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BEYOND WORDS: READING AND WRITING IN A VISUAL AGE © 2006 John Ruszkiewicz Daniel Anderson Christy Friend ISBN 0-321-27601-9 Visit www.ablongman.com/replocator to contact your local Allyn & Bacon/Longman representative. Chapter begins on next page >> SAMPLE CHAPTER SAMPLE CHAPTER The pages of this Sample Chapter may have slight variations in final published form. ALLYN & BACON/LONGMAN www.ablongman.com David Hockney, A Bigger Splash (1967) Still from Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001) Which of these two images most closely matches your own experiences and associations with swimming pools? Why? Which specific details in the image seem familiar? Do you have associations or experiences with pools that aren’t represented here? If so, what are they? 160 161 David Hockney (b. 1937) was an important figure in Introduction England’s Pop Art movement before moving to Southern California in the early 1960s. He has created several series FYI of swimming pool images in a variety of media, of which the t’s hard to imagine a space more symbolic of the American dream than the best known is 29 Paper Pools (1978). Responding to the swimming pool. For many of us, pools are part of the landscape of grow- observation that much of his work omits human figures, he ing up: As toddlers, we splash in backyard wading pools; as children, we once said, “The main reason for that is that I have wanted I the viewer to become the figure.” brave the high diving board at summer camp; in high school, we rent movies like Spring Break Beach Party and spend vacations working on the perfect tan. Pools are part of our cultural landscape, too. Owning a private pool is a uni- versally recognized sign of financial success, and glamorous poolside shots are staples of the celebrity profiles that appear in popular magazines. It’s not surprising, then, that swimming pools have been pictured in many different ways. Consider the two images that open this chapter. Both depict suburban swimming pools built during the 1960s and 1970s in California— but there the similarities end. The pool in David Hockney’s painting A Bigger Splash evokes an affluent, What’s in This Chapter? leisure-oriented lifestyle often associated with California. Rendered in sunny blues, yellows, and pinks, the scene is composed of even surfaces and straight In this chapter, you’ll see images of many different places. Some are lines. There are no human figures to disturb the peaceful scene—only the paintings and photographs depicting natural landscapes; others show- white trace of the swimmer’s splash. We can almost imagine ourselves step- case the built spaces of city and suburban environments. Others—such ping through the frame and jumping into the water. as William Eggleston’s photographs of Memphis—focus on sites where In contrast, the pool in the still from director Stacy Peralta’s skateboarding doc- wild and cultivated environments come together. These images present umentary Dogtown and Z-Boys is neither restful nor inviting. Here the elegant a range of purposes and points of view. Some, like Alice Attie’s pho- image of the suburban pool is turned literally upside down. The pool itself is no tographs of Harlem, preserve moments in our history or to document un- longer the focal point; instead, it serves as a backdrop for the acrobatic maneu- familiar cultures. Still others, such as the Web sites advertising vers of 1970s skateboarding icon Tony Alva. Nor is this pool a well-tended par- Jamaica, use places to promote particular attitudes. adise: It has been drained of water, the diving board is pockmarked with rust, Yet as our discussion of swimming pools suggests, places don’t exist and the surrounding lawn is overgrown. Alva, too, uses the pool in a radically only in pictures. We also experience them directly, meaning that such different way. Rather than slipping smoothly into the space, as Hockney’s imag- ined swimmer does, Alva defies gravity, hovering above the rim at a 90-degree environments and the ways we interact with them can affect what we do angle to the ground, poised in the split second before hurtling downward. We’re and how we think. So throughout the chapter, we also discuss the struc- tempted to step backwards to avoid what seems like an inevitable crash. ture and design of places like homes, parks, and restaurants. We’ll even revisit Dogtown and Z-Boys as we consider how skateboarders and other What should we make of these two very different swimming pools? Why pay so groups find unexpected uses for older environments. We’ll challenge you much attention to describing two scenes that, if we walked past them tomorrow, to engage in the on-site observation and description of such places and we might not even notice? It’s because everyday places—shopping malls, fast- to interpret