COMM 333: Chapters 9 and 10 Expression, Perception, Logos and Echos

 Williams - Why I [Still] Want My MTV

"Twentieth-century art has, to a large degree, brought forth the displacement of perspective as central to the representative of reality, questioning, in particular, in spatialization of knowledge and its propensity to measure all things linearly."  (Williams p. 199)

 To understand our reality and its confines we must explore past these linear ideas through imaginative thinking of what "could be." The moment one accepts all things to be as they are and has no desire to see them as otherwise, they cut out a piece of that "what-if" scenario that is never fully understood. With Perception and Expression we are able to justify and bend the concepts of what is reality. Through CGI we distort images and curve the idea of the minds of the audience to give a thought of wonder, a feeding into the great what-if. As in the "Knights of Cydonia" video we see various themes and images we know not to be true, but the perception  takes the vision as truth for those few moments in between.

Logos/ Logic are what many justify as being the only rational means of thought. Without logic there is emotion or ignorance left as many would claim. But what of the other means we cannot define? What is beyond the intentional or directness? Symbolism seems to resonate with audiences just as much as anything else, but why take an indirect approach. With echos we see the idea of logos and the concept of representation through video.

"I suggest echos as a metaphor and way to understand the mutual interpenetration of sights and sounds- and indeed of the presence of multiple logics- and as well of the multiple ways in which such a work may be read, interpreted, and become meaningful in one's life." (Williams p. 211)

Is it a logical man that interprets any other text than its direct meaning? No, but it is a man that sees past his own hands. One that can reach towards the stars and see them as symbolic meanings as ancient civilizations interpreted them as such. With science we take these ideologies and apply them, but yet still find new and more answers. It is felt that in imagery and expression we may find a new perspective that may define our ever evolving selves.