English Writing 11-1/ National Image/ Pursuing Freedom from Market Imagery

Pursuing Freedom from Market Imagery

             All advertisements and brand images originate from misconceptions. Brand images are especially considered as a more intentional illusion, for there is a clear purpose that lies behind the protruded imagery. Promotions are done in strategic, selective level, without the notice of normal citizens (Williamson). Because advertisements and promotion of national image at a governmental level has an inherent tendency of selectively omits the hidden and exaggerates the shown, the receiver of these images tend to be more passive then the days when promotion was done in a unclassified, slow way.

             However, such phenomenon has been accelerating ever since the creation of mass media. People no longer consume materials; they purchase and utilize signs created by the distortions of reality (Baudriallard). A product’s function is less important than what it had been in the past. More important is the congregated emotions and social atmosphere around the product. For example, if one brand is more popular than the other, the brand is chosen solely for that reason. Consumers nowadays cannot differentiate the taste between McCafe and Starbucks, but many still prefer Starbucks if affordable. This is the reason why companies invest innumerable dollars of money on advertisement and promotion. If it had been only companies, this phenomenon would have limited effects, but because governments started to utilize its national image to sell products, the integrity of this condition has increased.

             Before exploring the reasons of what influence this phenomenon has inflicted, it is crucial to understand the mechanism of this set of incidents. In order to do so, deconstruction of an initial case would be helpful. For such purposes, Korean reaction toward Italian food pasta would be most apt for analysis. Interesting aspect of Koreans is that they eat pasta in special occasions such as dating or anniversaries. This supports Baudriallard’s claim, for it is not the taste that drives Korean to give ritualistic meaning towards pasta, it is the cultural content congregated with the food. The denotative elements such as wheat or tomato are not manipulated by Italian government or commercial conglomerates, but the connotative components such as luxury or healthiness certainly are. At least for a number of Koreans, pasta is a luxurious cuisine.

             The factual matter of this imagery is not important. Whether there is a historical record that directly refutes this illusion is irrelevant to the construction of the distortion in reality. Because signs create images, they are irresponsible for factual and logical proving. It is an intuitive process where cultural symbols have meaning instead of factual proving. When soap dramas send out scenes of luxurious pasta restaurants or when Italian government spend money on promoting their cuisine, imagery becomes formidable by such refutations. It indirectly goes through the signification process without literally stating the luxuriousness of the food. By doing so, cultural mirages gain momentum and appear to consumers as a real being. This process is called privation of history, for it erases the history off a relevant sign, and fills the sign with profitable meanings (Barthes).

             Such fraud can only be done because consumers are unaware of the actual information. They never went to factory sites where tomatoes are canned by machines instead of beautiful Italian ladies hand-picking ripe red tomatoes under the sunshine. There no longer exists the real pasta for the culturally deceived. A new profitable invention waits to be eaten. From the power to arrange signs and symbols, the state or the companies gain power to make profit by distorting the reality. The profit is evenly distributed from the government with tax and companies with cash.

             National brand image is no different from the myth derived from Italian pasta. Only difference between the two is that it is a much bigger discourse that contains smaller products such as pasta, benefiting the state with the profit driven out of it. Brand image explicitly shows off its purpose of commercialization. The purpose of such illusion is not morality, people’s benefits or knowledge; it is only hard cash. From this, people are objectified, treated more of a wallet that pays for this well-assembled sign, not material. Beautiful colors and grandiose rhetoric explaining the significance of culture in advertisements can be thought as servants of consumerism that deceives individuals.     

             The only way to stop this tragedy is to fight back the power to construct meaning and signs from the state. Instead of distorted depiction of fake reality, individuals should be more skeptical of governmental efforts to promote national image. People should form civic spheres to voluntarily share information to protect each other from the power of capital and state. Individuals who are aware of the Chimeric breeding of state and company should never sway towards passive obedience towards cultural hegemony. They should get a clear grip of what is happening, and reclassify the signs and the context around themselves.

