Conversation Paper #1 and Sources

The Conversation Paper #1 assignment is below...but first, I wanted to share some sources with you to help you find the image for the assignment. You can choose any iconic image (one that is popular and familiar enough that many people would recognize it, or has been reproduced in more than one format), either the ones below or one you find yourself. Here are a few ideas:

* Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential Pictures of All Time: http://100photos.time.com/

* CNN's Most Famous Paintings: https://www.cnn.com/style/article/most-famous-paintings/index.html

* 30 Striking Photos from the History of National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/05/130-anniversary-gallery-culture-spd/

* Rolling Stone's Best Album Covers of All Time: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/readers-poll-the-best-album-covers-of-all-time-10324/10-the-velvet-underground-the-velvet-underground-nico-256611/

Conversation Paper #1: Seeing and Believing

For this assignment, I want you to choose an iconic photograph or work of art (a painting, etc.) to write about. By “iconic,” I mean a work that is fairly well known and that either most people would recognize, or that is in books, in a museum, or in advertisements. I’ll give you a list of possible works on the blog, but you’re welcome to choose your own. Then write a paper that responds to the question below:

Q: Is this work famous because of what it is, or what people think it is? In other words, do people ‘see’ this as a work of art first, or do they ‘believe’ in this work before they even see it? For example, when you see de Vinci’s Mona Lisa, you’ve seen it everywhere already—on T-shirts, coffee mugs, in advertisements, etc. So you’re seeing a manipulation of this image, what people have made you believe it is, before you ever seen it for what it is. So how do we ‘unsee’ it and learn to appreciate the work itself? Are we looking at an idea, or an artwork? How do we know?

SOME ISSUES TO ADDRESS IN YOUR PAPER:

• Where do people see this work today? How do we encounter it?
• What makes the work iconic? Is it important because people respond to it, or are we told to like it before we even see it?
• Is it used to sell anything? Is it manipulated for reasons outside the art itself?
• What context is important to know about the work? How does it change what we see, or what we think we see?
• Has the work become more “true” or more “false” over the years? How can a work of art become “false”?
• What do people say the work means? Do you agree with them? Is there more than one interpretation?
• Is there a question of the work’s authenticity? Is there more than one version of the work? Is this the “best”? Or just the one we know?

REQUIREMENTS

• Use Morris’ book Believing is Seeing as one of your main sources. Quote from the chapters so you can respond to his ideas as you write. Consider the ‘big ideas’ we’ve discussed in class and in your daily responses.
• At least 4 secondary sources about your work of art, or anything related to it, that can provide context, history, culture, or more of the conversation. You must quote these in your paper as ideas to introduce and respond to.
• You can use Humans of New York as one of these 4 sources, or as an additional source to help you discuss your image. But it has to be relevant; don’t just use the book as an empty source. Either it aids your conversation or it doesn’t.
• At least 4-5 pages double spaced, though you can do more. You might need to do more depending on your image!
• DUE Friday, February 28^th by 5pm [no class that day]

For Monday: Morris, Believing is Seeing, Chapter 2 (pp.76-95)

Answer TWO of the following for Monday's class:

Q1: How does Qaissi's story relate to Fenton's from Chapter 1? Both are accused of fabricating their accounts and offering a "fake" story to the public. Yet Fenton actually took the picture, and Qaissi only claimed to be the subject of the picture. Was he intentionally "manipulating" an image for a specific effect? Or were his claims, true or not, unable to substantially change the image?

Q2: Morris writes that "Our beliefs do not determine what is true or false. They do not determine objective reality. But they can determine what we "see" " (84). What does he mean by this? How can a belief be false but also make an image seem true?

Q3: Similar to Fenton's two "ON" and "OFF" images, there are multiple images of the Prisoner on the Box. According to Morris, why did one image become more iconic than the others? Is this image more "obvious" than the others?

Q4: In Chapter 1, Morris writes that there is a significant difference between "information and knowledge" (63). How does this chapter prove this point once again? Why does the information around this photograph not translate into knowledge in the article? What prevented the journalists investigating the story from becoming informed? 

For Wednesday (?): Morris, Believing is Seeing: Finish Chapter 1

NOTE: We may have a snow day on Wednesday, so if we do, we'll discuss these questions on Friday. If school isn't cancelled, use your own judgement whether or not you can make it to campus (if you commute). These questions will only be due on Wednesday if school is in session (you can e-mail them to me if you can't make it), and if it isn't, they'll be due on Friday. 

Answer TWO of the following:

Q1: On page 45, an expert tells Morris that the photographs have been doctored, which is the only explanation for cannon balls that are all the same size. Morris rejects this, saying that people often prefer to find a conspiracy in things that are difficult to understand. Why is this? Why would we prefer to see a 'trick' rather than the 'truth'?

Q2: How did the rocks, which Morris and others give human nicknames, ultimately unlock the mystery of the ON/OFF photos? What do they conclusively tell us about the "truth" of the photos? However, why doesn't this completely solve the mystery: or rather, why does it solve one thing and leave another unsolved?

Q3: On page 54, Morris asks an expert, "Are you saying: to interpret a picture we need more than the picture itself? We need context." Why might this idea bother Morris, particularly in pictures like these? Should the pictures themselves be enough (or just one of the pictures)? Is there a danger in insisting that we know more?

Q4: Morris also argues that every photograph is "posed because every photograph excludes something" (65). So in his mind, taking a picture is staged and makes it somewhat inauthentic. The only way to be authentic is not to take the picture. Do you agree with this? Does this idea help us appreciate the photos and their mystery? 

