Visual Cultures

VOCABULARY

PUBLIC SPHERE: a social area where you can express your idea. It can be a physical space, like a

classroom, a parliament. And it could be a terrific area.

PUBLIC OPINION: it is a largely shared opinion.

The difference between and opinion and an ideology: you can express easily and opinion, but

expressing an ideology is very hard. The opinion is something that is in your mind.

We have three definition of public opinion:

MASS OPINION: a group of solid and shared values coming from the historical and

- cultural tradition. For example, the freedom of speech in America.

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  POPULAR OPINION: the sum of individual opinions on a certain topic. For example,

- elections. The popular opinion is the expression of these two electorates, it wins the

candidate the biggest part of the population votes for.

GROUP OPINION: the opinion of èlites, minorities, pressure groups and stakeholders.

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Ideology is linked to mass opinion. If mass opinion is in a specific way, it’s because of ideology.

BUT WHY TALKING ABOUT IDEOLOGY?

In television: because it is a strongly ideological medium.

In management degree university course: if you work in tv you have to take your account and to

achieve your goal, it’s all about social responsibilities. You will have the power to change

society. If you think that television is all about stories and glam things, you are not good for it.

You are not good to be a good tv manager or executive.

Lady Diana funeral: it was a way to restore the family. They needed a huge funeral, because

people didn’t trust them in the UK. This is ideology.

IDEOLOGY:

We are going to talk about ideology, not politics.

In western countries (US, UK, Europe), there is a common ideology: capitalism. It is a simple

example to understand, because we know it, but there’s nothing to do with politics. Every one in

this class has been educated on an capitalist ideology.

Ideology will do its best to make you think that the ruling classes are the best possible. In

western countries, for example, ideology says that having money, developing power, is a good

thing, an acceptable thing.

If ideology wants to present the right idea, the first thing it has to do is to exclude divergent

voices.

Television can contest everything every thing in this world apart ideology itself.

There’s no western television that have never talk about socialism in a good way.

THE LOGIC OF EXCLUSION:

Video: the occupying Wall Street protest

Look at the language of the journalist. The CNN took one month and a half before talking about

the occupying Wall Street protest.

Do you think that CNN is sustaining the cause of occupying Wall Street? NO.

“Seriously, protestors?”, it’s very ironic, it’s an insult.

Don’t think that people in front of Wall Street was all this way. They decided to put some

images. If you’re not informed, that’s what you understand. They are strange, dirty hippies.

Never over estimate the public.

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In Italy there is a number of people, the 6 million of people, who read newspapers. They are the

10% of the population.

The public is really weak.

There’s a theory behind the logical of exclusion.

Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann:

If you think that the world is yellow and you are in a group that thinks that it’s yellow, you agree.

If you are in a group of people where 5 people think it’s yellow and the others that it’s red, so

you are gonna discuss.

But if you are in a group of people where 8 people say it’s yellow and 2 people say that it’s red,

you are not gonna say a world.

There are a exceptions, you can be polemic.

THE IDEOLOGICAL CONSENT

In Italy we have strong trade unions (sindacati), very powerful, for a lot of decades, governors

did something bad to the world. So trade unions went to the street to protest. In the last

decades these kind of events, happened 2 or 3 times.

Why?

Because television media has the role to create ideological consents.

If you are poor and you don’t know how to pay for an education, a car, a house, you have the

American dream. If you don’t achieve that goal, it’s all about you, because you didn’t try as

strong as you could.

In Italy, Renzi, actual prime minister, from the democratic party. He wants to revolutionize Italy.

He wanted young people to participate in politics.

But something has changed? No.

Video: the original footage of “the apprentice”.

New York: is it the center of the financial field in the world?

We don’t know, there’s London too.

What’s the point of saying that?

Television wants you to know that the place where you work, NY, is the best place to live too.

In the Italian version, Briatore said the same things.

A very powerful city – what about 9/11?

Competition: if you work hard you can reach the best (like Donald Trump).

But the meaning is: if you want you can do it, if you didn’t you didn’t do it in the right way. That’s

an ideology.

HEGEMONY

Ideology starts to evolve into an Hegemony.

Hegemony is not ideology, it’s an instrument to ideology to operate. It’s the way through

ideology express itself.

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Hegemony is the way that can convince you that those ideas are good for you and for every one

in the world.

