Newsflash: Value of Shock Value
Dear Professional Photographers (and other artists),
This letter is not to tell you how to do your craft; I don’t know anything about techniques or how to determine composition through a camera lens. But I do know the value of art and its relationship to shock value and I would like to teach you a bit about differentiating the two.
Now, this is mostly aimed at the fashion industry and their methods to get their product stuck in the minds of consumers, but I think I make some points that can be worth noting for anyone in a visual, art community. (I have yet to learn of a music composer who addressed these issues. They are too busy convincing the public that any ol’ sound is music).
First of all, themes of domestic violence, rape, or slavery are distasteful. But, worse than that, they’re insulting because you are not using them to represent anything. What exactly are you trying to say? Good art may use these themes, but for a greater purpose. The shock value is meant to get the viewer to reflect on their lives and their society in order to change it. The picture looks wrong because it is wrong. It looks disturbing because the artist wants you to think the value it represents is disturbing and then keep the image in your mind for the next time you can do something about the issue. Sometimes this action to fix the world is small, but the important thing here is that the artist is trying to say something, even if they aren’t trying to pressure the viewer into doing something drastic about it.
But what are you trying to say? You’re selling a product and nothing else. So what does violence have to do with this? Nothing. If you want to argue against me, I point to your flippant remarks regarding said issues or descriptions accompanying your photographs. You aren’t making a point to stop domestic violence, for example (though if you are, you’re doing a bum job of proving that), you’re using it to get people to have an emotional reaction so that they remember the name of your product. However, this backfires as people now have a negative reaction when they think of your name and won’t shop there. So fine, you succeeded in getting your name out there, but I don’t think you’ve encouraged them to shop, so what’s the point?
There is an inherent problem of objectification in the industry that I would love to address but I know is pointless. But I ask you to try and keep things in mind when you’re designing a photo shoot. Of course, your point might be too racy or banned for reasons you disagree with, but if you want substance in your photos, then make sure there is substance, not just playing with a touchy subject. The world is bad enough without us encouraging people to hurt each other. So please, keep that in mind next time. Controversy might be good advertisement, but it sucks for business.
Sincerely, your friend,
B.N.
This entry was posted on Monday, September 5th, 2011 at 5:08 pm and is filed under Newsflash, Nonfiction Prose. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.