Cities and Urban Cultures

'When conceptualized as a text, it is possible to uncover the range of cultural values embedded in urban landscapes, buildings and monuments as well as in the many ways in which the city is represented.' (Roland Barthes).

Very often the city is represented through various objects, places or events. We may had not ever been to the place but we have an opinion about it and our own interpretation of it. Many cities as well as London has something we associate them with: famous bridges, buildings, famous places, streets, people. Our views and interpretations depend on what we see in the films, news, television and we truly believe that any media content can help us get to know and experience places better.

'Representations are pivotal in shaping the ways in which we know and imagine the city' (Deborah Stevenson).

Our trust in media text is extraordinary. We believe in what we see or hear. People shape their dreams and imaginations of the different places around the world on their experiences based on what was shown in the media and the way it was represented. 

London as many other famous cities can be called 'Imagined City' as people receive so many representations of this place through various media forms and contents that is hard for them to distinguish what is real and imagined. It applies to many other places around the world as well.

Ieva Kaleininkaite

1307775

233 words.

David Harvey’s The Condition Of Postmodernity Chapter 18 – Time and Space In The Postmodern Cinema Summary.

In this chapter Harvey (1990) explores the way time and space is represented in postmodern cinema by examining two different films that address the matter. To begin the chapter Harvey tells us that cinema is an art form that developed in cultural modernism and that cinema as a medium can handle space and time in an ‘instructive’ way. He explains that both films were chosen for further analysis because they both illustrate and address the flux of time and space in the postmodern era.

The first film that Harvey analyses is the film Blade Runner by Ridely Scott. Harvey describes the film as a 'Pop art' piece of film. In his analysis Harvey raises some key points about the film's comments on the postmodern world.

The first point Hravey makes is that the film comment on the schizophrenia of space and time that is integral to the idea of postmodernity through the lives of the replicants.  He explains to us that in the film the replicants have much shorter life spans that the humans. This, as he describes latter on in his analysis shows that the characters in the world of Blade Runner live on different time scales much like the people in the postmodern world.

A second point Harvey makes is that Blade Runner also addressed the theme of fragmentation of society in the postmodern world. He explains to us that at street level the city is full of chaos. Ruin and decay among the city has been used to show how society is falling apart due to the fragmentation that had occurred within postmodernism. The images of decay everywhere in the landscape reinforce exactly that same structure of feeling. “The sense of shattering and fragmentation in social life is highlighted in an incredible sequence in which Deckard pursues one of the women replicants, Zhora through the crowded, incoherent, and labyrinth-like spaces of the city” (1990:311)

Another point Harvey makes is that the film addresses key issues of dominant social orders and hierarchies in postmodern society. He explains that the blade runner is sent to kill the repellants by a higher power; the repellants are also owned by a corporation and interacted on what to do. This higher power that controls the repellants and the blade runner, as pointed out by Harvey, are used to symbolize the control that higher powers have over other people in the postmodern era.

A forth point that Harvey points out that the characters are on a content search for home and identity. The characters need search for a home and identity is, as previously explained by Harvey, an integral aspect to the way space and place is felt with in the postmodern world. With the blurring of borders and travel becoming easier it is harder Harvey believes it is harder for people of find a pace to which they truly identify with as home.

The second film that Harvey analyses is Wings Of Desire by Wim Wenders. Harvey describes this film as a 'high brow' example of cinema. This film, like Blade Runner explores key issues of space and time in the postmodern world.

One point that Harvey makes is the way Wings Of Desire addresses The issue of fragmentation in in the post modern world. Harvey explains that in the film that there are two groups of actors, the angels who have the ability to move across space and time easily and the humans who can only experience space and time in specific ways. This results in the angels seeing the world differently to the humans. This represents the fragmentation of society in the postmodern world as different people see the world differently depending on where they live and the cultures that participate in.