HEGEMONY AND MARXISM:

Economy is dominant in society and the rule class ideas too.

In communism’s dictatorships the television didn’t inform people. If you watch North Korea

Television, you’ll see singing children, dancing woman, political debates from 2 candidates of

the communist party.

THE DALLAS ISSUE:

Dallas was a tv series, broadcasted 2 times in the history. First time 70s/90s, second times few

years ago. Big industrial families who worked in the oil sector, they are rich, good looking and

they have a lot of power.

It promotes the values of the republican parties, the conservative party in the US.

That’s the list of American president from 1957 until now.

Red: republican

Blue: democratic

Carter, 1977, it wasn’t a political choice, but it was a way to say that the political system wasn’t

that good, after the scandal and the Vietnam. In 1978: Dallas.

From 1981 to 1993: republican party.

1991: last episode.

As Dallas suggested political values and with the stop of the broadcasting of Dallas ->

democratic presidency.

A good producer understands things until they happen. A good producer thought that even if a

democratic president had been voted, they could change the mass media ideology.

What’s the point?

Was the television to shake public opinion?

Or was public opinion to shake television?

We don’t know.

But this process works.

Dallas was a kind of hegemonic program, just in a sense.

HEGEMONY AND GRAMSCI

Gramsci: if the ruling classes capitalists continue to control the world, why don’t the lower

classes don’t rise? Hegemony.

Hegemony is the tool of ideology to maintain the population cold.

It works, because it mixes different kinds of contents: information and entertainment.

A FOCUS ON: POLITICS / POPULAR CULTURE

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Television is dangerous because it mixes genders.

Television reaches the goal of putting together entertainment and politics.

Videos:

1. JF Kennedy, a democratic president, very good looking man, which is important too. He

was very ironic and funny too. Look at the structure of the communication. The journalist

makes a joke, every one laughs and not answer at all. Just because people laugh, it’s

hard to imagine a following answer, because the joke is done.

2. This is the first debate between Obama and Romney; anything he could say after this

statement, we can say that Obama is a funny person, he loves his wife, and he’s just like

one of us. He created and empathy with people. It’s a story told to the public. The we

have the speech of Romney. Romney is Obama’s friend, they are not actually, but they

have a civil relationship. It is all about kindness? No, it’s about ideology. If you see a

scene like this one, this kind of relationship between two competitors, the system is

teaching you 2 things: apart from the man who will win between these two, it will be

good, because they will collaborate. So stay cold, nothing bad will happen, because

democratics and republicans can collaborate. The second and the most important thing:

the system works. The system is good. And just because 2 opponents have an empathy

for each other, the American system is the best system ever, there cannot be a better

system.

Videos 2:

2012 election night.

FOX news:

The program reminds of a game show.

NBC news:

It looks like an award.

CBS:

It reminds of Hollywood, it looks like a movie.

GRAMSCI’S HEGEMONY: HOW IT WORKS

Capitalism had been very successful in persuading people.

It offers a series of concessions.

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Why this program is so successful? Because it is a concession.

WIN THE CONSENT

Ideology can change very slowly.

Hegemony can move and evolve during the years and hegemony has to adapt to new

languages.

Reality: people not doing something.

Talent: people doing something according to their talents.

Gramsci said that hegemony is more powerful if instead of using force, consents are being used.

Report from Fox news:

It is suppose to be a republican not democratic.

This is censorship. It is not only to stop you from doing things.

Democrat director in order to do the documentary about Hilary Clinton, it’s a political choice.

Fox news is more republican.

censorship is force.

We know that the documentary about Hilary Clinton will have a prospective on her.

People donìt trust the documentary about Hilary Clinton because it’s from a non criticize

director. This is a good way to express something: the second video.

Are you poor, are you unhappy, do you dream big?

You have two ways:

To create a path: to find a job, study and do other difficult things.

To win a lottery: it’s a social drug.

The lottery is an expression of a system without using the force, but just with consent.

January 1995, president Reagan decided to make a speech called American moving ahead.

He made a specific gesture, that reminds the powerful of a shuttle.

He wanted to make the shuttle leave that day.

In the live broadcast of this launch, the videos shows what happened.

America is moving ahead.

It’s creating images, semiotics.

Space shuttle running, it reminds you the powerful of men, the power of America.

Reagan needed a visual representation of that argument, so he asked the NASA to launch the

shuttle few days in advanced, but that day was to cold, s