Publication 3 research - Sontag and Alan Curtis

Upon feedback from the last crit I've decided to write up my research into the Alan Curtis documentary 'Century of the Self' and Susan Sontag's 'Regarding the Pain of Others'. Sontag's collection of essays discusses the the theme of if it bleeds it leads which has been mentioned a lot in the initial stages of research. Sontag discusses our fascination with morbidity and perversion. We find suffering captivating because it doesn’t seem logical, as it seemingly cannot be fixed by us as individuals, making us feel powerless, a rare and chaotic sensation. She talks about media coverage of war crimes and focuses on our psychosocial reaction. The idea of an image being interpreted in different ways depending on a multitude of social factors is inherently interesting. Here are a few quotes: 

“Compassion is an unstable emotion. It needs to be translated into action, or it withers. The question of what to do with the feelings that have been aroused, the knowledge that has been communicated. If one feels that there is nothing 'we' can do -- but who is that 'we'? -- and nothing 'they' can do either -- and who are 'they' -- then one starts to get bored, cynical, apathetic.” 
― Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others

“Narratives can make us understand. Photographs do something else: they haunt us.” 
― Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others

“Photographs objectify: they turn an event or a person into something that can be possessed.” 
― Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others

“It is intolerable to have one's sufferings twinned with anybody else's.” 
― Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others

With the Adam Curtis documentary ‘Century of the Self’ I was interested to fin out that Bernays is  Sigmund Freud'd nephew. The documentary raised questions about the roots and methods of consumerism and commodification and their implications. It also questions the modern way people see themselves, the attitudes to fashion, and superficiality, throughout the 20th century. This backed up my plan to use advertising and focus on its social aspects, contrasting the past and now. Specifically Edward Bernays work in the early 1900s. He saw advertising as a way to shape society and improve people’s quality of life through consumerism. The legacy of the capitalist boom has of course been enormous, leading to the second part of the publication, the provision of theme specific contemporary adverts. The concept explores societal attitudes towards women and ethnic minorities as well as the topic of health. 

Both research topics have some nicely dated preexcisting imagery connected with them that I can take some inspiration from: 

       
Notice the use of red as a signature colour, seemingly very popular it the area.