Do you see what I see??

Ways of Seeing by John Berger was a strong change in writing style compared to Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death. Berger focused largely are pure comparison and explanation, while I found Postman to be a little more personal and conversational. Moreover, despite Berger’s various artistic outlooks and theories regarding the evolution of art, which I found fascinating, I agree that it was a little old fashion.

I greatly enjoyed the comparison of being nude and being naked, and how women are surveyed and men simply spectators. After reading that women were viewed to “feed an appetite”(Berger 55), my perception of the images changed from an artistic, beautiful woman in heavenly scenery to more of a sexual being. These images were made to satisfy the male spectators, to look at the female body and cause sexual arousal. This almost suits the definition of pornography. I am by no means, calling the work of these artists like Tintoretto or Lely porn, but I did not think that the main purpose of these beautiful images would be to “feed [the] appetite” of men (Berger, 55).

Despite the novel’s old-fashioned images and content, I was able to make a connection to modern day images, art and ads closer to the end of the book. I liked that Berger connected older images to newer images of today and showed how they still portray the same image and ideal. Society has simply intensified these ideals and advertised them relentlessly.

I found it fascinating that people place a lot of value on what an image is, over what the image shows. Having a reproduction of an image-such as the Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo Da Vinci- makes the original piece of value because it is RARE, IT IS THE original; not because it depicts the Virgin Mary and Christ the Child (Berger, 21).

The photo essays were fascinating, however I really did not understand them all that well. I caught some minor themes within them, but was confused by the end. My perspective on art has changed slightly, in that I take into consideration the purpose of the drawing or painting to a larger degree. Ways of Seeing was a decent read with some interesting points, but I found the bulk of the material somewhat dry.

Berger, John. Ways of Seeing. Toronto: Penguin, 1972.