MMC9605 Visual Communication Thursdays 5:00-7:30pm AH301

Professor: Office: Phone: Email: Office Hrs.: Andrew Mendelson AH 316 215.204.5020 andrew.mendelson@temple.edu TTh 3:30-4:30 or by appt.

Course Description Everyday we are bombarded more and more by visual imagesnews photographs, television, movies, and advertisements (in many forms). It is essential to any consumer of these images, and especially people studying the media, to begin to think critically about the visuals in society and how they affect how we see ourselves and the world. Using readings, examples and discussions, we will analyze many of the ways photographs inform our everyday lives. The readings will especially focus on photographys relationship with truth and reality. It is hoped that this course will enhance your critical sensitivity toward the uses of photographs for informative, interpretative and persuasive communication. Course Format Because of the topic and the size of the class, this course will operate as a seminar. Student participation is essential, and students will be required to participate (see below). It is expected that you come to class with opinions, ready to discuss the readings, etc. Certainly, attendance is critical for a class such as this to work. Required Texts Barthes, Roland. (1981). Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. New York: Hill and Wang. (there are numerous editions of this book) Ritchin, Fred. (2009). After photography. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Rose, Gillian. (2007). Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to the Interpretation of Visual Materials, 2nd edition. London: Sage Publications. Plus additional readings on Blackboard or at the Paley Library Assignments Reaction pieces 10 points each By 3pm before each class, you must post on the Discussion Board section of Blackboard a reaction piece for the weeks readings (maximum 1000 words). The reaction piece should include: 1. A synthesis of the main points of all the readings. 2. Your critique of the readings (strengths/weaknesses). You must move beyond whether you liked it or not to offer coherent critiques of the topics raised. 3. Any questions from any of the readings (either on areas of confusion or areas for further discussion). Self Collage 25 points Create a collage of images that represents aspects of who you are. These images should be cut out from magazines. No image can be of you, nor can you cut out any words to describe yourself. You must use at least 10 images and the entire collage should be on a piece of paper at least letter size. Write your name on the back only. Short paper 100 points each Choose one of the following topics and write a 5-page paper (references/appendices not included). Paper 1: There are many historical photos that we remember as being extremely important. The purpose of this paper is to choose one such memorable photograph and investigate how it was originally seen. Look back at old newspapers and magazines. Did the photograph receive large-scale play right away? Did the papers or magazines run the photograph as if they thought it was important

immediately? Also, look to see if any letters to the editor were written in response to the photographs. Try to theorize why this photograph has been so remembered. Include a copy of the photograph. OR Paper 2. For this paper, you are to interview at least four people who have come to the United States within the last few years. You are to explore and discuss with them the impact visual communication have had on their image of the United States and since coming here they feel their countries are portrayed in photographs in the U.S. What expectations did the subjects have about the U.S.? What media influenced these expectations the most? What picture of their country do Americans get through the pictures seen here? This should not simply be a transcript of the interview. OR Paper 3. Take a book of photographs (by one photographer) or a movie that addresses a single social problem or issue. The purpose of this paper is see how people in similar circumstances react to the images. To get started you will need to research what critics said about this work. This kind of background will provide you with good information for the introduction to the paper, and will allow you to compare and contrast what you hear from the people you interview. Method: Let your subjects look at the entire book and then ask them to go back through it, commenting on individual photographs. Photographic techniques like lighting, composition, etc., are not the primary concern, so you can reassure your subjects that they do not need to be expert to react to the work. (see Rose, ch. 11 for more details on elicitation) Term paper 300 points You are required to turn in a 15-20 page term paper (excluding bibliography, notes and appendices) on a topic of your choice relating to visuals. You will be required to turn in a proposal for approval. Essentially, the final research papers will take the form of a journal article for an (hopefully) original investigation of visuals. This could also take the form of a proposal for a future, more in-depth study. Use any approved and appropriate citation style (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) Final paper proposal 25 points Identify your research question. What is it that you want to know? What do you expect to find? And why is this particular question important and interesting? What relevant bodies of theory and/or research provide us with information about your research question? Provide a roadmap or outline for the sections of the paper that will follow, so the reader will know what to expect ahead. What method(s) will be used to investigate this question? Final paper outline 25 points Having started your research, expand upon your proposal to further outline your research directions. Elaborate on the topics to be covered, the methods, etc. Include a working reference list. Final paper poster/presentation Details to come Participation 25 points

