Final Reflection

Overall, I learned an extensive amount of information from this course. The theoretical foundation that was built throughout the semester served as a basis for my semester project and all of my subprojects. Prior to this class, I created visuals but did so without any knowledge or guidance. This course has taught me that all visual representations have deeper meanings and those who choose to visually communicate should do so wisely and skillfully. In the future, I will take all of the knowledge I’ve learned in this class and apply it to all of my impending experiences with visual communication. As a composer of visual communication, I have a huge responsibility and many things to take into consideration.

This course also taught me how to be a more informed viewer of visual representations. In the past, I have viewed images in a narrow fashion; I have not given images the consideration that they deserve. For example, at the beginning of the semester we spent time looking at company logos. It was brought to my attention that the Fed Ex logo contains an arrow. For the first time in my life I actually “saw” this arrow and hidden meaning contained within the logo. This experience completely changed my perspective not only on company logos but also every other image I’ve come into contact with since then. I finally realized that, literally, there is much more to images than what meets the eyes! I have learned to open my eyes much wider and truly examine images now that I am a proud, card-carrying member of this visual culture.

Thanks to Kress and van Leeuwen (2006), I finally have a language to describe the phenomena that I see on a daily basis. My awareness of conceptual and narrative meanings have helped me see beyond just the image itself. I have learned to become both a responsible and informed composer and viewer of visual communication. This experience has truly been eye-opening. While I’ve built upon my theoretical knowledge in this course, I’ve also refined my practical knowledge. I have used a variety of software programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and InDesign as well as Windows Movie Maker. In addition, I’ve had the opportunity to experience a virtual world such as Second Life. I feel that after completing this course, I have broadened my skill set to the point where I feel extremely marketable. The wealth of knowledge that I have learned will help me contribute an unprecedented amount of information to my future career, workplace, and colleagues.

This course was extremely effective because it is a culmination of theoretical and practical knowledge. There is a delicate balance between both, which is something many courses in this program lack. This course is undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable and informative courses I’ve taken in the MAPC program. This course has also given me the opportunity to apply information from other courses such as Rhetorical Theory, Business and Technical Communication, and Workplace Communication. Most importantly, this course helped me put everything into perspective so I can confidently walk away singing, “I can see clearly now...”

Stick a fork in me...I'm done!

It's what we've all been waiting for... now, Vizzie can reach audiences across the nation and worldwide... she's finally established her on-line presence! Now, if we can only get those Food Network producers to take notice!

Vizzie McAndrews' Website

Materiality, Meaning, and the Third Dimension

Kress and van Leeuwen regard material production as particularly significant because often it is in its processes that unsemioticized materiality is drawn into semiosis (p. 217). To explore material production is therefore also to explore the boundaries between the semiotic and the non-semiotic, and between individual expression and social semiosis. There are three major classes of production: (1) production in the narrower sense--that is, technologies of the hand, technologies in which representations are, in all their aspects, articulated by the human hand, aided by hand-held tools such as chisels, brushes, pencils, etc.; (2) recording technologies--that is, technologies of the eye (and ear), technologies which allow more or less automated analogical representation of what they represent, for instance, audiotape, photography, and film; and (3) synthesizing technologies which allow the production of digitally synthesized representations.

They also assert that for the time being there exists newly the need for conceiving of social semiotic practice in terms of rhetoric and 'design', where the term 'rhetoric' focuses on the social relations which obtain in the process of communication, and the term 'design' focuses on the arrangement of the available semiotic resources in the making of the representation as a message. Technology has also developed different distribution media, and it is here that the issue of (mass) reproducibility belongs, together with that of communication at (long) distance. What matters most is the production medium in which images are produced, and the distribution medium in which they are received, if the latter is different from the former, be it because of transcoding (photographic reproduction of paintings) or because of recoding at the other end of the telecommunication channel.

Kress and van Leeuwen argue for the meaning of material. They assert, "Our assumption remains that signs are motivated" (p. 225). It is no accident that the statues erected to commemorate heroic figures are made of durable materials. The durability of the materials makes them usable signifiers for the meanings of permanent feelings we intend to produce. There are also serial relations of translation between production media also, as in the case of the relation between paintings and their photographic reproductions.

The authors also discuss the communicative functions of colour saying that it is not restricted to affect alone. Colour is used metafunctionally, and that it is therefore a mode in its own right. Colour fulfills the three functions of a communicational system simultaneously: ideational, interpersonal, and textual.

