Shapiro+K+Wk+12

4/17/12

My VSP has definitely grown throughout the process of its creation. I started out by wanting to explore some of Ramage’s ideas about identity by thinking about it in terms of music. Specifically I wanted to look at the interplay between the readymade and the constructed identity. I find it interesting how much people embrace readymade identities that are created for them by others; ultimately I believe this is because most of us do not realize that these ideas that we hold about ourselves are not in fact created by us.

As a way to represent this irony, I utilized some ideas from Shields discussion of the Apple Ads. I am using their technique of intellectual montage to express my ideas. I also found that this was a good way to create the context for my images. By including the text, it tells the reader how to interpret the images presented while at the same time it progresses my argument. I begin by generalizing my idea, that we all use music, as a starting point for the audience. By presenting a grid with faces of generally bland expressions, I am trying to create a mirrored heterotopian site. “The mirror, existing in real space and time, can be used to discover ‘the absence from the place where I am since I see myself over there.’” I want this image to act as a mirror that the audience can see themselves in and begin mentally creating their vision of their interaction with music through the examples I give.

I then present three examples of ways we use music that should seem pretty obvious to the audience. In a way, I am doing this so that I can defamiliarize the audience’s perception of ways they use music. My next step in presenting my idea is getting to my point, which is that we use music to identify ourselves. This is a use for music that requires thinking about music in a different way. To visually represent this I literally turn everything on its side, using Prezi to flip the orientation so the side becomes the top.

In defamiliarizing music for the audience I am changing the nature of music; transforming it from something that we act on, to something that acts on us. I then present examples of means of identity formation based around music. In the last section, I use iconic images similar to the apple ad. This is because “icons are culturally resonant units that convey a familiar set of ‘original’ meanings and images.“ I tried to choose icons that would be recognizable to the majority of my audience in order to most effectively get my message through.

Lastly, I bring the idea full circle and reference the first image again.

My message is ultimately two parts; first, that music is a tool for how we identify ourselves, but also I want it to cause the audience to consider how this really works. Do we create our identities or do we use them for us. I do not visually state this idea, however subtly I include allusions to it. The use of stereotypes in depicting identities based on music is the biggest clue to this idea for the audience. By using these icons, I want the audience to question my message, and decide if they are creating their own ideas or just succumbing to the pressures of pop culture and peer expectations.