50 points

Grading Standards For graduate students an A represents outstanding or exceptional work; a B indicates competent, satisfactory work in the course. A B- suggests that the student's work is lacking in some important way; a C represents seriously flawed work. In this class that would mean doing the assignments but misunderstanding fundamental concepts or presenting them in an unacceptable form and/or a total lack of constructive participation in class discussions. A D can not be assigned for graduate courses; an F represents a failing grade and would only be given if the student did not turn in major assignments and rarely, if ever, participated in discussions. "Incompletes" are strongly discouraged and will only be given if the student makes specific arrangements with the instructor before the end of the semester. Final Grading Scale 92% and higher: 90-91

A A-

88-89: 82-87: 80-81 78-79: 70-77: 60-69: Below 60%:

B+ B BC+ C D F

To determine your grade, simply add up all the points you have earned on papers, projects, etc., and divide by the total possible points for these same projects (see above), and multiply by 100. Academic Honesty and Plagiarism Adapted from the Temple University "Statement on Academic Honesty for Students in Undergraduate Courses." Plagiarism is the unacknowledged use of another person's labor: another person's ideas, words, or assistance. There are many forms of plagiarism: repeating another person's sentence as your own, adopting a particularly apt phrase as your own, paraphrasing someone else's argument as your own, or even presenting someone else's line of thinking in the development of a thesis as though it were your own. It is perfectly acceptable to use the ideas and words of other people, but we must never submit someone else's work as if it were our own, without giving appropriate credit to the originator. In general, all sources must be identified as clearly, accurately, and thoroughly as possible. When in doubt about whether to identify a source, either cite the source or consult your instructor. Here are some specific guidelines to follow: a. Quotations. Whenever you use a phrase, sentence, or longer passage written (or spoken) by someone else, you must enclose the words in quotation marks and indicate the exact source of the material, including the page number of written sources. Paraphrasing. Avoid closely paraphrasing another's words. Substituting an occasional synonym, leaving out or adding an occasional modifier, rearranging the grammar slightly, or changing the tenses of verbs simply looks like sloppy copying. Good paraphrasing indicates that you have absorbed the material and are restating it in a way that contributes to your overall argument. It is best to either quote the material directly, using quotation marks, or put the ideas completely in your own words. In either case, acknowledgment is necessary. Remember: expressing someone else's ideas in your own way does not make them yours. Facts. In a paper, you will often use facts that you have gotten from a lecture, a written work, or some other source. If the facts are well known, it is usually not necessary to provide a source. (In a paper on American history, for example, it would not ordinarily be necessary to give a source for the statement that the Civil War began in 1861 after the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln.) But if the facts are not widely known or if the facts were developed or presented by a specific source, then you should identify that source. Ideas. If you use an idea or ideas that you learned from a lecture, written work, or some other source, then you should identify the source. You should identify the source for an idea whether or not you agree with the idea. It does not become your original idea just because you agree with it.

b.

c.

d.

Penalties for violation of Temple Universitys academic honesty policies can range from a failing grade for the assignment or the entire course to expulsion from the University. Other information Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately to discuss the specific situation as soon as possible.

