your mind with reference to previous pictures or slides (this also reminds me of the exercise we performed in class with the directors story), but the same holds true with advertisements. Think of the 5000 advertisements we see daily. If we were to take each ad as if we have never seen one before... we would be ASTOUNDED! "Worlds best cup of coffee!" wow what a feat thats amazing congratulations (this is what I would think). Whereas instead, we know that the last coffee shop had the same sign and award on the wall. Everything we see and think of is relevant to the things we have seen in our lives. That really ads up I guess, maybe old people really are wiser... or maybe they just have learned to not take anything too literally. peace.