7 & 8

1) The diagonal placement of the stitches in the first panel creates a feeling of movement and when placed into the context of the next panel, a feeling of confusion. The next panel sets up the story of a lost child in a city, and the following panel shows medications. The final panel seems to be a collection of random words.

The story they tell for me is a story of what this child, lost alone in the city, is seeing and feeling in the first panel. The chaotic mix of objects and lines show the confusion and emotional and visual overload the child is experiencing. The next panel explicitly sets up this story in fragmented speech reflective of the quick shift of thoughts and gaze shown in the first panel. The following two panels show the ramifications of such an experience; now the child requires medication to deal with the anxieties of being left alone and the last panel shows the change in thoughts to disconnected ideas without meaning. These words are indicative of the child's mental state following his or her new drug regiment.



3) I think throughout the exercise I was aware of the possibility of my answers strongly reflecting the ideas embedded by advertisements and overall consumerism, and I think because of that the answers I drew or wrote I consciously made an effort to separate them from my original advertisement based instincts. I wonder if this affected other people's responses as well, because for me it's hard to tell if the answers come from the influences of consumerism. The story about feeling pain seems like a separate and purely humanly felt experience, separate from ideas of pain or fear generated from television or otherwise. With the medications, I guess it's reflective of the kinds of medications we'd take; there are no examples of any sort of natural remedies or otherwise. My experiences with medications are limited to what I can buy from the store as opposed to what I can make myself, so this panel has some taints of consumerism. It's easier, and it is portrayed as being easier and more effective, to take these kinds of medications that can be obtained and manufactured by someone else than it would be to seek some sort of natural solution to our aches and pains.

Response 7 and 8: Kathie's Automatist Exercise

The content of each square relate to each other in pairs such as the first and third square relate to each other and the second and fourth square relate to each other. It seems that the third square is telling the story of the first square with its various shapes as well as the second square telling the story of the fourth square by illustrating that with a broken arm, the character had to consume various medication. Therefore, it seems that the element as a whole is split through the middle to tell separate stories such as in chapters. So, there seems to be a narrative formed but seems that there are two different narratives that is happening at the same time. For the second and fourth square, I can visualize the pair as a commercial for medication or any advertisement associated with medicine due to the narrative that states “ kindergarten on the monkey bars equals broken arm,” which is directly associated with image of a character taking medication. However, just like consumerism of various products that are influence through the media, I interpreted the that the person who drew fourth square mocking an advertisement through the character saying “blah blah blah,” which shows that media speaks out information that people take in daily to influence a higher rate of consumerism and production. The aggregate effect of the four people’s contributions seems to fit in with each other as well as it seems that many of the people seems to think similarly when we were asked to fill in these squares. Therefore, as we would pass down the paper, I would notice that the majority of the people would have similar ideas and visual interpretation to the prompt for all or most of the squares.

It may be that the majority of the people think and interpret the prompt for each square similarly due to the influence of media and consumerism. For instance, the first square consisted of shapes that one person drew after a word was read a loud. However, even during the exercise, I had noticed that most people drew down similar shapes, which may have been influenced by the media and information that we take in daily through consumerism, or according to Lasn, the brain washing of the consumer society was successful through manipulating the way that we all think similarly given the same prompt. The shapes do make some kind of concrete reference to production and consumption due to some shapes having an industrial forms to them such as the rectangle, which is often associated with production like boxes, to assembly lines, to various other products as well as other shapes such as the jagged lines. However, there are a few shapes that have an organic form that I interpreted as landscape but those shapes can also reference production and consumption, such as various shapes that are often associated with products such as the jagged shape in which someone might say that it was influenced by nature (autumn leaves) or even the production and consumerism of products (even products such as marijuana).

Pete Hall WR 7&8

Pete Hall

Response 7&8

As I start this response, I wonder if it is possible to really get out of our ‘media-polluted brains’. Our media polluted society is everywhere, always; how do you get out? But perhaps that is exactly the point of this exercise.

