Visual Literacy, is seeing beliveing?.

One of the things that  got me thinking in the lecture this week is how much of an impact does Visual  Literacy actually have in our life's. Are we all unaware of the way our minds are being subjected to a particular image, where the visual literacey leads us to subconsciously believe in a lie, a false representation of life or that product?

One of the examples shown in the lecture was a picture of a typical white American cowboy and a red skinned native American Indian . The debate was that on most occurrences, cowboys whether it in books, T.V shows etc , would have a distinctive piece of clothing /something that 'visualy' impacted them as the 'good guy' ,this was normally the 'white hat ' which is said to be a very popular recurring visual images. This suggested good! 'the good guy' so to speak was the American Cowboy, but why?.

Thinking about this has made me wonder how is it we've become so sugective to media thats been put out their, how we take and belive that the white cowboy is 'good' and the Indian 'bad' whithout knowing anything on the subject?. Are we simply listing to what others say before we have even looked into the subject matter at hand our self and gained our own understanding and oppinion, or is it true that visual imagery really does have this big hold on us in a way in some cases we cant control. In times when we are subjected to some kind of image are we unwaveringly being manipulated to what the protrayer has put across,  are we being strung along like puppets, or are we indeed brought up with our own  free will to chose and believe in what we want.



Part 2


OK so I've had some time to think about Visual Literacy and how much it impacts us in day today lives.

I looked up Visual literacy on the Internet and this was one of the quotes i had found on Wikipedia.
"Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image. Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading."

So below, a Cowboy and Indian Image, where Visual Literacy is communicating idea certain message to the viewer reading not words but into the picture.

When i look at this image its clear theirs a sense of good guy bad guy wanting to be prorated, my immediate reaction is to believe that the cowboy is the good, the man in the right.  I started to look closer at the image investigating why this was, the cowboy is like the main character as he is in the very front of the image, his eyes are locked with the viewer with a welcoming, expression, whereas behind him the Indian clearly is being portrayed as the more sinister character, looking at his series stare, he is threatening showing anger savagery looking .like he is about to attack the cowboy,and then they cowboy has to defend and defeat the Indian in order to protect his people etc even though it is the cowboy bearing a weapon.
Its quite surprising the impact in the way images are construed to give you a certain kind of perception even if you don't agree. I think quite the opposite thinking Indians are purely tyring to protect their land in which the American Cowboy invaded and try to take from them. The are seen as uncivilised and often reefed to as savages, when really they are living in piece using the worlds own natural resources in able to live a free honest life using materials that nature gave. Are they really as uncivilised as we say.

This quote was used talking about children's role play, playing the popular game of Cowboys and Indians.

"Cowboys & Indians: remains popular around the world, even though the films, television series, and books that might have been thought to give rise to it have largely fallen from prominence. This gives an insight into the child's perception of good and evil."

Suggesting again that films and televisions the images seen and portrayed have such an impact that the children believe that their is one good and one evil. Where instead of children being educated, the media are telling them how to react and what to believe in.

The Law of The Few. Bibliography

The Law of The Few

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p47	Tjaden. B. The Oracle of Bacon at Virginia, University of Virginia computer science department. www.cs.virgina.edu/oracle/. Figured out the average Bacon number was fir the quarter million actors/actresses who had played in television films or major pictiors -2.8312 steps. Anyone who has ever acted was averaging at under 3 steps. But must take in to account actor who has played in many movies but is not well connected takes a lot more steps than actor in less movies but is very well connected. Making the point that knowing the right and vast amount of people makes a difference being known and successful.
p53	Granovetter. M 1995. Getting a Job, University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Interviewed several hundred professionals workers in Boston about their employment history. The biggest percentage (56%) was people that gained a job through personnel connections. The strength of week ties. Getting jobs from our acquaintances not your friends. Learning more.
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p81	Condon. W.S 1982. 'Cultural 'Microrhythms' M. Davis, Interaction Rhythms: Periodicity in Communicative Behavior, Human Sciences Press, New York,pp.53-76. Attention to decode a four-and-a-half-second segment of film. Where a woman says to a man and a child over dinner 'you all should come around every night'. Broken down the film . The woman moves with the man, movements synchronize. Conversation rhythmical patterns, in harmony with each other.
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