The initial reaction to this picture would be one of interest. The bright colors and the laid back yet "in your face" stance convey's multiple ideas and thoughts instantly. The most immediately recognized color is the red that the two young adults are wearing. The color red is commonly associated with a gang, The Bloods, that spans across the Nation. The immediate association between the gang, red, and the violence they spread causes many emotions and ideas to be interpreted by the audience. Further the background of the photo communicates about their situation. The two teenagers are seen inside of a convenience store that is non-descriptive and could be located anywhere. Their surroundings, clothing, expressions, and body language all speak volumes, whether or not these assumptions are correct is a different mater.
Upon further inspection of the photo the audiences' eyes would fall upon the faces of the two subjects. Their facial expressions portray anger, displeasure, and annoyance. Looking past their facial expressions the audience would next have a chance to read the signs that the two teenagers are holding. The male's sign reads "People think I'm in a Gang. I'm in College". Him writing these shows just how important first impression are and it also proves that how people dress and act can affect what others think of people. The girl's sign says "1.pull your pants up 2.stay out of the wrong place 3.Be more Careful". This proves that being associated with certain stereotypes and with a certain culture or even being associated with a group of people can lead to bad things in a persons life.
Wing Young Huie and Margaret Atwood both use colors to show stereotypes that are present in society. Wing Young Huie does this with his photograph of the two young adults who are dressed in red with a sign that states "People think I'm in a Gang. I'm in College". The association to the color red with a gang in society causes problems for people much like the young man above, people assume he is in a gang because of how he dresses and they most likely treat him differently from how they would treat him if they knew he was in college. Atwood also creates stereotypes through the use of color but she uses it to bridge the gap between the social classes in The Handmaid's Tale. Many times she describes the different social groups through the use of stereotypes. During the birth of a child Offred and many of the other Handmaids are describing the wives in spiteful tones. Offred also talks about the Marthas. The reason that the classes are divided and there is so much hostility between them is because they are all forced to wear a singular color at all times. Red for the Handmaids, blue for Wives, and brown for the Marthas.
Taken: 2012-2013
Photographer: Wing Young Huie
Link to Wing Young Huie's Website: http://photos.wingyounghuie.com/p709406511/h74051bc3#h74051bc3
I think the black boards make this entire photo. I think that the blackboards are being used to speak out against society stereotypes that are normally associated with African Americans. In this case i believe Huie chose for them to write it like this was because he could capture it in a photo along with the subjects body language and facial expressions help how they convey the meaning of this photo in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteHey Nick-
ReplyDeleteYou provide great denotative analysis, but you're missing a connotative examination! Think first about the artist's choices in structure, format, color, etc. so that you have support for your actual analysis!
Hey Nick, I liked how you used Color in both texts to analyze and show how stereotypes are presented in society. However, I think that it is worth mentioning that both of these young people are African American. If it was a white male instead of a black male wearing red in the picture, modern westerners might not actually relate him to the Bloods. I think that the people in the clothes/colors contribute to the meaning and purpose of this picture.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sammy that it should be stated that both of the people in the photo are African American. This makes it easier to pick up on the potential gang affiliation assumption. I think that were they are located could also have something to do with the potential association with a gang. If they were in front of a church or somewhere else the association would not be instantly that they are affiliated with a gang. I think that the setting of this picture is one of the most important aspects to defining the views of the people in the photo.
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