Modality & Composition

Kress and van Leeuwen begin their chapter on modality with a charge to society. They assert, "as members of society, we have to be able to make decisions on the basis of the information we receive, produce, and exchange" (p. 154). In addition, the authors tell us we have to trust some of the information we receive, and do so, to quite some extent, on the basis of modality markers in the message itself, on the basis of textual cues for what can be regarded as credible and what should be treated with circumspection. So who exactly creates these so-called modality markers? Or, in other words, who determines whether or not a message should or should not be trusted? Kress and van Leeuwen argue that modality markers have been "established by the groups within which we interact as relatively reliable guides to the truth or factuality of messages, and they have developed out of the central values, beliefs, and social needs of that group" (p. 154). I think Foucault fits in nicely here and his assertions of discourse community and the rules and expectations set forth by particular discourse communities.

Kress and van Leeuwen provide a definition for modality. They assert, "The term modality comes from linguistics and refers to the truth value or credibility of (linguistically realized) statements about the world" (p. 155). In regards to visual communication, the authors discuss how visuals represent people, places, and things as though they are real, as though they actually exist in this way, or as though they do not--as though they are imaginings, fantasies, caricatures, etc. As with linguistics, modality judgements are social, dependent on what is considered real (or true, or sacred) in the social group for which the representation is primarily intended. An important point they also make is that reality is in the eye of the beholder. Or, what is regarded as real depends on how reality is defined by a particular social group. Once again, Foucault as well as Burke fit in nicely here. Your terministic screen determines how you view and interpret certain images, assertions, etc.

For example, take this image below. As a UNC grad, this strikes a chord with me and really hits home... and perhaps brings tears of joy to my eyes. However, this same image has the potential to mean absolutely nothing to other groups or invoke pure hatred from others.


Composition relates to the representational and interactive meanings of the image to each other through three interrelated systems: information value, salience, and framing. Information value is how the placement of elements endows them with the specific informational values attached to the various 'zones' of the image: left and right, top and bottom, center and margin. Salience deals with elements that are made to attract the viewer's attention to different degrees, as realized by such factors as placement in the foreground or background, relative size, contrasts in tonal value, differences in sharpness, etc. Framing is the presence or absence of framing devices (creating dividing lines or actual frame lines) that disconnect or connect elements of the image, signifying that they belong or do not belong together in some sense.

Website... Rough Draft!

I still have a long way to go... but here is my first rough draft of my website. I'm creating the website in Dreamweaver, and my audience is Food Network viewers who watch Vizzie McAndrews' show or are interested in learning more about her. I have a basic layout that incorporates the technology theme, but I am still in the process of changing the copy on each page. Any feedback or advice is welcomed!

Vizzie McAndrews' Website

Film Project...Take Two!

In an attempt to get some of the movie's flaws and kinks taken care of... I gave it a second attempt. Also, I used YouTube to upload my video this time since blogger took a millenium the first time I tried to upload my Oscar-worthy piece of visual communication. Enjoy!

Film Project... Take One!

I decided to create a film where Vizzie McAndrews would come to the rescue of a fellow corporate America housewife. I've changed a few things since my original script... I cut the kids, and I let the actors ad lib a little because they were oh so talented. I kept it simple (really simple) and hopefully still got my point across. I wanted to see a consistent flow from my avatar project to my digital remix to my video! Enjoy!

Movie Script... thus far!

Movie Script

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Academic Work writing literature

Conceptual Representations: designing social constructs

Due to the overwhelming amount of information and terms from this week's reading, I have chosen to provide definitions rather than a discussion. I feel that there are a lot of terms that I do not have a grasp on quite yet. Therefore, writing them out and providing definitions will help me better understand the terms and their meanings.

Classificational Processes: relate participants to each other in terms of a 'kind of' relation, a taxonomy: at least one set of participants will play the role of Subordinates with respect to at least one other participant, the Superordinate. Visually, a hierarchical order is signified, a system. Taxonomies, flow charts, and networks are examples.

