AllebachJ+1RA

JRA- 1RA Draft 3/23 Audience Analysis Managerial/office duties (men) || Basic responsibilities ||
 * Kind of Viewer: || Primary || Secondary ||
 * Education || High-School graduate || (almost) college graduate ||
 * Professional Experience || Domestic housewife or 8-hr. office and other middle class jobs for men || Part-time work ||
 * Job Responsibilities || Domestic duties (women)
 * Personal Characteristics || Middle-class, established, love family and their home. || Middle-class girl, independent, excited about life ||
 * Personal Preferences || Nice, ordered, and status-quo life ||  ||
 * Cultural Characteristics || American (not a first or second generation immigrant), white, English speaking, suburban/small-town. || American, white, English-speaking, small country town . ||
 * Attitude toward Photographer || Respect for his work – not much known about him personally || Respect and admiration due to a greater knowledge due to research ||
 * Attitude toward Subject || Sympathy and pity, “how can I help this person?” – not indifference || Sympathy and yet expecting a history lesson from the phoograph. ||
 * Expectations about the Subject || Helpless, someone in need of help, and injustice is being done toward this person. || History lesson – a look into the past through the subject ||
 * Expectations about the photograph || Emotional reaction/illustration of a story being told in LIFE magazine || View into the past, revealing much about the present. ||
 * Reasons for viewing the photograph || Entertainment, current events – magazines very popular without much TV and other media || This project ||
 * Way of viewing the photograph || Skimming the magazine, stopping at interesting stories. Perhaps this one? || Internet – studying it for purpose of analyzing it. ||
 * Viewing Skill || Suburban high-school graduates – taking it at face value and their first reaction || Going beyond first reaction, using rhetoric tools I learned ||
 * Viewer’s physical environment || Small-town – in their living room in their small house surrounded by a white picket fence with next door neighbors doing the same. Or perhaps at the local barber shop or hairdresser, skimming as you get your hair cut or done. || House in American town – sitting at a computer in my room or on a college campus in a computer lab. ||

2/29 Working Preliminary Thesis:

Gordon Park's photographs depicting poverty and injustice work to gain sympathy, hatred of injustice, and possible action of his audience. The images work in this way by portraying children and families in a sympathetic way - in a dire circumstance - along with the a coinciding story of their circumstance. These images, therefore, appeal to one's ethos and pathos.

2/25 Photo # 2, 3, 10, 11, 12

The first trend I notice in these images is the trend of socioeconomic issues in the world. Each image represents someone living in poor conditions and to a point, a person in despair and having very little in material wealth. And yet the first of these images represent individuals from Brazil, while the remaining photos represent individuals from the south, though during a similar time period. Photo number ten represents individuals who may be poor in the way they are treated, but look wealthier than some of the others depicted. So what connects these photos even through these differences? I think it calls us to consider what it is like to be poor - and it may not only be poor materially. The first two images show what it is like to be poor materially. The second image might show what it is like to be poor emotionally and socially. The last two might show a combination of both. The reaction to this condition, however, is quite similar throughout the world. The first image might stir an emotional reaction for those who live in Brazil and specifically for children. The image may be meant for those who have investment in the well-being of other countries, specifically South America. The audience is broad - people in America, Europe, or any other wealthy nation would be moved by these photos. The last few images may be meant for those who specifically live in America and even more specifically, those who are unaware of black life and segregation going on in the south. But the trend remains the same - to show despair, a poor life, injustice and to invoke a reaction from the audience.

2/17 Photo #11

Metaphor and Identification: Here, we combine the scene and the figures and it provides us with a metaphor of a hard life. The combination of the scene (notice the home is small, cluttered, and dirty) and the figures (mother and children poorly dressed and yet continuing with what looks like their daily routine) provides us with the thought of this tiny family working through life's difficulties and their poor lifestyle to provide for the children.In the second photo, if you take the figure by herself, she only looks like a sad woman sitting on her bed. By combining this figure with the scene, we get a metaphor of a young woman perhaps looking at herself in the mirror (possibly unhappy about what she sees) or a young women reminiscing about her roots, as symbolized by the old picture sitting on the dresser. We could identify with many elements of these photos. Have we experienced trying to daily providing for our children through difficult times? Have we never experienced it? Can we identify with staring at our past through an old photo in front of a mirror?

