Images in Use: Towards the Critical Analysis of Visual Communication

Table of contents......Page 6
Introduction......Page 8
Part I. Approaches to visual communication and the question of power......Page 16
1.1 From the social to the political: Engaging the Leviathan......Page 18
1.2 Visual knowledge and the challenge of the postmodern condition......Page 22
1.3 The failure of visual studies and the reconstitution of the political......Page 28
1.4 Power in visual politics: Images-in-use......Page 36
1.5 Summary......Page 41
References......Page 42
2. The critical tradition in visual studies......Page 46
2.1 A short history of critical visual studies......Page 47
2.2 Marxian materialism and visual studies......Page 53
2.3 Case study of two journals......Page 54
2.4 Critical visual studies revisited......Page 56
References......Page 58
3. The map, the mirror and the simulacrum......Page 62
3.1 Visual communication......Page 64
3.2 The mirror and the map: Persuasion of mimesis and tellability......Page 67
3.3 The simulacrum: “I’m afraid of mimetic persuasion”......Page 69
3.4 Map, mirror, simulacrum and the question of power......Page 70
3.5 Conclusions......Page 72
References......Page 73
4.1 The ‘visual turn’......Page 76
4.2 Media and politics......Page 80
4.3 Disenchantment with politics: The legitimation crisis......Page 84
4.4 The fictionalisation of politics and the politicisation of fiction......Page 87
References......Page 92
Part II. Case studies......Page 96
5. Organising political consensus......Page 98
5.1 Visuality, performativity and the practices of power in international relations......Page 99
5.2 The visual public sphere and television news images as acts of political display......Page 102
5.3 The visual management of the accession negotiations between the EU and Finland......Page 105
5.4 Entering the EU scene......Page 110
5.5 Conclusions......Page 115
References......Page 117
6. Walls, doors and exciting encounters......Page 120
6.1 Peeking on the other side of the wall......Page 124
6.2 Locked gates, closed doors and doors left ajar......Page 130
6.3 Exciting encounters......Page 142
6.4 Conclusions......Page 151
References......Page 152
7. The politics of visual representation......Page 158
7.1 From verbal to visual communication......Page 160
7.2 Continuity and change in the mental imagery of US security discourse......Page 171
7.3 The political role of mental imagery in use: The polarisation of security discourse through the verbal manipulation of mental imagery......Page 182
References......Page 183
8.1 The war and the children in Finland......Page 188
8.2 Spatial belonging and its visual representations......Page 192
8.3 Reconstructing social identities: Visual politics and spatial belonging......Page 194
8.4 Images and community: Identity politics and the reconstruction of collective memory......Page 199
8.5 Visual communication and the request for national inclusiveness......Page 203
References......Page 204
9. Visual politics and celebrity humanitarianism......Page 206
Introduction......Page 207
9.1 The visual politics of celebrity humanitarianism......Page 209
9.2 The global imaginaries of celebrity humanitarianism......Page 213
9.3 Aesthetic engagements: Contemporary Hell and Eternal Home......Page 215
9.4 The Eternal Home......Page 220
9.5 The politics of the image and the visual manipulation of humanitarianism......Page 224
References......Page 227
10. The economics of gay reality television......Page 232
10.1 The ‘pink’ economy......Page 236
10.2 The visualised ‘truth’ of sexuality......Page 237
10.3 The capital of promotional subjects......Page 241
10.4 Homonormative politics of reality television......Page 244
10.5 Conclusions......Page 246
References......Page 247
11. Mending endings......Page 252
11.1 The end......Page 253
11.2 Audience estrangement vs. audience engagement – Critical vs. traditional attitudes......Page 260
11.3 Realism and the real......Page 261
11.4 The transitional object......Page 269
11.5 Endings and generalisations......Page 272
References......Page 273
12. Representing the state of exception......Page 276
12.1 From Superman to Watchmen: The evolution of superhero politics......Page 279
12.2 American utopianism, or, The Veidt Method......Page 282
12.3 Who watches the watchmen? – The superhero in a state of exception......Page 286
12.4 Confusion of narrative powers? – Image vs. text in the comic book narrative......Page 290
12.5 Conclusions – The politics and poetics of the superhero......Page 295
References......Page 296
Index......Page 298