References

Books

Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Seoul: Hyundae Mihak, 1995

Baudriallard, La Societe de Consummation ses Mythes ses Structures. Seoul: Munye Chulpan, 1991

Online

Williamson, Lucy. “Selling South Korea: No ‘sparkling’ brand image”. BBC. 31.01.2012. Web. 05.03.2012

English Writing 11-1/My Own Fairy tale/ the Queen_explanation

Topic Selection

When reading the story of Snow White, I interpreted the story as a conflict between two different types of women fighting against each other to gain power. The Queen is a rebellious woman who seeks for her own happiness, and actively strives for her benefits. She deceives the King, who is normally thought as the most powerful. She resembles Lilith, who is mentioned as Adam’s first wife and co-creation. Lilith refused to have children or be subservient to God, which led to her excursion from the Garden of Eden.

In contrast with Lilith, Eve was from Adam’s ribs and subservient. This is consistent with Snow White in the fairy tale. Snow White is creation of the King without the help of the Queen, while she possesses familial powers such as doing the dishes or making food for her family as shown in the dwarves’ house. At the end of the day, obedient Snow White is who wins over the Queen, implying that the fairy tale world is more in preference with obedient women.

The Queen is initially jealous of the gaze and interest from the King that Snow White receives, but as time goes on, she decides to kill Snow White and castrate King’s power. This is extremely important; for it is an indication that although the Queen is under the influence of the King’s power, she soon fights back in her own way. Such shift can be observed when the Queen insists the heart of Snow White to be taken to her jewelry box and prepares to cook Snow White’s heart. This is what resembles Atreus and Thyestes, when the unfaithful is forced to eat a dish of his own child that symbolizes his present and future existence of men, which is their child. This can be thought as an active aggression done by the Queen, which fails in the story structure of the original Snow White. I decided to make it happen, and let the King’s power be castrated by the Queen.

There is a last feature in this story that needs deeper consideration. It is the King. The King is existent throughout the whole story. The influence he projects is massive; the King and the Prince executes the punishment and the reward, but they never are viewed clearly by the readers. King is mentioned, but he resides by the opaque side of the story. If we concede that vision is power, this kind of existence is an indication that the King is not deceived, is not viewed and is not lost. The King is not castrated throughout the story, which is something that I will change in my version of the Snow White.

Illustrations of My Feministic Theme

I will put the Queen in the object (lowercase) of every sentence before she succeeds in making the King eat Snow White’s heart. The King will always be in subject (Capitalized) until he eats, but after eating, he will be exposed in the story as an object, contrary to the Queen. 

English Writing 11-1/My Own Fairy tale/ the Queen

the Queen

             Once upon a time, there was a magical land far away taken care of the Goddess.

             At the land lived a beautiful woman named Lihilt. As She grew up, She was given beauty beyond compare by the Goddess. On her sixteenth birthday, the Others whispered to her to marry the King next Kingdom. They told her that the King had a golden Palace filled with strong servants, a garden decorated by grand Obelisks and sharp Swords in forceful hands to guard them all. So She decided to go to the Kingdom and marry the King.

             The Palace made her shrink, for it was overly fancy and grand; the Obelisks seem to look down on her; the soldiers gazed her constantly from her arrival. But above all, the foster daughter was what made her frustrated. Eevee was her name, and she would never let the queen meet the King. The King never showed His existence. He always sat in a dark room, shadowed throne. He held a long telescope as the Sceptre, two magic Orbs that can overlook His people. This made the new queen afraid, because she did not know when the King will put His eyes on her.

             One day the King announced by voice that the Princess would have Her sixteenth birthday very soon, so the entire Kingdom ought to celebrate it. He promised to grant one wish for the Princess. The Princess answered:

             My Love, My King, most dearest in thine Kingdom,

             Bottomless Glances made me shed so many tears

             Of joy, now as Woman, I serve thee with meat and rum

             Dine thine deer’s blood and meat of cow most fierce

             The King granted the Princess the opportunity to prepare for the birthday feast. But the Princess again asked the King to prepare the feast only with the new queen, but no one else. Again, with voice, the King gave the permission.

