What’s so Funny?

For the final blog post I decided to write about something much lighter than terrorism, late night comedy. Like many other students in the class I enjoy watching comedians such as John Oliver, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Late night comedy relates back to visual culture because the visual is often used as the punchline to whatever the host was setting up. I also find it interesting because it directly contrast with traditional news anchors who have a serious image in the upper left of the screen. Could you ever seen Diane Sawyer with a picture of an angry girl scout? Overall I think comedy really relies of visuals, even standup comedians, because we are trained from an early age to use visuals to find meaning in speech and text.

Colin Buckley

How to Cover Mass Violence

In the wake of the terrorist attack in Belgium we have yet another incident of mass murder and the media attention that comes along. Looking at the front page of CNN, you immediately become struck with fear because of the black background and red headline. Additionally the question posed at the top, along with the image of an unknown man makes it seem that the perpetrator could be anywhere among us. Besides just the visuals, the links on the side of the screen make it seem like ISIS is taking over the world and it is impossible to keep us safe(See: ISIS: 75 attacks in 20 countries and Opinon: Why keeping us safe is hard).  Not that I think it is a bad to raise awareness for an attack, but this type of coverage is doing exactly what the terrorist group wants. Unfortunately I do not have a better idea of how to cover incidents such as these but I know that these attacks are planned primarily as ways to spread their ideas and cause us to live in fear of what might happen.

Colin Buckley

College Uniform???

Creating this blog post on a rainy day, I could not help but notice that it seemed like every girl on campus was wearing a rain coat with their sorority letters. I found this interesting because even though all the jackets have different letters on them, they all follow the same basic design and look like they are from the same company. Therefore, by wearing these jackets girls are associating themselves with the Greek community and more specifically their own organization. Boys do the same thing with event T-shirts, but it is slightly less obvious. This is an example of how the clothes we wear are an example of visual culture and convey the things that we care about. I am not 100% sure, but I bet that at campuses where Greek life isn’t big the vast majority of students would be wearing dark Northface or Patagonia jackets. This type of similar fashion across campus can be attributed to everyone’s natural desire to fit in, especially during college when you are trying to figure everything out.  At the end of the day it is clearly not a uniform and I believe that it shows pride in their organizations.

-Colin Buckley

A Starry Night

Moving in on the first day of school I was not thrilled about living in the basement. To get over this initial disappointment I tried to decorate my room as much as possible with things from home. After getting my room feeling like home, I asked myself “why would a nineteen year old have glow in the dark stars in his room?” The answer to that is because they take me back to fond memories of my childhood and home. Visual images have a strong ability to take people back to a different time in their lives. For example old sports cars are not popular because they can go fast or because they are environmentally friendly, they are popular because they take people back to a time in their lives when they were wild, young and free.

It has become a popular trend on Facebook and Instagram to post pictures of old trinkets and claim that only 90’s kids will understand. After having some of my friends in my room, I realized that these stars evoke a strong sense of nostalgia because everyone that saw them lit up with excitement. Despite not having any type of consumer message these stars are an example of shared cultural image and something that is easily recognizable.

In another sense these stars represent ones desire to reconnect with nature. Even though I have never slept completely under the stars, there is something in me that says it would be peaceful and serene. Additionally this image represents how culture can shape our ideas on symbols. All of these stars have five points with even edges, when in nature the only stars I’ve seen have been specks of light in the night sky. Despite having four floors of concrete between me and the sky a little piece of me feels that I am sleeping under a starry night.

Colin Buckley