Question 1

____________ refers to the use of language, marks, and images to create meaning about the world around us.

Accepted Answer

Representation refers to the use of language, marks, and images to create meaning about the world around us. It involves the construction of symbols that stand for objects, ideas, or events in the world, and the interpretation of those symbols by members of a culture or society.

Question 2

Through his practice of arriving with a camera at the scene of a crime quickly and composing a news story about it out of his car trunk, ____________ may be described as a proto social-media journalist.

Accepted Answer

Weegee is known for his quick and informal style of news reporting, often arriving at crime scenes before the police and capturing candid images of the events. This style of immediate, street-level reporting can be seen as a precursor to the modern practice of citizen journalism and social media reporting.

Question 3

What is the study of signs, symbols, and how we interpret them?

Accepted Answer

The study of signs and symbols and their interpretation is known as semiotics. Hermeneutics refers more specifically to the study of interpretation and meaning in texts, while myth and mimesis are related concepts but not as directly relevant to the study of signs and symbols.

Question 4

____________ signs, as discussed by Charles Peirce, involve an "existential" relationship between the sign and the interpretant. This means they have co-existed in the same place at the same time.

Accepted Answer

Indexical signs involve an existential relationship between the sign and the interpretant, meaning they have co-existed in the same place at the same time. Iconic signs resemble or imitate the object they represent, symbolic signs have a conventional relationship with their object, and literal signs have a direct relationship with their object with no interpretation needed.

Question 5

According to Saussure's semiotic system, a(n) ____________ is an image that refers to something outside of its individual components, something (or someone) that has great symbolic meaning for many people.

Accepted Answer

The answer of According to Saussure's semiotic system, a(n) ____________...

Question 6

We make meaning of the material world through understanding images, objects, and other entities in their specific ____________.

Accepted Answer

Understanding images, objects and entities involves understanding the cultural context they come from, which includes the beliefs, values, and practices of a particular group or society. Symbolism and allegories contribute to the cultural context, but they are not exclusive to it. Theoretical contexts, on the other hand, refer to specific frameworks or models that are used to interpret or analyze the material world, such as psychological or sociological theories, which are not necessarily related to cultural contexts.

Question 7

Throughout its history, photography has been associated with ____________.

Accepted Answer

Photography has a strong association with realism, as it is often used to capture real-life moments, people, and landscapes with a high degree of accuracy and detail. While it can certainly be used to create symbolic or ideological images, these are less commonly associated with the medium as a whole. Mythology may also be present in some photographic works, but again, this is not a defining characteristic.

Question 8

The ____________ meaning of Robert Frank's Trolley-New Orleans (1955), in which black and white passengers ride a trolley, is dependent upon the viewer's cultural and historical knowledge of race and civil rights activism in the United States.

Accepted Answer

The connotative meaning of the photograph is dependent on the viewer's cultural and historical knowledge of race and civil rights activism in the United States. The image itself may not have a clear denotative or mythic meaning, but it carries connotations and associations that are shaped by the viewer's experiences and understanding of racial issues in America. The semiotic meaning could also be a possible choice, but the connotative meaning more accurately captures the subjective and interpretive nature of the image.

Question 9

Henri-Horace Roland de la Porce's Still Life (c. 1765) depicts an array of food and drink on a table, yet it can also be read as a ____________ of the transience of earthly life.

Accepted Answer

The painting's arrangement of food and drink can be interpreted as a symbol or representation (signified) of the fleeting nature of human existence.

Question 10

A 1999 anti-smoking billboard depicted the usually rugged and individualistic Marlboro Man as sick with emphysema. According to Barthes's model of semiotics, this advertisement was intended to change the ____________ associated with Marlboro from masculinity to death.

Accepted Answer

Barthes's model of semiotics involves the signifier (the form a sign takes) and the signified (the concept it represents). In this case, the anti-smoking billboard uses the image of the Marlboro Man, typically associated with masculinity and ruggedness, as a signifier to convey the concept of death and illness (the signified) associated with smoking. Therefore, the answer is D) signified.