Analytical Processes: relate participants in terms of a part-whole structure. They involve two kinds of participants: one Carrier (the whole) and any number of Possessive Attributes (the parts). A picture is analytical because there is neither a vector (narrative process) nor compositional symmetry and/or tree structure (classification process). Persuasion is foregrounded, instruction and exposition are backgrounded. The following are types of analytical processes:

unstructured: show us the Possessive Attributes of the Carrier but not the Carrier itself (show only parts, but not the way they fit together to make the whole)

temporal: realized by timelines-the participants are arranged on an actual or imaginary line

exhaustive: all of the Carrier is accounted for, all of its space taken up by Possessive Attributes. Possessive Attributes are joined together to make up a complex shape.

inclusive: show only some of the Possessive Attributes of a Carrier, leaving much of the Carrier unaccounted for, as blank space not taken up by Possessive Attributes.

conjoined and compounded exhaustive: Possessive Attributes are either connected, by a line lacing a feature of directionality or disengaged, by a layout of the Possessive Attributes which separates them, yet clearly shows how they fit together. In compounded structures, the Possessive Attributes are welded together, while at the same time retaining their distinct identities. For example, pie charts and technical drawings of machines, etc.

topographical: read as accurately representing the physical spatial relations and the relative location of the Possessive Attributes

topological: read as accurately representing the 'logical' relations between participants, the way in which participants are connected to each other, but not the actual physical size

dimensional and quantitative: pie charts are one-dimensional because they show us one (abstract) Carrier and its Possessive Attributes. Quantitative relates to peculiar kind of abstraction and peculiar kind of topographical accuracy.

spatio-temporal: two-dimensional charts create a conjunction between a set of such for the sake of comparative analysis along an ordered timescale.

Symbolic Processes: about what a person means or is. Either there are two participants or there is only one participant, the Carrier, and in that case the symbolic meaning is established in another way.

Embedding: what is this concept all about?

Conceptual Structures in Language: how are these structures similar or different to visual conceptual structures?

Video Ideas

Currently, I only have ideas for my video. Before I can develop a solid script, I need to decide which route I'm going to go with my video. Obviously, I don't want to bite off more than I can chew with this assignment. My video experience is very limited to say the least. However, I'm looking forward to the opportunity to create this other type of visual communication. Here are my ideas, and I would love feedback:

1. Working mother is extremely busy therefore home-cooked meals have gone by the wayside. Her family is forced to eat frozen dinners and order pizza. While sitting in bed, she sees a show on FoodNetwork of a working professional who has their own cooking show. She's amazed by what she learns about ways to cook smart. The mother completely changes herself as a result of this show and becomes a smart cook as well. She uses her Blackberry to set her oven and other technologies to make home-made meals.

2. FoodNetwork show where a working professional teaches viewers how to cook smart with technology.

3. SuperHero(ine) Vizzie McAndrews pops into homes all over America to transform kitchens to help working professionals. Kind of a twist on Extreme Home Makeover... instead, it would be Extreme Kitchen Makeover.

Narrative Representations

Kress and van Leeuwen refer to objects or elements as participants, or more precisely, represented participants. They believe "it points to the relational characteristic of 'participant in something' and it draws attention to the fact that there are two types of participant involved in every semiotic act, interactive participants and represented participants. Interactive participants are those who speak and listen or write and read, make images or view them. Whereas represented participants are those who constitute the subject matter of the communication. That is, the people, places, and things represented in and by the speech or writing or image, the participants about whom or which we are speaking or writing or producing images.

There are two ways to identify participants. The first is the way of formal art theory. Participants are called "volumes" or "masses" each with a distinct weight or gravitational pull. Processes are called "vectors" or "tensions" or "dynamic forces". For the purpose of identifying participants, "volumes" are perceived as distinct entities which are salient to different degrees because of their different sizes, shapes, color, etc.

The second way of identifying participants is that of functional semiotic theory. It is oriented towards the semantic functions rather than towards the forms of the participants. It uses terms like "actor," "goal," and "recipient" rather than terms like volume and mass.

Kress and van Leeuwen discuss shapes used in models and other visual communication. In contemporary Western society, squares and rectangles are the elements of mechanical, technological order, of the world of human construction. Squares and rectangles form modules and serve as building blocks which construct our world. Circles, on the other hand, are self-contained and complete in themselves. These shapes are associated with the natural, organic world. Rectangles and squares, however, are associated with the world of technology, the world that we've made and continue to make for ourselves.

