Job & Edu

Ways of Seeing: Based on the BBC Television Series

From Penguin (Non-Classics)

Author : John Berger
Binding : Paperback
DeweyDecimalNumber : 759.94
EAN : 9780140135152
ISBN : 0140135154
Label : Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer : Penguin (Non-Classics)
NumberOfPages : 176
ProductTypeName : ABIS_BOOK
PublicationDate : 1990-12-01
Publisher : Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Customer Reviews

Rating:
Summary: All around thorough view of seeing
Comment: I haven't finished the book yet, but it is great so far! The thoroughness on the ways of viewing art/ourselves/photos/etc is amazing. I have never read something this in depth on perspective and so thorough on every angle. I recommend this book to anyone so likes to view every angle of a situation.
Rating:
Summary: Are You Joking?
Comment: What a farce! As a photography instructor, just a quick glance through this book shows me the author either did too many drugs in the 60s or was overdosed by 70's Soviet propaganda or both. It teaches nothing concerning "seeing" except seeing through anti-capitalistic eyes--the same system that provides for crazy art and fortunately keeps the good quality art floating to the top like cream on milk. I was amazed that after the first couple of incoherent chapters, the samples are almost entirely comprised of seductive naked women. I think the author would revel in the artistic freedom now available now on www.youporn.com. This book teaches nothing concerning seeing, art or aesthetics. My copy goes in the trash. Why do people praise this work. It reminds me of the writings of Timothy Leary, who was irrelevant then and always.
Rating:
Summary: "How to Read Donald Duck", revisited
Comment: Philosopher Mario Bunge once told the story of a muslim physicist who affirmed, nonchalantly, that "Quantum Mechanics can be inferred from The Holy Coran -conveniently interpreted." Such is the way of interpretation: once you know where you want to get at, you can start anywhere.
So does Mr Berger. Obedient to the article of faith that everything in the Western World during the last centuries has one way or the other to do with Capitalism, he set out to prove that Oil Painting and like manifestations are unconscious epiphenomenons of class struggle and property relations.
To this end he doesn't bother to investigate the true motivation of painters and patrons. It would anyway be futile because he shares Freud's irrefutability that "Every man suffers from Oedipus complex. If it doesn't show it is surely being repressed." So for him this couple standing in their garden must necessarily be interested in property. How could it be otherwise? The same can be said about this cow: we are informed that it's not the representation of an animal but of a "piece of furniture with four legs". He quotes, and dismisses by an argument of "unconscious resistance", the position of another critic that only sees in the painting of the couple "enjoyment of nature." Of course both are unsubstantiated interpretations. What is untenable is playing down the rival as someone possessed by unconscious class prejudices.
The author condemns the European exploitation of the rest of the world yet his vision remains profoundly eurocentric. He doesn't stop for a moment to think that cows, or people or myths or whatever the subject of the capitalistic paintings he interprets, have been pictured elsewhere for a long time. Is it that Capitalism already existed 4000 years ago to inspire the representation of Egyptian furniture-cows? Marx himself would be astonished.
But the author's methods are not just questionable, they are also partly dishonest. The last chapter pretends to be a proof that Publicity as a whole is a contemporary form of that same Capitalistic Unconscious. Right now I'm watching a TV commercial trying to convince me that this gel cleaner is a better product for my kitchen and bathroom than the old abrasive type. How can the author fit this into his theory of Publicity as something that "makes me envious of myself in the future?" The trick lies in isolating very specific products, such as those related to beauty or fashion. Trying to sell a cream might be a questionable activity, but how else if not by promising beauty or the advantages of it? So it is not about "Publicity" in general. The selection bias is well smuggled and in any case, his chain of reasoning runs backwards.
Well, maybe I'm also resisting, or acting as an unconscious agent of the Bourgeoisie. But I'm not alone: I've been told that Walt Disney did worse with Donald Duck.

Rating:
Summary: great book for teaching teenagers about art and advertising!
Comment: Sure, it was written in the 1970's, sure it's full of Marxist theory, sure it's over-confident in its theorizing. But so what? This is a great book! I use it in my high school Theory of Knowledge class and in Art History too. The kids "get" Berger's ideas (outdated though they've been called) and it's always a great discussion starter!
Rating:
Summary: review for this book
Comment: this product was delieved in a short time. A+ for that. but i give it a C for the quality of the book. yes its a used book but i think they could have selected a better looking book. over all B