             On the day of the Princess’ birthday feast, many guests came. The dishes were cleanly polished, apples were ripe, and the tablecloth was spotlessly white. The Princess was in front of a big, black pot full of boiling water, when the new queen just stepped into the wide, quiet royal kitchen. There were no other people in the kitchen except for the two. The Princess chanted to the queen:

             Like as the Sun rises a day only to fall fleeing,

             Just if the waves kiss the shore only to be apart,

             “The eye never has enough of seeing”

             Still the Gaze is mine; A dish of heart, a fine work of art.

The Queen realized what the King would eat as the birthday feast dish, and acknowledged that the Princess would not let her go until she regained her position as the King’s sole Woman. The King must have known this by the magic Orbs and the Telescope, but He let this happen. So She replied to the Princess’ chant:

             Despair had piled with the dust on the window pane;

             Life as a Grail is meaningless, and “a fool is consumed by his own lips”

             For as a Mother of Grail, Joy is a blessing: Lord’s blood and grain

             It is taken, not given, created, not extorted: The Absoluteness.

As soon as the Queen’s chant ended, the princess grasped the Knife and tried to pierce it through the Queen’s Womb. The Queen clutched the princess’ wrist and struggled together. The princess was not used to using the Knife, but she managed to scratch the Queen’s Hand. The cut made the Queen spill some blood from her body. Nonetheless, the Queen pushed the princess into the boiling pot, which cooked the princess’ flesh. The Queen soon stirred the pot and made a magnificent dish out of the princess’ heart.

             She walked out of the kitchen with the dish in her hand, and arrived at the party place. The King was visible for the first time. He was out in the bright sunshine, gazed upon by numerous spectators enjoying the birthday feast with laughter. The Queen went directly to the King and laid the dish in front of him. The Queen chanted to the King:

             “Who can tell him what is to come?”

`            Hear, My King, the moaning voice from this splendid dish.

             After first bite, I will summon Eve to bring more rum

             Be My Thyestes, and she will be in your bosoms, as you wish

And the King responded:

             “What more can the King’s successor do?”

             What goes around, comes around to You

             One must know: “the King is not with the Body”

             The clothes you are about to wear is gaudy

The Queen hastened the King to eat by speaking again:

             A rebel, must she use the weapons at one’s disposal

             Compare winning Woman with wedding proposal

             Eat yourself, your existence; of today and tomorrow

             The Crown is to possess, it is never a thing to borrow

The heart was chewed by the king.

The Queen stood to watch him finish his meal. Sigh came out from the king’s mouth. The Queen gazed upon the palace, the obelisks, and the swords of men. The Telescope was broken, Orbs were shattered. All was done for, all was meaningless now. The Queen beamed at Her people, and retreated into the darkness where no light was existent.

              Her people danced, ate and drank under the bright sunlight. The Queen sat, gazing at Her people.

English Writing 11-1/ Describe a Room/ Traces: How the Room had been in its Own Way

 Traces: How the Room had been in its Own Way

           Lasting sound of children giggling raced on the walls of the room. It ran on the track of withering sunlight. When the spring wind intermittently came by the windowsill, the sound of new leaves rustling with power knocked on the window pane. The slim sprigs rubbed its green flesh on the pane with the leaves. All was shadows; excerpt for the sound. The longer branches, rounder leaves, and muffled laughter sank in through the window. 

             From the stack of empty Pepsi cans piled on the desk arose smell of old pastry, “syrupy sweet”. The traces of used pencil shavings and bits of eraser pieces were scattered over the desk along with tattered notebooks. The notebooks were scratchpads for the pre-calculus exercise problems. Beside that was a drained cup previously filled with shockingly sweet ice tea. The precipitated, gooey ice tea residue also emitted sickly sharp sweetness through the atmosphere. Reaching out for water, I found nothing but an empty cup. Bothered, I tossed a coin towards the bookshelf. The coin joined the dispersed set of other rubbishes that used to be sorted in the pencil vase. It all used to be in order, all tidied. It all used to be.

             Slowly, a pleasant odor prevailed from outside. Beyond the firmly closed door, mom was there. There was mom blanching spinach and baking slices of potato. Cheerful screams of potato being fried by grape seed oil burst out through the wooden door every now and then. The bubbles popping from the boiling pot made good company with the scream. Busy footsteps plod along the kitchen between the fridge and the stove. Lying down on the bed beside the bookshelf, I gazed at the door that showed many movements behind its thickness.