Triangles are angular, like squares. However, a triangle when tilted is a participant and a vector because it can convey directionality and point at things. Triangles can be seen as focusing or aiming a message. Triangles are a symbol of generative power and represent action, conflict, and tension.

Digital Remix Ideas- Take Two

Digital Remix Ideas

The Grammar of Visual Design

This week, we shift from our first textbook to a new visual communication textbook entitled, "Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design" by Kress and van Leeuwen. My initial thought was... "where did all of the pretty pictures go?" I find it a bit contradictory that a book about visual design has very little pictures, and practically no color. Hmmm... interesting. I know people always say you can't judge a book by it's cover, but this time, I was hoping that I could. The cover is very colorful and implies that the best is yet to come. However, as far as the first chapter is concerned, that is certainly not the case. The book is extremely heavy on content, and no so much on the pictures. But, I'm willing to give it a try. After all, change is a good thing, right?

Another thing I found to be interesting was the use of the grammar metaphor. Although the authors do a good job explaining their reasoning, my initial thought is that with grammar there is only one right way to do it. The rules are very defined and expectations spelled out. In other words, grammar is very cut and dry. I feel that visual communication, art, and images are quite the opposite. Unless it's a chart or diagram, most visuals and images leave room for lots of interpretation. However, this is the point the authors are trying to make. Kress and van Leeuwen assert, "not much attention has been paid to the meanings of regularities in the way image elements are used--in short, to their grammar--at least not in explicit ways or systematic ways" (p. 2).

The authors also argue that just as the grammar creatively employed by poets and novelists is, in the end, the same grammar we use when writing letters, memos, and reports, so the 'grammar of visual design' creatively employed by artists is, in the end, the same grammar we need when producing attractive layouts, images, and diagrams for our course handouts, reports, communiques, and so on (p. 3). However, they are quick to point out that it is not a "universal" grammar because visual language is not transparent and universally understood. Instead, it is culturally specific.

Kress and van Leeuwen argue that visual design fulfills three major functions. First, an "ideational" function is a function of representing the world around and inside us. Second, an "interpersonal" function is a function of enacting social interactions as social relations. All message entities--texts--also attempt to present a coherent world of the text. This is the third function, the "textual" function-- a world in which all the elements of the text cohere internally, and which itself coheres with its relevant environment. So, are the authors saying that all visual communication must fulfill these three major functions?

Scientific Looking and Global Visual Culture

The "Scientific Looking, Looking at Science" chapter discusses Gunther von Hagens' Body Worlds project. The exhibition is a contemporary example of medical display. Dead bodies have undergone a preservation process called plastination and they're put on display in various poses. The notorious director of the project "assumes the role of both a scientist and an artist" (p. 354). The exhibit is viewed by most as extremely controversial. Some claim that the bodies are cadavers of Chinese prisoners. Others suggest the exhibit affirms traditional gender stereotypes, with male figures in active scenarios, such as a soccer game, and the female figures shown in traditional states, such as pregnancy.

I had the opportunity to view the Body Worlds exhibit at the Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC. I knew from early on in my life that the medical field was not for me. My stomach turns anytime my friends who are doctors or nurses discuss any medical experiences, terminology, procedures, or conditions. I cannot express enough how much the medical field and everything related to it is NOT for me! So, going to this exhibit was a huge step for me. I dreaded going to the exhibit, but all of the cool kids were doing it, so I decided to go too. The exhibit actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Mainly because everything I saw seemed so fake-looking. I had to remind myself that what I saw before my eyes was actually real, and at one point in time, a living human being.

The most disturbing part of the exhibit was the childbirth/pregnancy room. There was a warning/disclaimer placed outside of the room that informed people of the contents of the room. There was a pregnant woman with a child still inside her womb as well as fetuses at every stage of the gestation process. This part of the exhibit was nothing less than controversial for many different reasons. However, the exhibit was quick to explain (via signage) that the fetuses and pregnant woman died naturally. Regardless, actually seeing these bodies made the exhibit seem all too real in stark contrast to the rest of the exhibit. I would post images from the exhibit, but I can't quite bring myself to look them up and have to stare at them every time I visit my blog... sorry!

Digital Remix Ideas

I'm considering doing a digital remix of cookbook covers. For example, the above cookbook "get grilling" would instead say, "get real with grilling" or "get real: grilling for working professionals". I would also like to take cookbooks that have well-known Food Network chefs and transpose working professionals such as Vizzie McAndrews, Donald Trump, or the like into kitchens. Or, I could take chefs and put them in corporate settings with their aprons, spatulas, and mixing bowls. Just some ideas to get the creative juices flowing...

