Here is a quote from Episode Four, Ways of Seeing, which I watched today, in which Berger tackles the subject of advertising.
In our urban world, in the streets where we walk, in the buses we take, in the magazines we read, on walls, on screens, we are surrounded by images of an alternative way of life. We may remember or forget these images, but briefly, we take them in, and for a moment they stimulate our imagination, either by way of memory, or anticipation.
But where is this other way of life? It's a language of words and images which calls out to us wherever we go, wherever we are.
Where do they exist, these fabulous rewards and objects and people? Where do they belong to? Here? There? or Nowhere?
They come with us everywhere. We take them away in our minds. We see them in our dreams.
To me this says, the world depicted in the glossy adverts in our sunday papers and between our tv shows.. doesn't really exist.. otherwise we'd know someone who lived in that world and do you? Do you know anyone with the looks of a model, who is impeccably styled while simply sipping an expresso in their fabulous home, a slight smirk of knowing superiority on their faces? No? Thought not.
In our urban world, in the streets where we walk, in the buses we take, in the magazines we read, on walls, on screens, we are surrounded by images of an alternative way of life. We may remember or forget these images, but briefly, we take them in, and for a moment they stimulate our imagination, either by way of memory, or anticipation.
But where is this other way of life? It's a language of words and images which calls out to us wherever we go, wherever we are.
Where do they exist, these fabulous rewards and objects and people? Where do they belong to? Here? There? or Nowhere?
They come with us everywhere. We take them away in our minds. We see them in our dreams.
To me this says, the world depicted in the glossy adverts in our sunday papers and between our tv shows.. doesn't really exist.. otherwise we'd know someone who lived in that world and do you? Do you know anyone with the looks of a model, who is impeccably styled while simply sipping an expresso in their fabulous home, a slight smirk of knowing superiority on their faces? No? Thought not.