             On the other side of the room was a showcase where my parents placed mementos from foreign travels. The mementos were from places I have been to, but do not remember. There was a copper nude sculpture of a young woman from Italy. The sculpture was too big compared to other souvenirs. It stood out among the miniatures of countries. The tint, rusty piece of metal made me put my face close to its surface and made me observe the patterns of blue-gray rust. Italy was all sunny and the concrete roads were beautiful. The air was dry and clear, unlike the room’s damp and sickly sweet atmosphere. Maybe the difference in air made the sculpture rot. Or the faint traces of sunlight from the window made the sculpture “all blues” even more.

             The windowsill is coated with a thin layer of dust and stains inside, and wears sunlight on the outside. The absence of brightness inside makes the room more in its own way, while the outside more beautiful. Then the sunlight is within the room, through the supplement of shadows. What is not there relates to what is there. This is how origins live through traces from time or other, and how the room had been in its own way.

American Literature #3/ Eve's Diary / Progress of Eve

Progress of Eve

            

           Let us assume that there is an indisputable concept of linear progress. Debating upon it can be saved for later pages. Even though there might not be a consensus on the existence of description of a definite, categorical standard of distinguishing what is in advance, discussing on what can be seen as progress upon this assumption might produce fruitful results. As one of such attempts to create meaningful discussions, I would like to analyze the growth of Eve in courses of advancement in a chronological order in “Eve’s Diary” and “Adam’s Diary” written by Mark Twain.

             In order for a change to occur, there must be a problematic sequence in the status quo. Without negation and conflict, there cannot be progress from the status quo. In such sense, “Eve’s Diary” written by Mark Twain starts from a problematic, yet potentially ideal status quo. Eve is suddenly born, without possessing a clear objective in her life. Rather, she is given an objective without her consent. Although there is no scene where a higher power appears and grants her the purpose of her existence, it is evident that Eve is clearly aware of her reason for creation. “I AM-an experiment; just an experiment, and nothing more.” This absence of life’s goal leads to extreme self-negation as shown in: “Then if I am an experiment, am I the whole of it? No, I think not;”

             From the very beginning of the story, Eve lacks subjectivity in the context. She is removed from the center of discourse, she is a passive being used as an experiment of an obvious higher power. Whatever creation she is superior than does not matter; she is excluded from the subject’s position. However, she soon rebels to the oppression she is receiving. She “says its name is Eve…not an It…is a She.” Unlike the environment that is given by the other, she for the first time creates meaning that is solely hers. She refuses to be generalized or objectified; this is evident when Eve calls herself a “She.” “She” is a word that can only stand as a subject in a sentence, and the usage of the word differentiates the indicated being with materials. The word has an inevitable human connotation to it. Not only that, Eve starts to name every object around her. By doing so, she is rearranging the order of materials in her way, not as what has been given. Just as God has created the world, Eve reconstructs the meaning of the world she lives in, naturally escaping from oppression that is against her will.

             Acquiring subjectivity is a clear progress from existing as a passive being. However, there is a clear drawback to this step as well as the first. If one becomes too self-centered, he or she becomes stagnated. With excessive self-righteousness, one rules over every other existence except for himself. A subject that does not gaze upon herself is extremely dangerous. She can no longer cope with the others, and cannot advance with time. There must be an opportunity when the subject becomes modest, after realizing that she is not perfect.

             This opportunity is often referred to as “mirror-stage”. In this stage, the subject starts to separate himself from his surroundings. In juvenile state, individuals cannot differentiate themselves from what they see, especially their image in the mirror. They only gaze on others, not realizing that they are being gazed at as well. Eve is also in this state as well in the story after she names the objects around her. Freeing herself from God’s given meaning was significant, but in process, she begins to rule over other materials. This includes taming other animals to hunt down Adam, ruling over others just as God has done. When Eve sees her own image on the water surface but does not acknowledge that it is herself; she is failing to admit that she is being watched by the image. Hence “It is a good friend to me, and my only one; it is my sister.” This indicates that Eve is not fully mature, and that she will meet another hardship to grow up.