In looking at the exercise at a large scale and considering all of the squares at once, there seems to be little similarities between all four. The drawing squares are similar in that they are all simple line drawings, symbols really. I assume that the people who drew these symbols were simply looking at drawing the first thing that came to mind quickly. Thus symbols make the most sense at quickly relating the image that came to their head when the corresponding word was given. Perhaps this exercise was created with the supposition that we would draw simple symbols. I’m sure some people will say that symbols are used heavily in advertising to remind us of brands and create instant recognition for the consumers. Such as the Target bulls eye. Most people probably associate a red bulls eye with Target stores. But symbols were not a creation of advertising corporations; humans and even animals have used symbols for thousands of years, they are a natural tool. It is true that advertising corporations adopt symbols, but I think this exercise is trying to say that we drew symbols because of our ‘media-polluted brains’. Which is, in my opinion, not why we drew symbols, we drew symbols because we had a short amount of time and symbols are quick easy representations of ideas. The word house is not a house; it is a symbol for the idea of a house. Our lines are simply symbols for a word, a quick idea, not a representation of our media polluted brains. Now this of course would be a different issue if we had drawn the Target bull’s eye.

On my sheet, the only part that jumps out to me as production driven/ consumerism is one of the drawings on the bottom right square, the elongated oval with the bisecting line. This to me looks like a pill, Advil perhaps. Specifically to me it looks like an Advil Liquid Gel. As far as I can remember I’ve never taken an Advil Liquid Gel, or at least never bought them myself, but I still know what it looks like and know the full brand name. I don’t know if the person who drew this was thinking of an Advil Liquid Gel, or even a pill, but I’ve seen enough commercials and spent enough time in this consumerism “cult” to make the connection in my head. I would really like to know the word that prompted this drawing. Was it ‘Medicine’? I can easily see a pill being drawn for that. Or was it ‘Health’? If it was health that would strongly point to a consumerist, easy way out, tendency to over medicate for small problems. Perhaps seeing so many drug and pharmacy commercials has made us a nation of hypochondriacs. We’ve seen Swine Flu reported on so many times that we can convince ourselves that the normal flu, or even a common cold, is swine flu. We’ve seen it on the TV, why couldn’t it happen to me?

Weekly Response 7&8

Lauren Korany

During discussion, we were asked to take part in an exercise. Each of the class members folded a paper into four squares and drew images (or wrote words) in response to the prompt we were given. The page was passed to the right after each person did his or her response. The paper in which I have been assigned has one square that I have answered a prompt and the rest from 3 different individuals. As I was analyzing each square in depth, I noticed a sequence in the four squares. If you were to look at the squares as if you were reading a book (from left to right, then bottom left to right) you can see the pattern. The first square portrays a series of symbols. Symbols in themselves are hard to identify unless you know their context. The box is full of incoherent symbols. The second box reads “painful, headache”. Although this is not descriptive, it leads from the first square in an interesting manner. The over-bearing incoherent symbols have created “painful, headache”. This is a cause and effect sequence. The next square portrays a figure next to a pile of medication and drugs. The pile is quite large. The figure also appears to be highly “influenced” by the drugs. He has dilated eyes and a huge smile, with his arms triumphantly thrown up into the air. The square transitions into the fourth square that is taken up by the first work “SMILE”. The box is followed by a series of other words but the first is the largest, bolded, and most prominent word in the box. In my eyes, the sequence follows as; overwhelming amount of incoherent symbols (logos, advertisements)--mental pain--solution: mental diagnosis and drugs--relief. This is a great indicator of what Lasn sees in consumer society. Over-advertising causes the population to become over-stimulated, so they seek escape in medication and mind-alterations. This is the psychological baggage from consumerism.

