Ace Ventura, 11/22

Since I was unable to come to class this week due to the dreadful H1N1, it makes it a little difficult for me to write a post-class post. I looked over the power point presentations at the images that Dr. Rog provided and tried to imagine the connections that he would make between the images and the readings. While my connections were probably not as creative or accurate as the ones he made in class, hopefully the connections I made between the images and the meaning of the texts related in at least some sort of accurate way. On the Derrida powerpoint, the three images of symbols representing another language show the value of difference. (If these are even from the same language) they represent a culture even though they are drastically different in their form. One seems to be a traditional plain text image, another is a more modern interpretation by placing the text in a tattoo, and another is a large reproduction of text used on a rug of tile floor of some sort. All of these images and uses of the text differ but they all relate to a similar general idea and give the viewer an interpretation of the same kind of culture. The idea of deconstructing these images to see their similarities instead of their differences allows you to make the connection. If you only looked at them for how they differ you'd say "what does a rug, a tattoo, and tile image have to do with one another?" This relates to the symbol of the shell and the word Shell. Obviously they appear to be different, but they give the same meaning to the person that is interpreting them. This can be taken one step further and the image of the shell can also turn into something that our culture interprets as gas because of the Shell gas stations that we have become accustomed to. Clearly shell and gas have nothing to do with one another in reality but when you make a connection between differing things, you can create a meaning.