Essay on the critical appraisal of Ansel Adams
There is an open question that defines photography theory as much as it plagues it: does a photographer take or make a photograph? Ansel Adams’s 1935 book, Making a photograph: an introduction to photography could well be considered the definitive response. A photograph remains an abstraction, even in its most primitive state as a sort of document or record and Adams’s skill lies in his ability to conceal his role as contriver, abstracter, imaginist, within the rhetorical apparatus of scientifically objective reality. …
Essay on the techniques that Disney uses in “Hercules” to promote consumption in children
It was once true that the center of gravity of the phenomenology of a Hollywood film’s release was the film itself. The focus on and celebration of the plot, storytelling technique, cinematography, direction, romance, action and subtext was the extent of the allure of films, and not an inconsiderable one at that. However, the 1970s saw the advent of the ‘blockbuster’ mentality inside Hollywood movie studios, an addiction to ‘event’ films which cost staggering amounts of money to produce, but are also calculated to make staggering profits. These profits are no longer simply box office receipts, but an ever-multiplying array of ancillary markets most notably, product merchandising that have grown so lucrative that arguably, the film itself has in many instances become largely irrelevant. In short, in the current climate of corporate hunger for ever-increasing profits and exploitation of new revenue-generating arenas, film and television become not just products, no different from tampons or fruit juice or toothpaste, but marketing tools to facilitate the sale of a brand. The film is no longer the focus, the sine qua non, but merely the cinematic portion of a giant marketing machine designed to squeeze every bit of profit out of what is generally a concept with little redeeming social value. …