In the Chapters Spring, Lasn introduces the term “Situationist.” (100-109) This group of people was the generations that defied the established order of society. Not only were the Dadaists included under this umbrella, but so were the anarchists, surrealists, automatists, fluxists, hippies, beats and visionaries (100). All of these groups had the same goal in common, to break away from the commercialism and everyday spectacle. Dada in itself was a cultural movement “that was based on the principles of deliberate irrationality, anarchy, and cynicism and the rejection of laws of beauty and social organization.” (Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature) They were taking the new route, just as Lasn points out. He uses the example of the Sex Pistols, a British punk band that had a hit called “Anarchy in the UK”. Even though these groups rose at different time periods, they countered and responded to the structures in which they lived.

After reading this chapter I felt inspired to take action on things I was passionate about. Lasn quotes Edward Abbey (117) saying, “Sentiment without action is the ruin of the soul”. This really spoke to me. I realized that I had fallen into the habit of being passive, dreaming of solutions that I did not have the willpower to set into action. I suppose this would be the same fire that the Dadaists had felt at one point. I do not need to work under a group, but I have not been the prime example of an “activist” in the past. I used to feel that it was hopeless to try to change something, and even so, I did not know where to start.

Rebecca’s Automatist Exercise #7/8

This “get out of your media-polluted brain” exercise was meant to let ourselves free and to be impervious to everything around us. I, however, wonder if this is even attainable because both our surroundings and the media influence most of what we do or say. Is it possible to forget about what society expects of us and follow our own paths? Either way, everything we had put on this piece of paper was influenced somehow by consumerism. All four squares aren’t conceptually similar, however, they do relate by which all images and words weren’t formed through individuality rather instruction.

I will begin by talking about the first square, where we were told to draw shapes that define a certain word. The first square looks rather thought out and made to be something both abstract and appealing. The person who drew the first square may have wanted to make something beautiful out of it because he or she thought that that was expected of him or her as an art student. The second square (to the left) has words that describe one’s first memory. Here the person went straight to the point and used words that allow the viewer to understand what had happened during this memory. However, I wonder if he or she had done this because he knew someone was going to read it and felt the need to be as direct as possible. In the third square, we were told to draw a representation of all the medicine we had taken in our lives. Our ideas about medication and the sometime negative aspects to it are always presented in the media and the artist who drew the medicine bottle and tallies was most likely affected by societies’ view of medicine. Finally, the fourth square was the one I had made. We had to write down the words we thought of when we saw a certain shape. I believe this part was most affected by my exposure to the media or consumerism. Almost everything I had imagined when we saw each shape was created by the images I have been exposed to in my environment.

All four boxes were shaped by what is expected of us and while this was a totally free exercise, we still couldn’t stray away from everything that influences us. In Culture Jam, Lasn talks about how society is essentially controlled by consumerism whereas we are told what to consume and how to think. Lasn wants us to stop depending on corporations and the media. This much relates to the ideas of Dadaism where Dadaism is anti-war movement that deviates away from the traditional in order to make certain statements. Dada art denounces society and reveals the world as it is without trying to change peoples’ ideals. Lasn also tries to do this within his book. To go alongside the ideas of Dadaism and Lasn, what were to happen if we were totally unaffected by consumerism and what the world expects of us? What would be in these four squares? Whatever would be drawn, these four boxes would have been completely uninfluenced, therefore are shaped by our own independent beliefs.

Lasn, Kalle. Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America. New York: Eagle Brook, 1999

WR 7&8

Kristen Zelenka
Weekly Response 7&8
8 November 2009

Last week in class we were asked to complete four different exercises in a corresponding quadrant of a grid we were given. Between each exercise we passed it to the person next to us. First, we were given a series of words that we had to draw symbols of. Second, we wrote descriptive words about the first time that we felt pain. Third, we were asked to draw our response to how much medication we have taken in our lives. The fourth and final exercise was almost a reversal of the first, we were shown drawings and we had to write down the first word that came into mind.