Question 11

Emmett Till's mother insisted that her son's body be placed on view in an open-casket funeral for the press to document and the public to see. Her decision went against the wishes of the authorities in Mississippi, who wanted the mutilated body quickly buried. Mamie Till's decision is an example of ____________.

Accepted Answer

Mamie Till's decision to display her son's body in an open-casket funeral was countervisuality, meaning it went against the dominant visual representations of black bodies at that time. She wanted the public to see the brutal reality of racism and violence in America, and this act of countervisuality helped to ignite the civil rights movement.

Question 12

The authors argue that it is wrong to assume that camera images may be produced without human intervention. Even dashboard, surveillance, and drone camera images involve human intervention. This is because the designers and programmers of these cameras ____________.

Accepted Answer

The authors argue that the designers and programmers of dashboard, surveillance, and drone cameras made decisions about their design and operation based on social norms and standards, which implies human intervention. Therefore, option D is the best choice. Option A is incorrect, as it is not stated anywhere that these machines often do not work. Option B is partly true, but it does not fully capture the extent of human intervention involved in the production of camera images. Option C is irrelevant since the text does not mention anything about the history of still photography.

Question 13

What is a criticism of "citizen journalism" cited in this chapter?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What is a criticism of "citizen journalism"...

Question 14

Our knowledge that images can be ambiguous and easily altered is in constant tension with a photograph's ____________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Our knowledge that images can be ambiguous...

Question 15

The belief that to see is to know suggests that if only one could see everything, one could understand all. As amplified by #notabugsplat, however, the distanced perspective of a drone creates a(n) ____________ visual economy.

Accepted Answer

The use of drones in the #notabugsplat campaign to target and kill individuals has been criticized for its inhumane and impersonal nature. The drones allow for a distanced perspective that creates a visual economy where individuals are reduced to mere targets, devoid of humanity and individuality.

Question 16

As the popularity of image manipulation software increased, so did the interest in the question of photographic truth. Which of the following images was scrutinized intensively as part of this scholarly inquiry?

Accepted Answer

The image by Timothy O'Sullivan depicting a dead Confederate soldier in "the Devil's Den" at Gettysburg (1863) was one of the earliest photographs to spark debates about the authenticity and accuracy of photography as a medium for documentary evidence.

Question 17

Levi posts a Facebook selfie of his extended family enjoying themselves on the first day of their Hanukkah celebration. This is an important "Kodak moment" that documents the particular occasion and also affirms family ____________.

Accepted Answer

The selfie affirms family ideology by showcasing their shared cultural and religious tradition during Hanukkah.

Question 18

Which of the following most affects our understanding of Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother as an iconic image?

Accepted Answer

Dorothea Lange intentionally posed the subject and composition in a similar way to traditional Madonna and child paintings, highlighting the mother's strength and endurance in difficult circumstances. This reference to religious iconography contributes to the image's iconic status. The other options listed do not have the same cultural or historical connections to Migrant Mother.

Question 19

At a sorority mixer, Suki captures the varied expressions on the faces of a group of her friends who are not aware of her camera and whose attention is focused on something not within the frame of her picture. In these respects, her photo most resembles which of the following images?

Accepted Answer

Weegee's "The First Murder" captures unsuspecting subjects focused on something outside the frame, similar to Suki's photo.

Question 20

Several students who attended a massive protest at Hudson University sent photos taken on their phones to the Hudson Gazette. The one the Gazette decided to publish depicted a single individual armed with a can of spray paint. This image was likely selected for its ____________.

Accepted Answer

The image was likely chosen for its visual simplicity, as a single individual with a can of spray paint is straightforward and easy for viewers to understand, making it effective for conveying the essence of the protest without overwhelming details.

Quiz 1: Images, Power, and Politics