Reflection of
Learning
Creating this concept map helped me
understand the reading more thoroughly by making me piece through the
information given in the text to map out a concrete idea of the most important
ideas and topics the chapter talks about. For me, it was very difficult to not
wander away from my focus question on the concept map, because all the concepts
branch out and have so many sub concepts that relate to each other. At one
point I had lines and bubbles everywhere and had to start fresh to really
solidify the map and answer the focus question clearly and in a simple matter.
I believe that chapter five’s main take away point is that technology which has
allowed us to copy and reproduce images has vastly changed how images persuade societies.
This goes along with one of the first points the chapter makes about how technology
is an agent of society - technology is influenced and brought about from a
changing society, while at the same time technology can mold and impart change
upon society. This two-way relationship that society and technology have is crucial
to understanding why changes in technology change the way we value images. Before
we were able to modify images, copy images, and circulate images through the
mass media, one had to go to the original image, wherever that may be, to
observe it. While then, the image did have power in it’s authenticity and aura,
I would argue that the ability to mass circulate an image so that many people
could view it is more powerful than the power an image receives for being
authentic. Reproduction of images has allowed us to create social change, such
as the numerous modifications of the image of Che Guevara.
This map
related to what we have previously learned about how to value an image. It made
me look more closely on how authenticity and originality of an image may not be
the most important factor, like some theories we have studied before thought. In
essence, this chapter and the map I created for it made me think differently
about how to value the power of an image. I now think, as I said before, that
the power of an image comes from its ability to persuade, and this ability to
persuade can be maximized by the reproduction, modification and circulation of
images.
I cannot
think about any issues that require further classification in this chapter – if
anything, I was so absorbed by all the information and examples in the text
that I could not piece together a clear thought in my mind for the concept map.
What I have
learned in this chapter can be applied to the analysis of a media text by
looking at the original media text, how it has been modified, and the effect
that copying or modification has had on the original intent of the image. What
was the image’s original meaning, and how has technology changed this meaning?
Is the meaning now stronger, weaker, or totally different? In conclusion, what
we learned in this chapter about technology, how to value images, and the
politics of copying images is something crucial to understanding images, the
media, and will continue to be important as technology changes and adapts with
society.
Sources:
Ginal. "Summary: The
Work of Art in The Age of Mechanical Reproduction."Introducing the
Frankfurt School. N.p., 28 Feb. 2008. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.
<http://frankfurtschool.wordpress.com/2008/02/28/summary-the-work-of-art-in-the-age-of-mechanical-reproduction/>