Between the four squares that I ended up with, there are a variety of styles that the four different people used in completing the exercise. However, everybody used pencil and everybody stayed within the boundaries of the box provided to him or her. The boxes are drawn in stark black sharpie and remind me of cubicles. The two drawings filled the area of the square while the two boxes where there was writing both started in the left hand corner of their respective boxes. The first box looks more like logos, clean and concise, while the third is more of an emotional sketch and a collage of different ideas. If I had to characterize the creative type of individual that completed these two boxes, I would say that the first was a graphic designer, the third a fine artist due to their drawing styles. The items listed in the fourth box are all definite objects that one could buy but in the first box, which was the reverse of the exercise, I cannot definitely tell the word that the symbol represents.

I would say that the first, third, and fourth boxes all relate to consumerism. The first, as mentioned before, resemble logos because of how they are cleanly drawn and arranged. The third denotes a lost of consumer goods that you could buy. The fourth is about medication and I instantly associate that with drug companies and insurance plans, especially with the huge bottle that takes up the majority of the space. However, the second box is more of a personal story and something relating to the individual’s mom. It made me think more of family and not of a consumer background. Despite this, I believe that with how the exercise was set up, talking about how consumerism rules our lives, it might influence our responses more than if it was not given in the same setting. We also completed the exercise while in class, where we the students are the consumers of the university that is a service provider.

Alyssa's Automist Exercise

Alyssa Olson

Response 7&8

All of the squares relate to each other because they are all very simple and straight to the point. I believe that most people would be able to identify the exercise in each square without any previous knowledge. The content of the squares relate to each other because they can all be represented in a visual manner. For example if someone said “banana” you would be able to draw a shape to represent this. Also for the opposite, if someone drew a banana-like shape you would be able to infer that that person wanted you to think of a banana. The theme between each square is very repetitive because regardless if it is a square of shapes or a square of words, they all can be easily represented in both fashions. It is interesting to see that our brains don’t even need all of the information to be able to accurately process what is happening within each square. This is probably due to the large amount of stimulus from the media and other outlets. The aggregate effect of all of these elements is that, as humans living in our current society we only need small amounts of information to form narratives. This may be helpful at times, but also displays the control that the media has on us all.

I could say that majority of the four squares has been influenced by consumerism. A large reason why our society is able to associate words with single images or vice versa is because of consumerism. Advertisers and companies purposely use devices to make us, as the consumer, to recognize their products and brands instantaneously. This seeps into our daily life and as in this exercise when you drew something similar to a Christmas tree, majority of us wrote Christmas as the first word that came to mind. Advertisers bombard us daily with posters, fliers, and commercials, branding almost everywhere we look. Even if we are not consciously paying attention to all of the signals advertisers are putting out there, we still are subconsciously absorbing them. This exercise displayed that what advertisers are doing is working. Even though most of the images or words that we were prompted with for this exercise had no tie to consumerism, we still were able to instantly associate them with something else. This is why when we walk into a store we don’t always buy the least expensive product, but usually the product we want to be associated with because we know that everyone has judgments and pre-disposition towards certain objects and images. This skill-set is directly related to the adverse effect that advertising has on us as a society and there for relates to consumerism.

The only shapes that make direct connections to consumerism or production would be the shape of the two arrows, one pointing up as the other points to the right. This is reminiscent of a financial graph. As the buying and production go steady then the profits go up. The shape that looks like a banana relates to consumerism because we have to go to the store to buy a banana, which directly supports the consumerist society in which we live. Lastly the shape in the bottom right corner that resembles a large pill has a direct connection to consumerism. Our health care system alone is a large supporter of the consumer system and also helps production of medical supplies and prescriptions to thrive. The pill-like shape in its massive size accurately displays the dependency we have on prescription drugs and quick fixes. Majority of our society wants a pill to fix all of their problems and doctors are willing to prescribe this because they not only get perks from the drug companies but then the drug companies thrive giving them a larger profit. This all directly affects the consumerist society in which we live.