them using many of the same strategies you’d use to ex- food restaurants, classrooms, parks, and yes, even swimming pools—shape our lives. They define where and how we work, play, eat, do business, express our- plore a photo or an essay. All of these examples, we hope, will encour- selves, and communicate. When artists create images of places, they capture age you to think about relationships between place and identity that you something of these identities. And so do you when you make sense of the places might apply in your reading and composing. you encounter in your reading, your composing, and your daily life. 162 INTRODUCTION 163 Reading Landscapes and Environments David Muench, Grand Canyon t’s easy to ignore places or to regard them simply as neutral backdrops for what we do. Certainly many of the surroundings we experience seem so Iordinary that it’s difficult to imagine them as meaningful: How does one analyze a barren stretch of interstate? Or a convenience store that looks ex- actly like every other 7-Eleven in town? Cultural meanings and patterns are easier to spot when they appear in spec- What do tacular landscapes—Las Vegas’s neon skyline clearly says something about American attitudes toward money, and the 1,776-foot-high Freedom Tower in you see? New York City will dramatically embody patriotic ideals. Yet the same habits When you encounter a place or of observation that enable you to spot these patterns can also help you find an image of one, first ask, meanings in less obvious places. When you see a landscape image or examine “Where am I?” and “What sort a particular space, ask yourself the following questions: of place is this?” Knowing some terminology that artists, urban planners, and other pro- fessionals use to talk about spaces will help you draw some useful distinctions. Natural environments exist apart from human civilization. In their purest Airstream trailer at the Grand Canyon form, they incorporate nothing man-made—composed of the terrain, climate, geological formations, and animal and plant life. Artistic depictions of the natural world, such as landscapes and seascapes, have long encouraged view- ers to reflect on the power and beauty of untouched nature and to consider the place of human beings in the larger world. Consider, for example, two landscape photographs. The Grand Canyon land- scape, photographed by David Muench, with its delicate colors and dramatic patterns of sunlight and shadow, creates a breathtaking scene. Muench says his photo celebrates the “mystical forces of nature that shape all our des- tinies” and expresses his “commitment to preserve our wild lands . to im- prove and maintain a balance between economy and ecology.” Now consider a photograph showing a human presence in the landscape. The photograph of the Airstream trailer, for instance, features majestic rock forma- 164 READING LANDSCAPES AND ENVIRONMENTS 165 tions similar to those in Muench’s image, but the adjoining highway, complete Art, shown on the previous page. Its design, which incorporates large indoor with travel trailer and gawking tourists, is just as prominent. What sort of galleries, clearly serves the practical function of housing the city’s art collec- landscape is this? you might ask. A nature scene, a highway scene, or some- tions. Yet its unusual shape and construction suggest additional purposes. The thing in between? And in fact, even natural landmarks as seemingly un- much-photographed “wings” on the roof, designed to move continually with touched as the Grand Canyon are continually influenced by the park adminis- the breezes in one of the nation’s windiest cities, express both the architect’s trators who monitor the placement of roads and trails, manage tourist aesthetic vision and the city’s commitment to the arts. Not incidentally, the activities and trash pickup, and implement conservation plans. spectacular roof makes the museum a splendid tourist attraction. 4 SEEING PLACES So when you encounter either a natural environment or an image depicting Large, impressive public buildings aren’t the only built spaces worth analyz- one, pay attention: What natural features are present? What makes the place ing, though. Smaller, more ordinary places like laundromats and barbershops unique, powerful, beautiful, or worth noticing? What relationship does this also serve important functions and influence the people who use them every place have to human activities and structures? And from what vantage point day. Melissa Ann Pinney draws our attention to one such space in her photo are you looking at this place? of a diaper-changing room at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. In contrast to natural environments, built environments and spaces are partly Pinney’s photo might lead us to ask several questions: Where are the chil- or wholly made by human beings.