Week 1 – Images In The Wild (Appropriation)

The process of appropriation is to photograph and alter a piece of existing work, be it a poster, magazine, advertisement etc. and thus making it your own. The purpose of appropriation isn’t typically for the sake of stealing somebody’s work, rather it can be used to make a statement. Such statement may be to either criticize or applaud the original text, or to just send a message in general.

I have been “appropriating” for the past week and have taken several images in the process. however my favourite photo was that of an HMV Pulp Fiction poster. By cropping the photo I was able to cut out the title and most of the other text around the poster, just leaving Uma Thurman’s character Mia Wallace, as the centre of the composition. The image itself is suggestive of the Femme Fatale stock character from 1940s film noir movies. This is characterised by her seductive pose and the pistol that is laid in front of her. While her pose is alluring, the gun before her suggests that their is danger to be  found if you fall for this woman. It is also important to note the cigarette in her hand, because cigarettes are seen as a symbol for sex due to the portrayal of sex scenes in films throughout history. People tend to smoke cigarettes after they  have had sex. This adds to the allure of this Femme Fatale. The movie Pulp Fiction itself derives it’s style from Film Noir, in fact it is a Pulp Noir. So by adding a black and white filter and bumping up the contrast, the photo has become styled to look like the original Film Noir genre, thus paying homage to it’s 1940s predecessors.

I have chosen this photo that was taken by another student as my second talking point. What I like about this picture is how the thick white ring around the tub essentially acts as a frame within the frame. This circle draws our eyes to the ice cream in the centre. However I feel like my eyes have been drawn here for displeasure, because when I think of ice cream I think of exuberance and summer. Summer is a time where everything is filled with colour. However, the fact that the image is drained of it’s colour creates a sense of discord within me, as the product should seem appealing… but it doesn’t.