Chapter 2 - Viewers Make Meaning

“I do no have to like or appreciate the dominate message of the image to be interpellated by it or understand that message.” - page 50

While you may like or dislike an image, the meanings are always clear because they are meant to try and tempt you into doing or feeling certain things. Advertisers use this heavily; they produce ads with the intention of swaying you into buying their products. While we may not like ads, they do have an impact on how we view products made by certain companies.

“Simply put, a producer may make an image or media text, but he or she is not in full control of the meanings that are subsequently made thru the work. [….] Hence, we can say meanings are not inherent in images.” – page 55

While some residual inheritance will reside in an image, the viewer provides most of the meaning, based off their own life experiences or past use of said product. These meanings can vary wildly from individual to individual but can still carry common threads among the viewers. It’s this commonality that the ad makers strive to touch in us.

“Notions if taste provide the basis for the idea of connoisseurship. […] A connoisseur is considered to be more capable than others of passing judgment on the quality of cultural objects.” –page 57

While connoisseurs have been trained to understand classical tastes, I think that what is quality should be left up to the individual. While the world has changed by leaps and bounds, what is considered classical tastes have not. It is this line that attempts to separate those who consider themselves above the common man and thinks that they can never appreciate the “finer things” in life, which is a misconception.

"There are many ways in which the value of a work of art is determined in the art market. One of the key economic and cultural factors in the valuing of art is collecting by institutions such as museums and by private collectors." - page 62

While I can see how museums can determine the price of a work of art, I think it is wrong to consider anything in a private collection. Private collections are just that, private. If these works of art are so valuable in a cultural sense, they need to be where everyone can see them. They can be privately owned, but in public museum.
"In the 1990s, [...] The system of value imposed by museums, the held, were a means of protecting, maintaining, and hiding ruling class interests in the art market." - page 66

I think this is an extreme that most people wonder about the true value of art. Museums held the people trust in that they were doing this to preserve our history, not make closed-door deals with the elitist class. It make us question the very worth of a painting. How can we know were or not the price has been askew by museum curators and wealthy people driving the prices up to serve their own interests.
"Cultures of collecting and display have also been radically transformed by the emergence of online collecting and exhibition." - page 68

This shift has made art more accessible to the everyday person so that they can enjoy it and be inspired by something that they may have not been able to see previously. With a internet connection, one can view paintings from most museums even if they live hundreds of miles away. It truly opens the art world to anyone who wants to look.

"It is important for us to think in terms of ideologies, in the plural. The concept of a singular mass ideology makes it difficult to recognize how people in economically and socially disadvantaged positions really do challenge or resist dominant ideology." - page 70

I think it is more of that there is no one true ideology that everyone follows. We are all individuals and have our own sets of moral and social values. It is what makes everyone unique.

"Who is the "You" of this image?" - page 72

I think this is a question we ask without thinking about it. We've been trained from birth to view images in this manner that we do it instinctively. But we never ask why or wonder why we look at images inn the form we do until we are forced outside of the little box we have become accustomed to.
"As we noted, viewers are not simply passive recipients of the intended message of public images and cultural products such as films and television shows. They have a variety of means by which to engage with images and make meaning from them." - page 76