Category: Constellation 1

CATFISH:

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The term Catfish refers to someone who seduces a person with a false identity online, they do this to target a victim for abuse, deception or fraud. In order for them to do this they use a fake identity, this means they use another real persons photos and life facts to make them appear as a real person. The use of a real persons identity makes their profile look more believable which means that they can get away more deceptive activity. People who are ‘catfished’ usually fall in love or become great friends with the person they have found online, the victim is being manipulated into believing that the person is genuine and feels the same way about them too. They often share personal details and indecent/personal images with their catfish to intensify their online relationship. There are a variety of different tv shows which document the effects of Catfishing such at the American tv show ‘Catfish’ as well as ‘To catch a predator’ these are good ways to see the impacts which catfishing can have on the victims but also helps us understand the reasons as to why the trolls catfish people.

CYBERBULLING-  This term can be defined as bulling which takes place over digital devices such as a computer, mobile phone or social media. It involves a troll sending harmful, mean or false content to a victim ( usually someone they know ). Due to the fact that they use a false identity it means that it makes it harder for the police to track the troll down, which means they get away without any consequences. The person behind the Cyberbullying feels powerful and therefore they feel as though they can say whatever they want as it is not a face to face conflict. They can be more confident with their words as they have more time to think of mean and aggressive things to say.

‘TO CATCH A PREDATOR’ – Catfishing can also be a very good tactic to stop criminals. In order to catch the criminal red handed  police officers carefully instigate conversations with the predators pretending to be minors. They then request to meet up with them which gives the officers the prime opportunity to stop the deceptive inappropriate activity from continuing. Therefore, when catfishing is used in this way it can be seen as a positive technique as it is used in a controlled manner.

 

My first constellation lecture was incredibly interesting, I use the internet everyday for different reasons and this has helped me to understand the benefits of using the internet. The internet has such a large impact on our lives as we have retrained our brains to do certain things in a quicker and easier way than they were done before the internet was created. This can be seen as a positive and negative. For example, although the internet has helped us to increase the communication between people all across the world making us feel more connected we are also socialising less in the real world. We are less likely to meet up with our friends if we can speak to them over the internet as it is more convenient. This is increasing laziness within society.

What is the Internet = The internet is a series of interconnected networks that provides a means of connecting a computer to another computer anywhere in the world- it does this via dedicated routers and servers.

The world wide web is an interface that facilitates the display of information accessed over the internet- for example people can google certain questions and the www will provide a variety of different answers. It helps people with work and also helps to connect you to family of friends across the world. It is used for entertainment and educational purposes as well as shopping and news, therefore Is the perfect place to widen your knowledge and understanding of the possibilities available in the world.

There are a number of benefits of the internet and these come in different categories, it can be used for individuals and personal use. Many people use the internet to communicate to their friends and family, they do this via social media platforms such as Facebook , Instagram, skype etc. These are incredible interfaces of the internet and help to bring people closer together. Alongside this the internet is also used for business as it provides quick and efficient communication and also helps to ensure cheaper and more efficient marketing which can help businesses thrive and prosper.

 

During my 3rd session of Politic of beauty I learned about rejecting the rules of beauty. ‘The Abject’ was a phrase which I had not heard of before however I found out that it consists of what is unpleasant within the body e.g. blood, sweat, cellulite etc. and can be seen as pollution. All these things are considered not feminine and therefore will become the ‘abject’ of the body and should not be spoken about. For example when women had periods it was seen as dirty, un-lady like and therefore considered as an abject to women’s bodies. Alongside this I also learned about the ‘second wave feminism’ this consisted of upper class, white women reclaiming all the things that were considered taboo in feminism. For example instead of being ashamed of their period they were told to embrace it. Therefore encouraging women to not be ashamed of their bodies.