A second point Harvey makes is the issues of 'the real' that are addressed in the film. He explains to us that there is a conflict between the representation of 'the real' in terms of the image in real time and 'the real' being represented in the photograph which can be manipulated. This, explains Harvey, is central to film.“The problem of image, particularly that implied by the photograph, versus the telling of a story in real time, is central to the construction of the film”. (1990:314)

Another point Harvey makes is that Wings of Desire, similar to Blade Runner, addresses the issues of identity that is a fundamental aspect of postmodernism. In the chapter Harvey explains to us that the time and space framework of an individual affects their individual identity. Because the angels and the hum as have different time and space frame works they have separate identities to each other

In conclusion we can see from this summery of Harvey's work that a both these films are integral to the way space time and place are experienced in postmodernism. Both films address the same issues in different ways where Blade Runner takes a more indirect approach at commenting on postmodernist issues, Wings Of Desire addressed them in a more direct way.

Harvey, D. (1990) ‘Time and Space In The Post Modern Cinema’ in The Condition of Postmodernity. Oxford:Blackwell

Alice Davies

1304964

837 words

Jean Baudrillard theory of Modern Myths, Reality and illusion

Baudrillard theory's about modern myths within society relates very well when it comes to they way in which an area is represented. This is because most of the time an area is represented though the people and the different societies within the area, but there can be a lot of myths as to how people are represented to be like in different places. 'These modern myths are dealt with in the terms in which they circulate within the culture - in the press, television, films, art. science fiction, literature, even sociology and philosophy - rather than in the singular language of science' Dants, T (2003) this is a quote from Critical Social Theory, which just highlights the point that the myths that we hear about modern society and mostly portrayed through media forms. 

This is shown in our blog when we looked at the TV programme 'Chelsea', and the people within this West London are represented as being posh, well spoken and rich, yet around the same area the film 'Kidulthood' was filmed which a completely different representation of people are shown. This just proves that within different TV programmes, films and news they try and create this myth of what kind of people occupy the area. Yet audiences are willing to buy into this myth for there own security to fit in to society, showing the modern myth will always be around because people like to think that categorising different people and area create some organisation in with world.

Dant, T (2003) Critical Social Theory, Culture, Society and Critique, London: Sage, page 38

Armani Moffatt

1203387

247 words

Stuart Hall 'Making Meaning, Representing Things' (1997)

   Stuart Hall talks about conceptual map - the relationship of the concepts. Each person has a different and unique understanding and interpretation of the things. On the other hand, if we share the same culture - we share the meanings and conceptual maps. That is why in many occasions when we watch a film, TV news or any TV show we make our own interpretation of it and our understanding might be different from others. However, as we share meanings, we see things in a very similar way.
   Representation is the production of meaning. Stuart Hall says visual images are used to express meanings. Images, sounds and words function as sings and sings which express the meaning is a language. He describes language as part of the system of representation. Different languages represents different concepts: 'Visual sings and images, even when they bear a close resemblance to the things to which they refer, are still sings; they carry meaning and thus have to be interpreted'. He says the meaning is not in the object, thing or word so we are the ones who fix it. However, if the meaning is the result of our social, cultural or linguistic conventions it can never be finally fixed.
   Overall, our representation and interpretations of films and other TV content can vary depending on our social or cultural background and it may effect the way we are used to see the things and decode its meanings.

Ieva Kaleininkaite

1307775

242 words.

Stuart Hall's Theory of Encoding and Decoding

A theory that we could use to help with analysing and researching a text is Stuart Hall's Encoding and Decoding, trying to find out meanings with in the text to create a stronger argument. This help when it comes to representation looking at the signifiers and whats signified that are shown in the text that we are looking at, which in our case is film, tv programmes and news.

Hall, S. (1980) "Encoding/decoding" in Hall, S. et al. (eds) Culture, Media, Language. London, New York, Routledge in association with the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies University of Birmingham

Within this Stuart Hall's book 'Culture, Media, Language' he talks about encoding and decoding and how in which you can apply the theory to your work. In the book he says 'the representation of violence on the television screen 'are not violence but messages about violence'' this then relates to some of the news stories we have spoke about, and how they just tell the audience a story about violence but it may not be a true representation of how the area is when the violence is not happening.

Armani Moffatt

1203387

154 Words