Advertising, Consumer Cultures, and Desire

Consumer products and brands and the advertising that sells them aim to present an image of things to be desired, people to be envied, and life 'as it should be' (p. 265). To fully understand this assertion one must step back and think about advertisements encountered on a daily basis. Do advertisements always sell a lifestyle or a product? I think most of the time they do, but sometimes I think they're just plain creative art forms. For example, take the following commercial. It is one of my favorite commercials right now, and I've seen it on TV multiple times. However, I had NO idea what the commercial was selling or what company it was endorsing... until I found it on YouTube.



The commercial works because it makes the impossible, possible. It takes something completely unexpected and makes it seem almost realistic. There is one or two seconds at the end where State Farm gets recognition. However, I guarantee that most people who have seen this commercial have no idea who endorses it.

Another commercial or effectively executed advertising plan that stands out in my mind are the "G" commercials. For the longest time I would see these "G" commercials on TV and have no idea who or what "G" was. However, I did know that there were some pretty important people behind this "G" concept. Finally, curiosity got the best of me, and I appeased the advertisers by Google searching "G" only to find that it was the new marketing strategy from Gatorade. Other companies and brands have also used this mystery technique to lure in consumers. As the authors say, in a consumer society there is always a demand for newness. Therefore, "old products are sold with a new look, added features, a new design, or simply new slogans and ad campaigns" (p. 267). This is certainly the case with Gatorade and their "G" campaign... it suckered me in, and I'm assuming many others as well.

Visual Communication Experiences

Pisa, Italy

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
Rome, Italy

Modernity and Realism/Perspective: Ch. 3 & 4

Modernity is a term that scholars use to refer to the historical, cultural, political, and economic conditions related to the Enlightenment: the rise of industrial society and scientific rationalism; and the idea of controlling nature through technology, science, and rationalism (p. 95). In modernity, technological and social changes are viewed as both beneficial and imperative to progress. The alienated worker, the liberal human subject, and the subject constituted through scientific inquiry and concepts of progress all are common to the period of modernity. Foucault as well as several influential modern thinkers challenged the concept of the autonomous, self-knowing subject. Foucault's subject is never autonomous but is always constituted in relationships of power that are enacted through discourse (p. 100).

In visual theory, spectator (the individual who looks) and spectatorship (the practice of looking) have added meanings that derive specifically from film theory. Not only is the spectator's gaze constituted through a relationship between the subject who looks and other people, institutions, places, and objects in the world, but also the objects we contemplate may be described as the source of the look in the gaze. Once again, Foucault is revisited and the gaze is said to be constituted through a relationship of subjects defined within and through the discourses of institutions. Foucault's concept of discourse is helpful to better understand how power systems work to define how things are understood and spoken about in a given society. The term discourse describes passages of writing or speech, the act of talking about something (p. 105). The gaze, whether institutional or individual, thus helps to establish relationships of power. The act of looking is commonly regarded as awarding more power to the person who is looking than to the person who is the object of the look. The photograph is a central tool in establishing difference (p. 111). The main point here is that images are central to the experience of modernity and provide a complex field in which power relations are exercised and looks are exchanged (p. 136).

The term realism typically refers to a set of conventions or a style of art or representation that is understood at a given historical moment to accurately represent nature or the real or to convey and interpret accurate or universal meanings about people, objects, and events in the world (p. 146). The goal of realist art is to produce reality as it is. Foucault, once again, discusses art's ability to reflect truths about society. He used the term episteme to describe the way that an inquiry into truth is organized in a given era. An episteme is an accepted dominant mode of acquiring and organizing knowledge in a given period of history (p. 149).

Perspective refers to a set of systems or mechanisms used to produce representations of objects in space as if seen by an observer through a window or frame (p. 151). In perspective, the size and detail of objects depicted corresponds with their relative distance from the imagined position of the observer. There are challenges to perspective. Human vision is infinitely more complex than perspective's model of a stationary viewer and a world organized around line and space suggest. Impressionism and cubism are types of art that defied the tradition of perspective. Cubism in particular is a style that deliberately challenged the dominant model of perspective through an analytic system that broke up the perspectival space of the conventional painterly style (p. 166). Cubism just so happens to be one of my most favorite periods in art history. It appears as if someone has taken the picture, dropped it, and it broke into thousands of pieces only to pick up the individual pieces and put them back together. Digital media and imagining have also presented new modes through which the viewer can experience a multiplicity of perspectives on a multiplicity of virtual worlds within the same screen.

