The Theory of Ideology - Essay Example

The Theory of Ideology Introduction The influence of visual culture on children’s drawings can be profound and can speak to the efficacy of cultural and visual semiotics in shaping how people, even very young people, conceptualize the world. The contemporary critical discourse on such influence proves that postmodernist ideology has played an essential role to interpret new fields of visual culture in children’s thinking (Wilson, 2003). Therefore, it is essential to understand how children understand the enveloping images and signs permeating their surrounding visual culture. In response to their surroundings, how do young people create images and signs in their drawings? Visual culture in the modern world has an immense capacity to influence children’s thinking (Duncum, 2001; Freedman, 2003; Kindler, 2003; Smith-Shank, 2002; Tavin, 2003; Wilson, 2003a). This is particularly true in terms of how they incorporate and integrate surrounding images and signs. Althussers formulation of interpellation has been essential to scholars of the post-structuralist era (Bateman, 2011), particularly for the investigation of image and meaning in visual culture studies. This investigative approach to children’s drawings in relation to art education illuminates the influence of children’s surroundings in modern life. The concept of interpellation was adapted to such uses by theorists of politics and media in the 1970s (Sturken & Cartwright, 2009). Below, I examine the ideas of French Marxist Louis Althusser, employing his concepts of interpellation and ideology to analyze how the drawings of young people are shaped by the visual culture around them. Such an exercise will demonstrate how visual culture shapes all of us. Children are products of their world, and the world in which they develop has a vested interest in ensuring that they conceive of their environment in certain ways. The power of the structures of visual culture needs to be clear and persistently justified by those in power. If the semiotics of visual culture functions as the elites desire them to function, children will see and render the world in ways others desire. However, one must bear in mind that a strictly structuralist view of Marxism, as well as a strictly structuralist reading of the theory of interpellation, fails to appreciate the role of human agency in shaping individual sensibilities. In short, while visual culture can be powerful, children’s drawings can rebel against received semiotics or the contrivances of the interpellative efforts of the state apparatus. As such, I will use image analysis, shaped by Althusser’s theories of ideology and interpellation, to illuminate the meanings of my daughter Nada’s drawings. Althusser explores how individuals become subjects of ideological regimes, even as they are also subjected to them (Bateman, 2011). Such an approach speaks to the analysis of images and signs in visual culture, the visual field of our lives in the postmodern era (Sturken & Cartwright, 2009). I will apply two lenses to analyze Nada’s drawings, gender, and interpellation. Such an examination can help make sense of how media texts hail us as subjects, as images interpellate viewers (Sturken & Cartwright, 2009). Thus, analyzing Nada’s drawings as visual representations in relation to ideology is a powerful mode of comprehending the production of meaning in visual representation (Sturken & Cartwright, 2009). Analysis framed by the concept of interpellation suggests that Nada, through her drawings, encounters images and signs that interpellate her attention, specifically through the use of gender codes, for example, the use of colors such as pink and purple used to market all types of products from clothing to toys, which is meant to appeal to girls. The concept of interpellation, which considers individuals in their subject hood (Montag, 2012), includes the recognition that a media image or text may hail a subject in such a way that the subject in question does not recognize the message as precisely intended for itself (Sturken & Cartwright, 2009). There is also the possibility of identifying and misrecognizing, willingly or unwillingly, certain messages. Interpretation is an ideological process by which we understand the meaning of images and signs, as viewer-subjects discover their identities and understand what they need to know. Viewers understand their surroundings through interpellation, even as they are hailed by meanings perceived as intended differently than experienced. Thus, interpellation is important to Nadas drawings because all the images and signs she encounters hail her attention as she uses them as her own. Though surrounding images and signs, Nada understands herself as part of society, and those images and signs appear as codes that have special meaning for her. This conception shows how ideological beliefs shape the ways Nada understands and looks at her surroundings. Thus, such an analysis supports an investigation of how images carry meaning across diverse spheres of culture in everyday life. How Althusser Explores How Individuals Become Subjects of Ideological Regimes (This should be followed by a section on Althusser’s Theory of Interpellation). Althusser explores at ideological regimes in individuals even as they are subjected to them (Bateman, 2011) through the use of theories of ideologies as well as interpellation. Althusser specifically looks into the issue of ideological regimes by investigating at how ideological and interpellation theories affect individuals. This approach gives room for the analysis of images and signs when it comes to visual culture. Visual culture according to Althusser serves to give a postmodern era of the life of an individual. Interpellation as a theory tends to give a look at how the society assigns identities via the use of ideological semiotics that individuals absorbed from their earlier age. How Children Are Nudged Into Specific Spaces “OR” How Children, Themselves, Are Urged Into Embracing Specific Roles Interpellation as a concept is one that brings out the individuality, as well as self-understanding of a person. In the case of children, it portrays how they can perceive their environment. For instance, in the case of Nada, interpellation and gender concepts are used to understand how she can examine images, as well as text. Thus, analyzing Nada’s drawing is a powerful tool that assists in understanding the production of meaningful visual representation (Sturken, 2009). Pink and purple color codes that are appealing to girls, help Nada get attracted to products that she sees ranging from clothes to toys. Interpolation also enhances the understanding of how children for instance Nada are carried away by certain environmental aspects for instant color. The fact that the colors purple and pink are associated with girls makes Nada attracted to products with these colors as a child. Why Interpellation Is Important To Nadas Drawings Interpellation as a concept is one that serves an important role in understanding Nada’s drawings. In this case, this concept has been used to understand the meaning of the drawings that Nada makes. Gender and interpellation concepts have been fused together to understand further the sense of media text hail us as subjects, as images interpellate viewers (Sturken, 2009). Nada via her drawings encounters signs as well as images that interpellate her attention. This is seen through the use of codes for gender. For instance, pink and purple colors as used in marketing all product types. This helps understand the subject hood of Nada as an individual through the concept of interpellation. At the same time, interpellation gives clarity on how Nada understands or looks at her surroundings. Also, it helps understand how Nada takes herself as part of society through her interpretation of images and signs. How All the Images and Signs Nada Encounters Hail Her Attention As She Uses Them as Her Own and In Her Own Art Practice Interpolation considers individuals in their subject hood (Montag, 2012) and this also includes their recognition to how media images, as well as text, may frame a subject in a manner that is not easy to recognize a message as it was originally intended. The images and signs that Nada encountered attracted her attention because of the meaning that she perceived out of these images and signs. Additionally, this is what makes her feel as part or identify herself with the society, which is why when she sees images and signs she gets attracted to them. This concept also helps see and understand how Nada views her surroundings. The other bit to give consideration to is that, these images and signs appear as special codes to Nada, which is why she has her attention diverted once she sees them. Conclusion Overall, interpolation is important since it helps understand individuals’ self-being, for instance, how they perceive objects in their environment. It is also the concept that helps them understand what they see or what they need to know their surroundings. As in the case of Nada, she perceives the images and signs that she sees as codes or information with special meaning. That is why she gets attracted to signs and images objects upon seeing them. References Althusser, L. (1976). Essays in self-criticism. London, UK: New Left Books. Althusser, L. (1996). For Marx. 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