Looking at Science

Science has largely been considered an objective field, outside of the influence of normal cultural context and influence, but science is no exception to the social contexts that form our understanding of life. We know this, for in the renaissance period science and art were one in the same. Even more, cataloging humans based on physical appearance and anthropometric studies once were considered science, showing the importance of cultural ideology at the time. As science continues to advance, visual imagery has become increasingly important in allowing doctors and scientists to “see the unseen”, particularly inside the body and at the molecular level. From looking at dead bodies in the past, to viewing displays of inside the human body today, scientific images have always fascinated people.

 

One way we can understand the link between art and science today is the way in which “scientific” pictures are made to be aesthetically pleasing. For example, let’s take the Time Magazine cover from 1965 where the reader is told the image is of a living fetus when in reality it was an isolated fetus removed from the mother, with color and special effects added for viewing purposes. Or more recently let us consider PET Scans displaying the elusive brain, and the colors used to clarify the “facts” that are still very tentative. The simplicity and power of these images can be quite moving for the viewers. We can see how this is also the case with the picture above of several sperm competing to fertilize an egg. The sperm here were dyed and the photo as a whole was brightened and enhanced giving a deceptive view of “truth”. However the image is culturally positioned to be most relevant and entertaining for the current time. Sperm could be thought of in thousands of different contexts and this picture shows just one of those many ways; this is a reminder that no one image can be objective, whether in the field of science or not.  

Postmodernism

Postmodernism could be characterized by its lack of characterization; it’s multifaceted, intertextual, and simultaneously intersects with modernism and even pre-modernism (310). While modernism was about trying to obtain deeper truths, postmodernism questions the very notion of truth (312). This has led to a questioning about authenticity and the merit it actually holds. One critique of postmodernist living is the been-there-done-that lifestyle where it seems as everything has already been done before (315). This has led to a popularity of remaking works with a particular spin, irony, and the stepping back to look at a work through a different context. Pastiche is the term that encapsulates most of these ideas, playing on imitation, parody and a usually humorous or ironic use of other media or ideas (328).

 

 

A solid example of this notion of postmodernism comes from the 2013 movie Warm Bodies. The movie is a prime example of intertextuality, and the once simple task of defining its genre is even too complicated to easily do. The movie is a drama, a horror, a romance and a comedy all at the same time. This work of art is an indefinable slew of different messages, very akin to postmodernism. Moreover, it uses pastiche by reproducing the idea of zombie movies. However it doesn’t do this in a traditional sense, but with the twist of humanism. Though the idea of zombie have been recycled thousands of times, the use of humanistic traits within a zombie makes this as much an “original” piece of work as any. Another dimension of postmodernism is the confusion of time and space, and even this is somewhat achieved as we are in some point in an unknowable future in the movie. Warm Bodies is as crowded, plural, indefinable, and ironic as postmodernism itself.

Media Overload

While in previous years being alone meant you weren’t communicating with anybody else, in today’s technological world you can be all alone in your room yet virtually connected to the entire world. From phones to computers to television, these are all media that have helped to create a new public sphere, one based far less on space, and more on time, access to free flowing information, and global interconnectivity (Arjun Appadurai)(248). Marshall McLuhan said in the 1960’s that a medium is any extension through ourselves in a technological form (229). This idea of media extensions is tied in with the creation of mass audience. Monolithic mass culture refers to a period in the early 20^th century where early television and newspapers dominated news, but this gave way to the concept of mass media which is the term used to describe those many media forms used to reach mass audiences with shared interests (226). As a part of the contest between different media and corporations, we’ve seen a battle of spectacles, or basically, shock and awe news (240).This kind of sensationalist approach can have its cons.

 

 

A problem with the approach of today’s quick and ever-changing bombardment of images is the “media overload” it has created (227). Jean Baudrillard coined the term cyberblitz to describe the escalation of random and unpredictable media forms, images, and information that have smothered post modern society (227). My image taken of a young boy this year, shows him gazing into an onslaught of televisions and different media options and speaks to the cyberblitz we currently face and its possible consequences, especially on developing young minds. Because of convergence, defined by many media coming together into one, this media overload is even more accessible and refined, and this raises expectations of instant gratification even higher (look no further than the iPhone for convergence example)(232). Moreover, because these media are so widespread, convenient and encaptivating, almost everybody works within them and media critics such as Herbert Schiller are quick to point out how such power could be used by private organizations to take over private space (236). Because media is now very capable of dictating ideology, and hence culture in large, scholars such as Robert McChensey argue nearly all media can be seen as propaganda- covertly promoting specific ideals in a manner unbeknownst to the masses (237).