             Such misconception of oneself leads to an event which hurts Eve. Until Eve’s first confrontation with fire, what she has named admired and obeyed her. This has made her to be concentric with masculine, Christian God, for she rules over others. However, because ruling over is not a feministic characteristic, it is not apt for Eve to adopt such tactics. She experiences “cruel pain” when she puts her “finger in, to feel it,” Right after the shock, she puts her finger in her mouth. For the first time, an object goes against Eve’s will, hurting her. This is a setback that harms Eve, but the incident has a silver-lining foreshadowing to it. Putting a hot object to ease the pain allude the Holy Grail legend. Also a development story, the Holy Grail legend shows a similar event when the Fisher King puts hot piece of salmon inside of his mouth. The fish hurts the Fisher King greatly, but it functions as an obstacle that the Fisher King must overcome to accomplish perfection.

             The pain by fire is similar to that of the Fisher King. For some hardships, the traditional way of dealing with problems would not work easily. One has to change her basic tactics in confronting life. As for Eve, her naming was violent and masculine for her to employ, which led to a negative result. In alternative, Eve takes a feminine stance in treating life. Instead of oppressing, she gives birth to a child, creating instead of destroying. Her caring is clearly differentiated from that of Adam. Adam treats his future existence, his child as a dangerous creature (“it makes curious devilish noises when not satisfied”), while Eve thinks it is “an enigma; she admire the word”. This is the completing stage of Eve’s life; she creates a new story, becomes the center of the discourse not be oppressing others, but by fertility. 

Comments:
Chung Yoon Ju: I didn't think that Eve is better than Adam as in whole. Rather, I thought that she is pretty annoying and I didn't give much attention to naming of every creature as reassembling the world. However, I am convinced on how she names the world, is rebellious to higher power, and discovers her inner self, making her superior to Adam. It would be better if you put some historical approach such as women suffrage.

American Literature #2/ The Tell-Tale Heart / Madness over Reason

Madness over Reason

             Where does the word “enlightenment”, meaning awakening to reason, come from? According to Hans Blumenberg, it comes from the concept of vision, “to shine light upon”, hence its structure en-lighten-ment. As a matter of fact, it seemed peculiar to me: what does vision have to do with reason and enlightenment? Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart seems to provide a good starting point for answering this question. In this essay, I will explore the relationship between “his eye” and reason by answering the question, and further develop on how a madman successfully rebels against the violence of reason.

             The protagonist of Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart” states that he killed the old man to “rid myself of the eye”, along saying that people might think he is mad. Basing on these two descriptions, there is a clear juxtaposition between “the eye” and madness. Considering the antithesis of madness, “the eye” can be substituted by the concept of reason. How is this possible? The idea of reason comes from the act of seeing. By flashing light, man escapes from the dark, able to differentiate himself from his dark surroundings. Vision draws a distinction between the viewer and the object seen, since there has to be some distance in between. This again relates to reason, for the concept of reason needs a distinction with madness. Through the act of seeing, lines are drawn between two groups: normal and abnormal, us and them, inside and outside.

             Poe’s description on the madman and “the eye” can be discussed on a same level. The protagonist is gazed upon by the old man. This terrifies the protagonist, for he is objectified, differentiated from the old man. As shown in “…it haunted me day and night. Object there was none. Passion there was none,” “the eye” makes the viewer into a subject by exterminating object, it is also juxtaposed with “Passion”. In deeper analysis, it can be found that both words “Object” and “Passion” are capitalized and used as subjects in its sentences. However the repeated description of “…there was none” kills the subject words’ integrity. Object as a subject, Passion as a subject does not exist, for there is “the eye” that haunts the protagonist. The protagonist decides to kill the old man to get rid of “the eyes” that makes him powerless.

             The fact that the protagonist kills in a room “as black as pitch with the thick darkness” is remarkable. The old man cannot see the protagonist in the dark, thus he is vulnerable. However, a bigger merit of darkness is that the old man realizes that he is being watched by another. The fear of being watched as the protagonist “gazed upon it….with perfect distinctness”. Another significant point is that the protagonist fails to see the victim. He “could see nothing else of the old man’s face or person”, because he is a different being with the old man. However, the old man is frustrated anyway, killing himself. This raises an interesting question: Why did the killer use the victim’s way of executing violence over another? In order to rebel, one must use the weapons at one’s disposal. This a common means of vengeance also found in Tempest by Shakespeare and “Daddy” by Plath, for both authors use patriarchal language to destruct patriarchy.

