Visual Concepts

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate November 2001

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To understand the unforseen truth behind the visuals we come in contact with on an everyday basis, whether it's television or magazines, there lies and individual interpretation of what is digested by the viewer. Therefore, transposing a label that creates confusion and unrealistic pressure on the viewers. Peoples interpretation of what they view and read are dually noted in the essay's presented by Berger's "Sex as Symbol...",Sanes' "Popular Fiction and the Quest for Freedom".

In "Sex as Symbol..." Berger gives us an approach to understanding fashion advertisements, by using semiology to show the correlations between sex and the fashion advertisements we view on an daily basis. Berger created a step by step code that opens up an advertisement, and allows the unforseen message of the advertisement to be justified.

In "Popular Fiction and the Quest for Freedom", Sanes presents that what we view in televisions and movies is a stimulant for our imaginations, and that our perceptions are therefore drawn out in a fictional manner, but reapplied in a factual capacity to ones personal life.

Berger discusses how advertisements generate meaning and how we use the signs and decode the methodology behind the labels. It gives the reader a sense, that the information is accurate and it exposes the misrepresentation of the advertisement. Berger's insight into the subliminal messages suggested by the advertisements clarify for the reader, the concerns he/she may be faced with in the fictional illusions brought forth by labeling. All of these labels and categorizing could leave an individual extremely confused. For instance, Berger suggested that "women fear losing their body fluids, which becomes their equivalent of losing their capacity to reproduce" (Sex as a Symbol.....), was a conclusion drawn from an advertisement of a woman for a Revlon advertisement. Furthermore, words like "precision tip, hygiene,