Date Week 1 1/20 Week 2 1/27

Topic and readings Introduction to the Course; Setting the Stage class Reading Visuals I Barthes, R. (1980). Rhetoric of the Image. Image Music Text. (pp. 32-51). New York: Hill and Wang. (on Blackboard) Barthes, R. (1972). Myth Today. Mythologies. (pp. 109-159). New York: Hill and Wang. (on Blackboard) Mendelson, A.L. (2008). The construction of photographic meaning. In James Flood, Shirley Brice Heath & Diane Lapp (Eds.), Handbook of Literacy Research: Visual, Communicative and Performative Arts, pp. 2736. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (on Blackboard) Sekula, A. (1984). On the invention of photographic meaning. Photography Against the Grain. (pp. 3 - 21). Halifax, NS: The Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. (on Blackboard) Sontag, S. (1973). On Photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 3-24. (on Blackboard) Rose, G. Visual Methodologies, Ch. 1 & 3

Assignments

Week 3 2/3

Reading Visuals II Barthes, R. Camera Lucida: Part 1. Hall, S. (1973). The determinations of news photographs. In S. Cohen & J. Young (eds.). The manufacture of news: Social problems, deviance and the mass media. London: Constable. pp.176-190. (on Blackboard) Messaris, P. (1997). Introduction: A Theory of Images in Advertising. Visual Persuasion: The Role of Images in Advertising. (pp. v-xxii). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. (on Blackboard) Worth, S. (1981). Studying visual communication. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 134147; 162-184. (on Blackboard) Rose, G. Visual Methodologies, Ch. 7

Self collage due

Week 4 2/10

Readings Visuals III Barthes, R. Camera Lucida: Part 2. Grainge, P. (1999). Times past in the present: Nostalgia and the Black and White Image. Journal of American Studies, 33(3), 383-392. (on Blackboard) Lutz, C.A., & Collins, J.L. (1993). Reading National Geographic. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Ch. 3. (on Blackboard) Rose, G. Visual Methodologies, ch. 5, 8 Rosenblum, B. (1978). Style as social process. American Sociological Review, 43, 422-438. (on Blackboard)

Week 5 2/17

Seeing Other Cultures Asch, T. et al. (1991). The story we now want to hear is not ours to tell: Relinquishing control over representation. Visual Anthropology Review, 7(2), 102-106. (on Blackboard) Hall, S. (1997). The spectacle of the Other. In S. Hall (Ed.), Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. London: Sage Publications. pp. 223-279. (on Blackboard) *Lutz, C.A., & Collins, J.L. (1993). Reading National Geographic. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Ch. 7. (on Blackboard) Nir, Y. (1995). Photographic representation and social interaction: The case of the Holy Land. History of Photography, 19(3), 185-194. (on Blackboard) Parameswaran, R. (2002). Local culture in global media: Excavating colonial and material discourses in National Geographic. Communication Theory, 12(3), 287-315. (on Blackboard) Rose, G. Visual Methodologies, Ch. 10 Scherer, J.C. (1975). You cant believe your eyes: Inaccuracies in photographs of North American Indians. Studies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication, 2(2), 67-79. (on Blackboard)

Short paper due

Week 6 2/24

Visual Portrayals of Race Bowen, L., & Schmid, J. (1997). Minority presence and portrayal in mainstream magazine advertising: An update. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 74(1), 134-146. (on Blackboard) Gilens, M. (1996). Race and poverty in America: Public perceptions and the American news media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 60, 515-541. (on Blackboard) Lee, K.Y., & Joo, S.H. (2005). The portrayal of Asian Americans in mainstream magazine ads: An update. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 82(3), 654-671. (on Blackboard) Mastro, D.E., & Behm-Morawitz, E. (2005). Latino representation on primetime television. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 82(1), 110-130. (on Blackboard) Ono, K.A., & Buescher, D.T. (2001). Deciphering Pocahontas: Unpacking the commodification of a Native American woman. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 18(1), 23-43. (on Blackboard) Rose, G, Visual Methodologies, ch. 4 Tierney, S.M. (2006). Themes of Whiteness in Bulletproof Monk, Kill Bill, and The Last Samurai. Journal of Communication, 56, 607-624. (on Blackboard) Willis, D. (1994). Introduction: Picturing Us. In D. Willis (ed.). Picturing Us: African American Identity in Photography. New York: The New Press. pp. 3-26. (on Blackboard)