             One might ask: “How is the protagonist a mad man? He never shows any symptoms of madness.” This point seems to stem from the thought that mad men should show outer symptoms such as drooling or have seizure. Madness relies on a juxtaposition of normalcy, meaning not normal. Normalcy here means one having reasons for his actions. The protagonist shows no affection towards treasures or property; nor does he have a grudge towards the old man. He is different from other people, because he does not have a reason for his action except rejection to the gaze of society. This rejection and absence of reason is sufficient enough to be treated as a mad man.

Comments

Haeuk Ko: Poe must have been both a mad man and a genius to have understood all these concepts and try to express them while at the same time he was trying to depict himself.

Yeji Park: I really like this piece! I think you interpreted the story very well by analyzing that the eye represents reason and the protagonist is mad man. What I recommend you for better piece is: maybe you can define what madness is. You used the concept of enlightenment and knowledge to explain about reason, but for madness, you only wrote that it is irrational to be obsessive so much over “the eyes” so to kill the old man. Maybe you can define this obsession as one typical type of madness. Good job!

American Literature #1/ The Ambitious Guest / Knowledge is Power

Knowledge is Power: But for Whom?

             Many say that knowledge is a tool for liberation, a valuable tool for resistance against the unfair deeds. I would like to challenge this notion, and show that knowledge in general and the existence of “the others” restrict a man’s free will and divinity.

             
            Before looking at how one’s free will is influenced by knowledge or the others, we should first review over on the concept of power. Power is a subject’s ability to control and objectify other entities. It includes physical and intellectual influence that one person or a group executes over others. In such sense, it can be said that knowledge is an effective tool of power. Common sense and the crux of mainstream philosophy have been constantly shifting throughout history. The important aspect of this phenomenon would be that at any time of history when an ideology or specific form of knowledge thrived, it definitely benefited the prosperity of a group, in many cases the ruling class. The nobles and priests in the Middle Age, bourgeois and petit-bourgeois nowadays are initial examples.

           
             Let us explore the example of bourgeois and their execution of knowledge. As the power control shifted from the nobles, they started to practice a different strategy of control upon other classes. The nobles used gaudy and ritualistic performances to boast their power and influence. One example of this strategy would be public execution, which openly shows the strength of the nobles. However, the bourgeois employed a strategy diametrical to that of the nobles’. Instead of being seen, they utilized the power of seeing. By gazing upon the common people, they were able to take control over the statesmen.

            
            As a result, the academics regarding the subjects of optics, Cartesian coordinates and statistics began to advance. Cartesian coordinate system was used to identify the location of objects and enable the overseers to acknowledge the path of moving objects. This discovery was the very beginning of urban planning, which greatly helped the taxation of statesmen. Statistics was used in classification of information, extracting meaning from otherwise meaningless numbers. Well-sorted and analyzed numbers showed visible meanings, helping governments efficiently reign over its citizens. Nonetheless, the word origin of statistic is “status”, possibly implying that statistic is a crucial knowledge for ruling a nation.

             
             Is knowledge an effective tool for liberation and enlightenment? Knowledge is more of a repressive structure that constricts free will from human beings. As long as there are more than an individual, power relation will always exist, influencing the knowledge created within a society, small or big. We should be more ignorant, more independent, and thus become free. 

Comments


Ko, Hae Uk: "Then do you promote going back to zero-base, when we still lived in huts? Should we try to find out every piece of knowledge through experience?"
Jung, Yoon Jo: "I read it through about 80%, and you seem to know a heck of a lot about philosophical issues. But what is the Cartesian coordinate? Who is Foucault? I could not understand this. But the first page was really good and persuasive. Good!"
Kim, Sol: "I get where you're trying to say, but won't we need some more explanation? I think you lack enough explanation. The last statement of yours sounds like we should go back to the primitive stage.... personally one question: then should human be apart from the society? You wrote about something too big to write in 20 minutes!"