The book of the British geographer and
researcher Gillian Rose explores the methods used in interpreting and analyzing
the visual culture from different critical perspectives, showing the strong and
weak points each of them has.
The central idea of the first chapter is that
the same image is perceived by different people in different ways, being
distorted considerably and losing part of the significance that was supposed to
be transmitted. This primary significance contains the truth about the image,
and, for retaining it, different instruments have to be used.
Semiology, audience studies, compositional
interpretation, analysis of content and psychoanalysis are some of the
instruments used in determining how people perceive the message of the images
from the communication media and what their impact is.
To illustrate the necessity of using a
critical approach in visual culture, the author gives the example of a poster
used by the Conservative Party for the 1983 elections. It represented the image
of a young, black man, and the slogan was "Labor says he's black, Tories
says he's British". Although the purpose was to attract the votes of a
certain electoral segment, the message corresponded to the way in which the
image was perceived by people having different political views.
While, in case of paintings, the consistency
and shade of the color used by the artist are the main factors that determine
the reaction of the viewers, in a documentary photography, the details are
those that matter the most, so the public's opinion is greatly influenced by
them.
However, Rose also notes that, not only the
political appurtenance or the psychological structure of the audience is
important in studying the impact of the visual culture, but also the social
status of the "receptors" of a certain image. According to her, this
is the main reason why viewing an image cannot be considered a purely
"innocent" act, but a complex process, that has to be analyzed from
the compositional, social and technological point of view.