Final paper proposal

Week 7 3/3

Visual Portrayals of Gender Durham, M.G. (2003). The girling of America: Critical reflections on gender and popular communication. Popular Communication, 1(1), 23-31. (on Blackboard) Goffman, E. (1979). Gender Advertisements. New York: HarperTorchbooks. (book on reserve at Paley) Hatfield, E.F. (2010). What it means to be a man: Examining hegemonic masculinity in Two and a Half Men. Communication, Culture & Critique, 3(4), 526-548. (on Blackboard) MacKay, N.J., & Covell, K. (1997). The impact of women in advertisements on attitudes toward women. Sex Roles, 36(9/10), 573-583. (on Blackboard) Mulvey, L. (1975). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema. Screen, 16(3), 6-18. (on Blackboard) Myers, P.N., & Biocca, F.A. (1992). The elastic body image: The effect of television advertising and programming on body image distortions in young women. Journal of Communication, 42(3), 108-133. (on Blackboard) Reichert, T., & Carpenter, C. (2004). An update on sex in magazine advertising. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 81(4), 823-837. (on Blackboard) Rose, G. Visual Methodologies, ch. 6

Week 8 3/10 Week 9 3/17

Spring Break Social Documentary Anderson, C., & Benson, T.W. (1988). Direct Cinema and the myth of informed consent: The case of Titicut Follies. In L. Gross, J.S. Katz, & J. Ruby. Image ethics: The moral rights of subjects in photographs, film, and television. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 58-90. (on Blackboard) Davidov, J.F. (1996). The color of my skin, the shape of my eyes: Photographs of the Japanese-American Internment by Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, and Toyo Miyatake. The Yale Journal of Criticism, 9(2), 223244. (on Blackboard) Levine, L.W. (1988). The historian and the icon. In C. Fleischhauer & B. Brannan (Eds.) Documenting America, 1935-1943. Berkeley: University of California Press. pp. 15-42. (on Blackboard) Jussim, E. (1984). Propaganda and Persuasion. In D. Featherstone (ed.) Observations: Essays on Documentary Photography. Carmel, CA: The Friends of Photography. p 103-114. (on Blackboard) Pryluck, C. Ultimately we are all outsiders: The ethics of documentary filming. In A. Rosenthal (Ed.) New Challenges for Documentary. Pp. 255-268. (on Blackboard) Rose, G. Visual Methodologies, ch. 11 Tagg, J. (1988). The burden of representation: Essays on photographies and histories. Amherst, MA: The University of Massachusetts Press. Pp. 153-183. (on Blackboard)

Week 10 3/24

Shooting War Griffin, M. (1995). Picturing the Gulf War: Constructing an Image of War in Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 72(4), 813-825. (on Blackboard) Marinovich, G., & Silva, J. (2000). The Bang Bang club: Snapshots from a hidden war. New York: Basic Books. Ch.3. (on Blackboard) Perlmutter, D.D. (1998). Photojournalism and foreign policy: Icons of outrage in international crises. Westport, CT: Praeger. pp. 91-124. (on Blackboard) Roeder, G.H., Jr. (1985). A note on U.S. Photo Censorship in WWII. Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 5(2), 191-198. (on Blackboard) Trachtenberg, A. (1989). Reading America photographs: Images as history, Mathew Brady to Walker Evans. New York: Hill and Wang. Ch. 2. (on Blackboard) Zelizer, B. (2005). Death in wartime: Photographs and the other war in Afghanistan. Harvard International Journal of Press and Politics, 10(3), 26-55. (on Blackboard)