An Intro to Visual Culture: Ch. 1-2

In the first chapter, "Images, Power, and Politics" Sturken and Cartwright discuss representation. They assert, "Representation refers to the use of language and images to create meaning about the world around us" (p. 12). Further, they discuss the historical debates about representation considering whether representations "reflect the world as it is, mirroring it back to us through mimesis or imitation, or whether we construct the world and its meaning through representations" (p. 12). Immediately, Kenneth Burke comes to mind and his ideas of terministic screens and symbolic action. Burke says we all view the world through a different screen. Much like Sturken and Cartwright, he believes that the world is not simply reflected back to us through representations that stand in for things by copying their appearance. My point is, that it's highly unlikely that each of us viewed the images in the book in the same way or through the same lens. The picture that illustrates this point best is the Weegee (Arthur Felig) photograph entitled, "The First Murder." All of the people in the photograph are viewing the same scene, but each person has a different sentiment, emotion, lens, or screen they are viewing it through.

Another interesting point made in the first chapter is the widespread use of digital imaging technologies since the 1990s. Sturken and Cartwright purport these technologies have "dramatically altered the status of the photograph relative to truth claims, particularly in the news media" (p. 22). The result is that digital imaging has "partially eroded the public's trust in the camera image as evidence, even as the truth-value of the photograph clings to digital images" (p. 22). The authors make an excellent point saying that images are an important means through which ideologies are produced and onto which ideologies are projected. What ideologies or examples come to mind after reading this? Personally, the first thing that came to my mind are airbrushed images in magazines that have attributed to the distortion of acceptable female body types in America. Digital technologies have been employed to convey how women should look according to a particular ideology and mindset. Studies have shown correlations between these digitally altered images and the prevalence of eating disorders.

Much of the chapter also discusses denotative and connotative meanings. According to Sturken and Cartwright, denotative meanings refer to an images literal, explicit meaning. Whereas connotative meanings are informed by the cultural and historical contexts of the image and its viewers' lived, felt knowledge of those circumstances--all that the image means to them personally and socially (p. 20). Company logos operate according to a principle of instant recognition, counting on the fact that the denotative meaning slides into connotative meanings. They use the Nike swoosh as an example. The denotative meaning is the swoosh equals Nike. The connotative meaning is the swoosh means quality and coolness that will (hopefully) boost sales. What other examples of company logos come to mind, and what are the denotative and connotative meanings? Also, consider how different audiences view certain company logos. Take for example, Apple and their apple logo. Apple users see the logo and identify with the company as well as their products. There is a sense of "Apple pride" in that these consumers stick apple stickers on their car and boast about Apple computers trumping any other brand. However, for PC users, the apple may not necessarily be a symbol or representation of a preferred line of products. Instead, the PC users may shun the apple logo and see it as representing a cult or specific group of people whose interests are inherently different.

In the second chapter, Sturken and Cartwright discuss the production of meaning saying that it involves at least three elements besides the image itself and its producer. They are as follows:

(1) The codes and conventions that structure the image and that cannot be separated from the content of the image.
(2) The viewers and how they interpret or experience the image.
(3) The contexts in which an image is exhibited and viewed.

The authors go on to define a viewer as an individual who looks, and an audience as a collective of lookers. After they describe this distinction, they discuss the idea of interpellation as it applies to media and images. They assert that "images interpellate viewers" and purport interpellation describes the way that images and media texts seem to call out to us, catching our attention (p. 50). To be interpellated by an image is to know the image is meant to be understood, even if one's interpretation is unique or goes against the grain of a meaning that seems to have been intended. Advertising seeks to interpellate viewer-consumers. It seems as if advertising and other mass media campaigns target audiences. However, Sturken and Cartwright place a lot of emphasis on the individual and viewer in Chapter 2. Why do you think the authors have chosen to consider viewers, not audiences? They say by considering viewers they can describe some of the "many ways that viewers make meanings outside the boundaries of producers' intended messages and effects, even as viewers recognize those intended meanings" (p. 52).