"Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes before it can speak."
"But there is also another sense in which seeing comes before words. It is seeing which establishes our place in the surrounding world; we explain that world with words, but word can never undo the fact that we are surrounded by it. The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled."
John Berger's Ways of Seeing is one of the most stimulating and influential books on art in any language. First published in 1972, it was based on the BBC television series about which the (London) Sunday Times critic commented: "This is an eye-opener in more ways than one: by concentrating on how we look at paintings . . . he will almost certainly change the way you look at pictures." By now he has.
Quotes / Notes
Page 130
"We are now so accustomed to being addressed by these images that we scarcely notice their total impact. A Person may notice a particular image or piece of information because it corresponds to a particular interest he has."Basically saying that its subconcious to us now but has massive impact. Fast food as an example - befor ewe enter we see a slogan, brand colours and logo, smell the food - it makes us hungrier when confronted with large images of food.
"Publicity is usually exaplained and justified as a competitive medium which ultimately benefits the public (the consumer) and the most efficient manufactureres - and thus the nation economy"
says we have freedom to choose,but all in all it benefits the economy which is good but also the manufacturers.
Page 131
"Publicity proposes to each of us that we transform ourselves, or our lives, by buying something more. This more, it proposes, will make us in some way richer - even though we will be poorer by having spent our money"
Advertising uses well known figures which causes us to be envious - a classic Bernays' technique.
Page 132
"Publicity is always about the future buyer. It offers him an image of himself made glamourous by the product of opportunity it is trying to sell"
Page 133
"Being envied is a solitary form of reasurrance. It depends precisely upon sharing your experience with those who envy you. You are observed with interest but you do not observe with interest - if you do, you will become less enviable."
This is linked to celebrities who we are envious of, but also linked to products we buy. People Envy us through our procuts, they way we look and the things we eat, where we eat. Why have Mcdonalds made their restaraunts a more "cool" place to hang with the comfy seats and wooden interiors???
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