Week 11 3/31

Covering Politics (114 pages) Barnhurst , K.G., & Steele, C.A. (1997). Image-Bite News: The Visual Coverage of Elections on U.S. Television, 1968-1992. The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, 2(1), 40-58. (on Blackboard) DeLuca, K.M., & Demo, A.T. (2000). Imaging nature: Watkins, Yosemite, and the birth of environmentalism. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 17(3), 241-260. (on Blackboard) Gleason, T.R. (2005). The candidate behind the curtain: A three-step program for analyzing campaign images. Simile, 5(3), (on Blackboard) Johnson, Davi. (2007). Martin Luther King, Jr.s 1963 Birmingham campaign as image event. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 10(1), 1-26. (on Blackboard) Griffin, M., & Kagan, S. (1996). Picturing culture in political spots: 1992 Campaigns in Israel and the United States. Political Communication, 13, 43-61. (on Blackboard) Murphy, J.M. (2003). Our mission and our moment: George W. Bush and Spetempber 11th. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 6(4), 607-632. (on Blackboard) Squiers, C. (1990). Picturing Scandal: Iranscam, the Reagan White House and the Photo Opportunity. In C. Squires (ed.) The Critical Image: Essays on Contemporary Photography. Seattle: Bay Press. pp. 121-138. (on Blackboard)

Final paper outline due

Week 12 4/7

Celebrity Culture Becker, K. E. (2003). Photojournalism and the tabloid press. In L. Wells (Ed.) The photography reader. London: Routledge. pp. 291-307. (on Blackboard) Gamson, J. (1994). The assembly line of greatness Celebrity in Twentieth-Century America, Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 9, 1-24. (on Blackboard) Goldberg, V. (1991). The Power of Photography: How Photographs Changed Our Lives. New York: Abbeville Publishing Groupp. pp. 103-133. (on Blackboard) Mendelson, A.L. (2007). On the function of the United States paparazzi: mosquito swarm or watchdogs of celebrity image control and power. Visual Studies, 22(2), 169-183. (on Blackboard) Rose, G. Visual Methodologies, Ch. 9 Walls, J. (2000). Dish: How gossip became the news and the news became just another show. New York: Perennial. Ch. 19. (on Blackboard) Wolfe, C. The return of Jimmy Stewart: The publicity photo as text. In C. Gledhill (Ed.) Stardom: Industry of desire. London: Routledge. pp. 92-106. (on Blackboard)

Week 13 4/14

Snapshots and Family Photos Chalfen, R. (1987) Snapshot versions of life. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. pp. 70-99. (on Blackboard) Holland, P. (1997). Sweet it is to scan: Personal photographs and popular photography. In L. Wells (ed.), Photography: A critical Introduction (pp. 103-150). London: Routledge. (on Blackboard) Kotchemidova, C. (2005). Why we say cheese: Producing the smile in snapshot photography. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 22(1), 2-25. (on Blackboard) Kozol, W. Lifes America: Family and nation in postwar photojournalism. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. pp. 51-95. (on Blackboard) Mendelson, A.L., & Papacharissi, Z. (2011). Look at us: Collective narcissism in college student Facebook photo galleries. In Z. Papacharissi (ed.), A networked self: Identity, community, and culture on social network sites (pp. 251-273). New York: Routledge. Sturken, M. (1999). The image as memorial: Personal photographs in cultural memory. In M. Hirsch (ed.), The familial gaze, pp. 178-195. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. (on Blackboard)

Week 14 4/21

The Digital Present and Future Benjamin, W. The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. (on Blackboard) Gunning, T. (2008). Whats the point of an index? Or, Faking photographs. In K. Beckman & Jean Ma (eds.), Still Moving: Between cinema and photography (pp. 23-40). Durham, NC: Duke University Press. (on Blackboard) Kato, F., Okabe, D., Ito, M., & Uemoto, R. (2006). Uses and possibilities of the Keitai camera. In M. Ito, D. Okabe, M. Matsuda, Personal, portable pedestrian: Mobile phones in Japanese life (pp. 300310). Boston: MIT Press. . (on Blackboard) Manovich, L. (2003). The paradoxes of digital photography. In L. Wells (ed.), The Photography Reader, (pp. 240-251). London: Routledge. (on Blackboard) Ritchin. After photography.

Week 15 4/28 Week 16 5/5

No class work on your final papers Final presentations (details to come) Final Paper due