ATACADOR, Blessilda Beatriz E.

2COM4 – ART_APP March

11, 2020

1) What is glamour?

- Glamour is a lifestyle or a state of mind that exudes extravagance, elegance or grace

that is supposed to be envied because it requires consuming money to achieve such. It

is a concept utilized by capitalism to establish the idea of commodity fetishism.

Berger (1972) explained that glamour is not supposed to be shallow. However,

ironically, it is completely dependent upon superficiality. He expounded, “Glamour

works through the eye and the mirror.” He said that it is specifically for people who

cannot afford to be unglamorous. Since society feeds people the philosophy that

glamour is the only thing acceptable, they would try hard to fit in society’s standards.

People would develop irrational devotion or obsession to glamour. Oblivious to the

fact that they are being exploited, consumers would still continue to buy because they

cannot afford not being able to fit in. Glamour shifts what people think are valuable to

them. Glamour not only changes people’s perceptions, but it also isolates those who

could not conform to it, labelling them as insignificant or powerless. Glamour gives

so much power to commodities while rendering the people’s labor irrelevant.

2) Give examples of glamour in this documentary.

- Some examples of glamour depicted in the documentary are magazine spreads and

advertisement used in publicity. Celebrities and public figures are also manifestations

of the glamorous lifestyle. Glamour was shown as something perfect and flawless

much like the fantasy of living the life of a superstar like Marilyn Monroe or Paul

McCartney. Glamour entails that everything should be in place. In example, in the

 video, the model for the magazine spread instructed the stylist to remove the

unwanted tangle on her hair because her hair has to be perfect.

3) What values in oil painting are similar to glamour?

- Oil paintings and glamour both emanate the feeling of luxury, lavishness and beauty.

Most often, subjects and figures found in oil paintings exhibit an intellectual, spiritual

and aesthetic superiority. When one sees a painting, it almost always seems as

something powerful and transcendental. In the same way, glamour feeds consumers

examples of these power, but it convinces people that to achieve such power and

influence, they should work to the bone to afford it.

4) What is the role of envy?

- Berger emphasized, “The state of being envied is what constitutes glamour.” Envy’s

significance to glamour is undeniable because without its presence, the latter would

not exist. Envy is what pushes people to climb up the social ladder, to persevere to

achieve such status of being “glamorous”. In example, people look up to celebrities

and public figures because of their glamorous lifestyles. They tend to copy or imitate

them in the hopes of becoming close to their level or status. Publicity would convince

people to adapt glamour by eliciting envy or the “I wish I were them” kind of

thinking. Capitalists use envy as an instrument to induce the feeling that people’s

current lifestyles are not glamorous enough; hence, they are persuaded to consume

more unnecessary commodities. They think that the more they subscribe to this

concept of glamour, the higher their significance in society.

5) What is publicity?
 - According to Berger (1972), in a capitalist society, publicity plays the role of

convincing people that they can change themselves or their lives by consuming more.

He described publicity as the “process of manufacturing glamour.” Publicity creates

an illusion that people become “richer” despite the reality that in fact, they will

become poorer since they would be spending so much money for unnecessary

commodities. Publicity performs this through showing the products of this illusion of

transformation, of something desirable; thus, eliciting envy from the consumers.

Publicity feeds consumers the dream and fantasy of glamour so it can persuade them

to achieve the dream through purchasing. Those who cannot fit in the standards of

glamour become outcasts and are seen insignificant. Publicity would threaten people

that if they would not try to conform to glamour, they would be undesirable. Publicity

tells people that they are not enough, but it consoles them with the promise of a

fantasy that is reachable through spending money. Publicity does not only sell a

product, but also an ideology. In example, Aramis is not only advertised as a shaving

soap, but it is also proposed as a way of life. It blurs what reality truly is.

6) What is the relationship between oil painting and publicity?

- Berger describes art as a sign of affluence and cultural authority or wisdom. Using

art, specifically, oil paintings in publicity persuades the consumer that purchasing

would denote financial and cultural opulence. Berger clarified that we often overlook

the similarities of oil painting and publicity because we see the former as fine art and

the latter as commodity. To illustrate, in the documentary, a magazine spread for

publicity was shot in a country park that was often a subject of landscape oil painting.

In this sense, content creators of publicity are attempting to imitate the feeling that oil
 paintings exude. Real people copy the figures in the painting – their poses and their

clothing. Actual paintings were used in publicity stints such as Michelangelo’s doodle

was used for an advertisement of a pen and a painting by Rubens was used for a

liquor advertisement. By trying to imitate art, advertising perseveres to establish an

atmosphere of prestige and beauty that is always emanated through art. They copy the

settings, objects, symbols, gestures, and signs to convince the people of purchasing or

consuming such a lifestyle that was then only possible and seen through paintings.

From Berger’s idea that oil painting and publicity share the principle, “You are what

you have”, oil painting and publicity both have materialist and consumerist

tendencies. They both share the understanding of how a spectator or consumer thinks

when they see art or advertisements. The difference; however, according to Berger

lies in the sense that art reinforces or intensifies how a person sees who he is and

what he has. On the other hand, publicity shows some kind of fantasy that a person

aspires to achieve.

7) What devices in oil painting are echoed in publicity?

- Publicity echoes the same type of intellectual, spiritual and aesthetic superiority that

oil painting manifests. In particular, advertisements imitate the same clothes, settings,

gestures, poses, objects, and signs to reiterate the concept of glamour that they want

consumers to subscribe to. In example, a magazine spread tried to imitate an oil

painting where beautiful nymphs or goddesses are playing around trees. In the

painting, beauty was shown through the figures of those nymphs and goddesses. Yet,

in publicity, real women were used to imitate the same effect. The models were made

to look perfect and beautiful according to what glamour considers to be acceptable.

INSIGHTS:

I know that this is not required, but I would just like to express my sentiments

about the documentary. I just really like how Berger was able to demystify the concept of

commodity fetishism and how he showed the reality of capitalism in our society. My

favorite part in the documentary is the transition between the publicity images and the

realities of the world today. I would say that this documentary was very enlightening and

as what you would say, “kick-ass.” Capitalism really is ugly.

References

Dibb, M. (Producer), & Berger, J. (Writer). (1972). Ways of Seeing, Episode 4 [Motion Picture].

Retrieved March 11, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jTUebm73IY

Wilshere, A. (2017, June 19). Watch John Berger’s Amazing “Ways Of Seeing”. Retrieved

March 11, 2020, from Designlab: https://trydesignlab.com/blog/watch-john-berger-ways-

of-seeing/