This is my first blog, so bare with me. As I have been doing a lot of reading lately on visual culture, interpellation and context etc, I started applying this to many of my favorite shows. It wasn’t until I was interrupted during a new South Park episode with the question “what crap are you watching?” that I started to take note.
“How can you watch such vulgar racist crap?” my mother asked, to which I returned “what crap are you reffering to?” She started to explain that she was offended by many of the character representations, such as the AK47 toting Jesus, and cute woodland creatures. As I thought of a response, it came to me that maybe the representations in South Park are not racist, sexist or offensive. I explained that yes, maybe the producers are a little sick, twisted and perverse and that they purposely mean to infer such meanings in there work. I also told her that maybe the producers are actually masters of reflecting modern visual culture and have designed the show to enhancing the feelings of the viewers by engaging them, and forcing them to apply the values reflected in each portrayal. I explained that such values exhibited by each individual representations were actually meaningless in and of themselves, and that any negative values it may hold were simply her own personal values, beliefs and such reflecting back thru the image, and that any meaning she associated with it was totally her own. I also explained that I was trying to higher my sense of artistic development, by openly embracing the art hidden within modern culture.
While this could be considered a poor excuse to avoid letting her have the remote, and not watching American Idol, it still holds true. The meanings that we as individuals draw from different media forms are not completely influenced by the producers. Our past experiences, beliefs, values and other factors all come into to play, as each individual is directly responsible for creating the values they interpret. Either way it still worked, I got to watch my filth, and she got bored and made me a sandwich. In the words of Eric Cartman… “Sweeeet!”
“How can you watch such vulgar racist crap?” my mother asked, to which I returned “what crap are you reffering to?” She started to explain that she was offended by many of the character representations, such as the AK47 toting Jesus, and cute woodland creatures. As I thought of a response, it came to me that maybe the representations in South Park are not racist, sexist or offensive. I explained that yes, maybe the producers are a little sick, twisted and perverse and that they purposely mean to infer such meanings in there work. I also told her that maybe the producers are actually masters of reflecting modern visual culture and have designed the show to enhancing the feelings of the viewers by engaging them, and forcing them to apply the values reflected in each portrayal. I explained that such values exhibited by each individual representations were actually meaningless in and of themselves, and that any negative values it may hold were simply her own personal values, beliefs and such reflecting back thru the image, and that any meaning she associated with it was totally her own. I also explained that I was trying to higher my sense of artistic development, by openly embracing the art hidden within modern culture.
While this could be considered a poor excuse to avoid letting her have the remote, and not watching American Idol, it still holds true. The meanings that we as individuals draw from different media forms are not completely influenced by the producers. Our past experiences, beliefs, values and other factors all come into to play, as each individual is directly responsible for creating the values they interpret. Either way it still worked, I got to watch my filth, and she got bored and made me a sandwich. In the words of Eric Cartman… “Sweeeet!”
