All Assuming Images Stuart Ewen Summary
Brady Robinson
Prof. Gaerte
Senior Seminar
Book Report #1
March 3rd 2015
After reading Stuart Ewen’s book, All Consuming Images: The Politics of Style in Contemporary Culture, I began to realize the importance images have on our day-to-day lives. Ewen does his best to force us into thinking about the power advertisements have on us and he also goes through history explaining the evolution of style throughout culture. What I was able to gather from this book was the chance to see the things that often go unseen. We are bombarded with images that tell us how to live the best life and products that are going to change our lives for the better, but Ewen tells us to step back from all of this and admire these things a little deeper. He breaks away at how these advertisements are created and reasons for why we fall into the trap.
On page 85 Ewen writes, “In a highly mobile society, where first impressions are important and where selling oneself is the most highly cultivated “skill,” the construction of appearances becomes more and more imperative. If style offers a representation of self defined by surfaces and commodities, the media by which style is transmitted tend to reinforce this outlook in intimate …show more content…
This goes back to an earlier point Ewen makes in the book about photography and how our culture prefers surface to substance. We like things for the way they look and not so much how they preform. “Seductive images of the good life are rooted in the principles and practices of a human community.” I think Ewen hits the nail on the head in this book. He gives us a fresh look into things that are slowly harming our culture and encourages us to rethink ways in which we consume. I know now from this book that when I see that new camera that has 32 megapixels and costs me thousands of dollars; I won’t need
Prof. Gaerte
Senior Seminar
Book Report #1
March 3rd 2015
After reading Stuart Ewen’s book, All Consuming Images: The Politics of Style in Contemporary Culture, I began to realize the importance images have on our day-to-day lives. Ewen does his best to force us into thinking about the power advertisements have on us and he also goes through history explaining the evolution of style throughout culture. What I was able to gather from this book was the chance to see the things that often go unseen. We are bombarded with images that tell us how to live the best life and products that are going to change our lives for the better, but Ewen tells us to step back from all of this and admire these things a little deeper. He breaks away at how these advertisements are created and reasons for why we fall into the trap.
On page 85 Ewen writes, “In a highly mobile society, where first impressions are important and where selling oneself is the most highly cultivated “skill,” the construction of appearances becomes more and more imperative. If style offers a representation of self defined by surfaces and commodities, the media by which style is transmitted tend to reinforce this outlook in intimate …show more content…
This goes back to an earlier point Ewen makes in the book about photography and how our culture prefers surface to substance. We like things for the way they look and not so much how they preform. “Seductive images of the good life are rooted in the principles and practices of a human community.” I think Ewen hits the nail on the head in this book. He gives us a fresh look into things that are slowly harming our culture and encourages us to rethink ways in which we consume. I know now from this book that when I see that new camera that has 32 megapixels and costs me thousands of dollars; I won’t need