Logos, Ethos, and Pathos: The logical appeal in this photo is somewhat absent as I think it is trying to appeal more to our emotions and ethical standing. Ethos is quite apparent though, as it greatly appeals to our ethical character. Is it ethical for this tiny family to live in such poor conditions? Do they have enough food, clothes, and other basic necessities? This image might indicate that the answer is no. Is that fair? And why are they forced to live like that? Is she not able to work because of her race? Did something happen to her husband? My own ethical character is pricked by this photo and I'm sure even more so to the historical audience as it was happening at that very time in their own country. It also appeals to our emotions as an audience. We feel sympathy for this little family, or perhaps empathy if we have gone through a similar situation. We feel sadness for the life of these children, the hardship of the mother, their living conditions, and perhaps the outside conditions and problems we assume from this image.

2/13 Photo #10

Rhetor: The photographer in Gordon Parks. His credibility can be found through his collection of photographs and his legacy as photographer for LIFE magazine. In this image, he was photographing various elements of the town of Shady Grove, Alabama. According to research, he was sent to portray segregation in the black section of the South, and he went about that by taking images such as this one. He risked his own life in the process - he was a black man himself, and a group of white men searched vigilantly for him during this and he was incredibly grateful to get on his flight back to New York at the end of the project. He was most often found photographing social problems, and segregation was one of them. This is represented in this image. He is representing the degree of separation here and in other similar photos. He is also representing the fact that not all black people fit people's preconceptions - here appearing both well-dressed and upright citizens. It is hard to tell if he specifically posed these two, but he certainly chose to step back and include context to the image apart from just the human figures. It almost looks as if he was walking down the street and snapped this portrait of natural life in this town. He, being black himself, would have gained more respect and allowance to take photos. He is imagining his audience as the typical white and eastern American, I think - challenging their preconceived notions or perhaps their ignorance. His perspective on these two is both respectful and perhaps sympathetic.

Text: Historically, this image's main focus would have been the human figures. The town would have looked familiar and normal to the viewers while to us, the town invokes thoughts of what towns looked like, cars looked like, dress looked like, etc. This all would have been common to viewers at the time period and would have had less of an affect on the viewer. And yet the town is important, because it depicts how segregation was going on in everyday life in an everyday town. These two girls don't look overly excited or overly sad, they look like they are just going along in their day. This is normal for them - nothing out of the ordinary. The big and bright "colored entrance" sign grabs our attention first and foremost - which may be quite purposeful. This may be aiding in our focus on the subject, it may be showing us the assumed ignorance of blacks, or it may be showing the blatant and almost showy segregation going on.

Audience: This image, in historical context, would have perhaps challenged the ignorance of readers of LIFE magazine. Did they think of blacks in the south as being poor, unkept, and unruly? These two certainly don't portray that. Did they view segregation as something minor, not widespread, or subtle? The bright "colored entrance" sign (along with other images in this series) also disregard that preconceived notion. This image would have appeared directly in the part of the fight of the civil rights and the struggle over segregation in the south. To us, the modern day viewer, we are looking at it from the opposite side of the fence. We might see the image as a victory - we have overcome such segregation and injustice. We may view at as a piece of American history. I think it's asking the audience (both past and present) to look at this image and understand segregation. Put yourselves in their place, possibly. What would it feel like to be standing there below a big "colored entrance" sign? Perhaps the fact that we can't empathize with these two (have we ever experience what is pictured here?), infuses anger or bitterness over what they were forced to go through. Maybe for some, they have been (or have family members who were) put in such a position and or have heard similar stories - this would invoke sadness or bitterness.

2/11

Photos I am considering: 1) Park was sent to cover a suspected affair between Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rosellini on the Island of Stromboli, but this picture better displays the relationship that grew between Bergman and Parks. "During Ingrid's free time we roamed Stromboli by foot, shooting pictures of her for the coverage. She was gracious and kind and easy to work with. Before long a sense of trust grew between us, one I honored," Parks said.

2) and 3)

Parks went on assignment in Portugal, photographing both deposed monarchs and poverty and despair. He also portrayed the poverty of Brazil, as seen in the second picture. Both of these are examples of some of his portrayals of poverty, a theme I am debating using in paper.

4) and 5)

Parks lived with this family for one month in Harlem, New York. He documented many elements of their life.

6) and 7) and 8) and 9) Here are some of the many examples of Park's photographing fashion - Gloria Vanderbilt is pictured in the first, fashion in America the second, then Spanish fashion, and the last is Paris fashion.

10)

One of quite a few images taken by Parks at a project in Shady Grove, Alabama. Photos from this project are others I am considering for my project.

11) and 12)

1 It is not uncommon to find Park's using his ability and his photos to point toward overcoming discrimination.