Lecture eight; Jean Baudrillard and postermodernism.

- Simularcra uses the same ideas that are seen within the film the matrix. The idea of reality and what is actually fantasy.
- Labour is the interaction between man and nature - the relationship. 
- Under capitalism a workers job becomes a commodity. 
- The value of goods is not set by what is but by its exchange value. 
- Commodities are all weighed against each other so we know how much money we are exchanging them for. 
- When mass production became industrialised there was an issue with how people would be encouraged to buy these commodities. Due to this there was the birth of advertising as a way of showing people what was being produced. 
- Adverts are saying 'buy more things and your life will be complete'.
- The language of advertising always puts across the idea of fullfillment. 
- Advertising was coded to shape the campaigns so they were reaching the correct audience. 
- Focus groups were used so that advertising campaigns directly fitted with the feedback that companies got.
- The world of product was set to fit with the world of need. 
- Under Baudrillards analysis things needed to be consistent to get people to be wanting to buy the same things again. 
- Linguistic signs were made up of two parts, the concept and the sound made when the word(s) are spoken. 
- Eventually experiences become saturated by media imagery. This is where the idea of false reality comes from. 
- Society becomes a 'simulation'. 
- Social events are shaped by media culture. 

Lecture seven; Identity.

- Essentialism
If one part of your brain is larger. another part is likely to be lacking.
- Physiognomy; the study of facial characteristics. A suggestion that you can study someones facial characteristics and tell how intelligent someone is. 
- Chris Ofilli 'Holy virgin Mary' - A black artist trying to fit into something that had white culture. 
- Pre modern identity
- Modern identity 
- Post modern identity
Different as times change/
- Secure identities...
Farmer worker
Soldier 
Factory worker
Housewife
Gentleman
Househusband
- The more valuable goods you have within modern identity, the more you are showing you don't need to work. 
- The upper class want to distinguish themselves from the lower class.
- Identity is constructed out of the discourses culturally avaliable to us.
- Discourses include things such as your age and background. 
- Class, nationality. race, gender, sexuality.
Class; 
- Working class emerges when people move to cities and start working in factories/
'Mass observation' 1937.
Northern people being observed by southern people - shows a divide. 
- Martin Parr; makes the identity of particular countries quite 'jokey' using particular stereotypes. 
Las Vegas; the rest of the world can be seen here through symbolic identity.
- Chris Ofilli uses things from his heritage to show he is proud in his work. 
Gender and sexuality; 
- Tends to be more about women. 
- Women are breaking into a field that has previously been dominated by men. 
- The difference between men and women means that men are praised for things which would be seen as 'wrong' if a woman did the same thing. 
- Identity is constructed through our social experiences. 
- Social networking creates false identity.