For Monday: Morris, Believing is Seeing, Chapter 1 (Parts 1 & 2, pp.4-38)

Note: This is a very different book than our last one, though in many ways it's also similar. It's about how many ways we can interpret a photograph, and how what we see as initially 'true' about the work changes with time, perspective, and context. Try to read it as a detective story about finding a clue hidden in plain sight for over a hundred years. 

Answer TWO of the following for Tuesday's class:

Q1: Why did most writers assume that Fenton had 'staged' the second photograph? Why did they see this as the most 'common sense' explanation for the second picture? Would this be obvious to everyone looking at both images? 

Q2: Why do many people call this "the first iconic photograph of war" (18)? It's not a very interesting photography for most people, but it remains an important one. What does it show us, and why might it have been influential for later photographers?

Q3: What does Morris mean by "believing is seeing" in this chapter? Who in this chapter (according to Morris) is most guilty of this? Why is it easy to fall into this trap when it comes to art and photography?

Q4: What does Morris mean when he writes, "Photographs provide an alternative way of looking into history" (31)? How does this photograph also challenge how we read and interpret the past? 

This Week: Prepping for Short Paper #1

This week, we're going to discuss some writing strategies/ideas for writing Short Paper #1 (which I've posted below in case you lost it). On Wednesday we'll do some in-class writing as we discuss Introductions and how to start a 'conversation paper.' If you haven't started your paper yet, and are putting it off intentionally, this class will help you! 

The paper is due in-class on Friday, so please bring it with you (it's considered late otherwise). Please let me know if you have any questions! 

Short Paper #1: Acting Human in Public

In Brandon Stanton’s book, Humans of New York, he documents dozens of ‘humans’ in New York as they go about their daily lives. By looking at them as a group, rather than individuals, we can see some of the invisible ties that bind us as a species. Even though we might come from different races, nations, states, religions, socioeconomic classes, and political affiliations, when it all comes down to it, we share many of the same needs, desires, and fears as humans all across the globe. So what makes us human? Based on this book, what identity most unites us as human beings in New York, or Ada, or anyplace else on the globe?

Choose THREE pictures that you feel all represent people sharing the same basic identity as human beings. By “identity,” I mean a role, a philosophy, a belief, a sentiment, or a response that unites these people despite all the physical differences. How was Stanton trying to highlight this connection in the pictures or the captions? How can we see this behind the people themselves? Briefly examine each picture and show us the clues and details that make each picture more similar than different. Since there are no page numbers, you can’t say “look at the picture on page 23”—you have to actually describe the picture and give us a mental image of the person you want us to see.

REQUIREMENTS

·        Choose ONE identity and THREE pictures, no more, no less. Focus your paper around the identity and describe the pictures so we can understand how you see them as all contributing to this idea (even if we don’t agree—we need to see why you see it).

·        Description and analysis: make sure you help us see what the people look like and what details you feel are most important for ‘reading’ their character. Compare the different images so we can see the connection.

·        RESPOND to the images: don’t write a lengthy introduction or make stuff up. Just tell me what you see and how the images connect. If it’s too short, you haven’t analyzed the images in sufficient detail.  

·        At least three pages, though you can do more.

·        DUE Friday, January 31^st in class (bring the paper with you!)

 

For Friday: Stanton, Humans of New York

NOTE: Tuesday/Thursday Comp class should go to this blog: https://grassocomptwo.blogspot.com/

Look over the photos once more and try to find new ones and/or ones you skimmed over last time. Here are a few more questions to get you thinking about new ideas with the images:

Q1: Find one picture that you feel represents who you are right now. It doesn't have to look like you or even be the same sex/age as you, but how do they somehow embody your own identity at this moment in time? It could be their style, clothing, attitude, or what they're communicating in the caption.

Q2: Find one picture that you feel represents who you most hope to be 5-10 years from now. Again, it can be a different age/sex than you, but what about them seems to represent an identity you hope to attain or realize in the future. Why is this? How might this person underline the connotation of "success" or "happiness" or even "being an adult" for you? 

Q3: Based on many of these images, what do you think is one of the greatest fears of the modern age? What do most of these people seem to be 'running from' or 'hiding from'? How can we tell? Do the pictures/captions give us any clue as to how they're dealing with this universal fear?

Q4: These are pictures of people from every class, race, and walk of life. They're not definitive by any means, but they do give a nice cross-section of the "humans" in our world. Accordingly, what do you think most divides people from one another in these photos? Where do we see the 'walls' or 'divisions' that separate people from one another? If we're all human deep down, what divides us on the surface? 

For Next Week: Stanton, Humans of New York

NOTE: For the Tuesday/Thursday Comp Class, click here for Tuesday's assignment: https://grassocomp2.blogspot.com/2020/01/for-friday-stanton-humans-of-new-york.html

For the Monday/Wednesday/Friday class, keep reading the book and then answer TWO of the following for Wednesday's class:

Q1: In class we discussed some of the themes of the book, which include success (or making it), failure (or not making it), creating public art, spontaneous vs. staged moments, and the diversity of "humans". Identify another prominent theme that seems to connect some of the images, and discuss one image that supports this.

Q2: Many of the pictures have captions which add depth and characterization to the humans in the photo. Some, however, only have the photo to go by. Add a significant caption to one of these images and explain why you think this is story that exists just behind the image. 

Q3: Which image (or story) do you feel is most inspiring in this collection so far? Do you think the person in the photo knows they're inspiring, or does Stanton simply find them inspiring? In other words, is the subject trying to teach us a life lesson, or is Stanton using their image/words to teach us a life lesson?

Q4: For many people, New York City is a symbol for everything that's wrong with the world: overcrowding, hustle and bustle, greed, wealth, poverty, etc. What do you think Stanton's overall opinion or philosophy on NYC is? How does he use the book, and his photos, to illustrate what NYC means to him?