The C+ Gang - Week 2 - Image

"Is the image different to one who views it?"

Once we got into the discussion, we found this question coming up more frequently than the others. In the first place, as we found out, images never had a single origin and as Mitchell states in his text, images emerged from within various large bodies of people, including religion and politics. Moreover, looking at the image's different possible connotations, it is clear that its meaning is not the same across different people. In the text, for example, Mitchell makes reference to Picasso's portrait of Gertrude Stein, saying that although the resemblance may not be clear at first glance due to differences in perception, in the end it IS a portrait of her and this the resemblance will eventually become apparent.

At the same time, it is evident that people will have different first impressions of an image because of the concept of "firstness" brought forth in the text. According to Peirce, an image cannot "merely represent something", it also has this concept which includes the colors, texture and etc. that first stimulate our senses when viewing an image. We found that this played a large part in answering our question, as it explains why immediate reactions can be so contrasting at times. Furthermore, this concept of "firstness" is important as it plays off of the image being a construct of the viewer's perception, as it can be modified or taken from different angles to illustrate different views on a given subject. This, in our opinion, would cause images to be based on perception moreso than facts. This idea is illustrated in the text by the idea that we often can't speak of the mind without using media, particularly imagery, to give form to our imagination.


W.J.T. Mitchell, “Image,” in Critical Terms for Media Studies, Ed. W.J.T. Mitchell and Mark Hansen. Chicago: U Chicago Press, 2010, pp. 35-48.