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Gender Essentialism:

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I also learned about gender essentialism, I had only heard this a few times but never really understood what the true meaning of it meant. It is the theory that there are certain innate, biologically or psychologically based features of gender which cause both men and women to act and behave in different ways. For example if we are born a girl we have to dress and behave according to societal standards. Therefore we are conditioned to shave all body hair off as it is considered not feminine and is not appealing to the opposite sex. In addition, if you are born a boy they you are programmed to think that you have to be manly and to keep your feelings to yourself. If a man cries it is considered weak as society has conditioned us to believe that men always have to be the alpha male.

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Intersecting Beauty:

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We live in a world with a variety of identities. Race and beauty creates a narrative around exotic beauty, therefore implying that if someone if of a different ethnicity they will be considered to have an exotic beauty due to the colour of their skin. Even though race within the beauty industry is much better there are still structural barriers, whiteness within the industry is still the majority which presents the inequality of race and therefore conforming to the incorrect ideology of what beauty consists of. In addition, cultural appropriation is becoming a big problem within the beauty industry, social media and society. This can be seen through the introduction of the braid bar which was set up in Selfridges, London. This lead to celebrities showcasing the braids to their fan base as a cool new trendy look however they were accused of creating cultural appropriation as they were stealing another cultures traditions and practises. Braids are a massive part of the black culture and can be dated back to a number of historical practises. Women wore the braids to gain independence and became a celebration of who they were and their identity. I learned that hundreds of years ago people could look at someone’s hairstyle and could determine where they were from what their status is within society, if they were married or a widow. Therefore implying that their hairstyles were a very big part of their culture and to not use the correct terms and names for the tradition is disrespecting their culture.

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The modern Mannequin and Modelling:

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During the 20th century the industrial revolution lead to society emphasising that peoples bodies mimicked that of machinery. This increased the idealisation of the industrial aesthetic, this included people to look a certain way in order to conform to society. The Modern Mannequin is a perfect example of how this affected people’s perceptions of the ideal body that would lead to beauty. Mannequins conform to a very specific aesthetic; slender, tall, slim and had a very angular and distinctive figure. This was how femininity was represented in the public sphere, in particular to white, affluent women and it continued to do so into the 21st century. The modern mannequin fitted perfectly into the cultural context within the 20th century causing the bodies to look like machinery which was developed in the industrial revolution therefore implying that women needed to change the way they looked for this new period in history. This shows that beauty was policed in a very specific way. I learned in this session that society was objectifying female bodies by producing their own ideology of what beauty consists of. In addition, I also learned that the modelling industry was inspired by the industrial theme; this is because the majority of models will walk and pose in a machine like way suggesting that the women figure should be rigid and angular.

POP ART

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Pop art originated in the mid 1950’s and reached its peak in the 1960’s. The clever use of graphic design within this art era captured the attention of a mass audience and therefore encouraged there to be a rapid increase in commodities/sales in the food industry. This implied that the nutritional value of food was less important compared to the way that food was advertised. The popularity of this art culture caused there to be exponential growth in companies of whom where rapidly declining therefore increasing the amount of capital which was entering the economy. An example of this would be how Campbell’s soup rapidly increased sales after Andy Warhol created a graphic image of the soup. The fact that his signature was then placed onto the packaging further increased the popularity of the soup. Therefore showing me the power of pop art over society during the 1950’s-60.

Artists are particularly interested in how art work effects the amount of money made, I believe that during the pop art era, It was significantly proved that due to how popular a particular art form is will also impact the amount of money produced.
Furthermore, I also learned about the taste continuum/pyramid. This pyramid was and still is a way to successfully segregate people into different social classes. Depending on the type of art work you liked lead you to be placed into a category (upper, middle or lower class) and therefore individuals could make a judgement on the type of person you are. This shows me that during the pop art era there was a strong sense of hierarchy and authority within society and that the artwork you chose to like reflected your lifestyle. For example , if someone liked Picasso then people would automatically associate them as an aristocratic member of society and therefore have a wealthy taste in art work.