The Alterity of Photography

In my last blog I wrote:

" For the sake of argument, I will say that objective reality and truth did not exist until the invention of the photograph. Before the invention, the reality of any experience was only as real as the recollections of those who had seen the experience and those whom they had told about it."

Reading Radical Alterity, I came across the notion that photographs do not give an accurate representation of the object they are trying to photograph. Rather than give context by seeing the object in its natural state, the photograph isolates the object and does not allow to see what is happening before or after that particular point in time, or even what exists directly outside of the clear boundaries of the photograph. While these are valid criticisms, I cannot allow myself to fully buy into that idea.

As a history major, I am often asked to analyze a photograph to gain a clearer understanding of the time period and subject which it documents. Never have I better understood the adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" as when i have been asked to learn in this way. Of course, to analyze a picture in this manner does take some degree of prior context.

All forms of media have shortcomings. No matter how well one writes, no description can give a completely accurate depiction of a scene, event, or feeling. Videorecording has much the same problems as photograph, just not to the same extent. Also with video, some portion of the recording is nearly guaranteed to be excessive, whereas a good photograph is far more likely to articulate what the photographer wishes to convey.

Constructions

The photograph makes life not one fluid entity but instead a construction of an infinite number of small pieces. For the sake of argument, I will say that objective reality and truth did not exist until the invention of the photograph. Before the invention, the reality of any experience was only as real as the recollections of those who had seen the experience and those whom they had told about it.

Literature too, is a construction built out of systems of rules, plot, narration, etc. The Other in literature is the refusal of its ‘Creators’ to acknowledge the boundaries that keep them locked within the the illusion of story. This refusal to acknowledge the boundaries keeps literature within the confines of rules which have less and less to do with the present as our species grows and evolves into new patterns of organiztion. Contemporary culture presses against the old ways; the stories, the limitations, and with the growing presnce of the digital medium, it attempts to mutate out of the old ways into something new.

The materialists, and notably Karl Marx percieved human action as an unfolding and constantly transforming system which would culminate into a final stage. For the purposes of this class, the final stage is a singularity of people, the superorganism. In order for the singularity to arise, the ways in which we tell our stories, and in effect, percieve our realities, must be allowed to progress beyond its current boundaries.

I see the cut up as an attempt to reconcile the old way of literature into the new ways of communication that are becoming more ingrained into our lives daily. With the cut up, one can intersperse 'classical' modes of communication with images, sound bites, or video. The infinite supply of these sorts of media that we have at our disposal thanks to the internet can be easily placed within our digital texts. Now, rather than quote a movie quote or song, we can embed the original within our modes of communication to more effectively communicate our points, as well as draw our ideas and expressions from a larger pool of thought. This again connects us with the idea of the superorganism. We can use already created images, sounds, etc. to make our own points and arguments.

This seems to be a merging between the ideas of what could be called plagiarism as well as free and inspirated thought. It is neither one or the other. And yet it encompasses the potential of the contemporary world.

Constructing Realities

I was thinking about this idea of expressing 'micro-thoughts,' via Plurk, as well as the super organism concept, and it led me to think about the effect of this new wave of Internet based communication that is becoming more popular each day. Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and now Plurk allow us to become connected to anyone as long as we are properly equipped with anything as simple as a home laptop or iPhone. The other day in class, Low explained Plurking, and seemed excited at having friends whose only connections were a common interest in each other's 140 character Plurks. These sorts of friendships are becoming more and more common in our world today. Anyone with Internet access can have a best friend whose face they've never seen, and who could, for all intents and purposes, could be a computer program. Perhaps its because I've never been at the forefront of popular technology that I find the inherent artificiality in this burgeoning culture slightly uncomfortable.
I find that more and more, we as a society are learning how to escape the tangible world with increasing ease, in order to enter our self-constructed life. A walk to the grocery store can become almost non-existent with an iPod and headphones, and the problem of a lonely afternoon becomes solved by simply logging on to Facebook.
Awhile back, I was eating dinner with a group of friends in a restaurant, and one of our party was being rather obnoxious and disturbing other diners. As I tried to tell her to calm down she became mad, but rather than respond to me directly, she got on her phone, hunched back in her chair, and began telling someone who wasn't even there her own version of what was happening at that moment. This girl had effectively left the real world and was in the process of manufacturing her own reality in the telling of it to her absent friend. With today's technology we can all do this. What used to require years of practice in Eastern meditation can now be accomplished by anyone who possesses an iPod,phone, or computer. We can exit reality at a moments notice and return when it suits us.
I don't mean to impress upon anyone that I think this technology or the things it allows us to do are bad. I think they are cool and oftentimes amazing. However, the technology is in its infancy, and our culture, especially that of the youth, has dove in headfirst with seemingly no thought of the consequences this could have on our lives and the way we interact with one another.
My friend's ability to exit reality at a moment's notice and immediately manufacture her own version of events is an impressive feat, and something that would have been a rarity 15 years ago. Once again I do not wish to simply criticise and point at our generations technology as the end of society, but I do think we should all take a step back and look at both the good and the bad.