Reading Between the Nonexistent Lines

Augustina Woodgate
The Times Atlas of The World (Book) 2012
Sanded World Atlas (515 pages)

Kiley Burns
A Sketch of The Times Atlas of the World (Book)
Very cool, Very nice, Very swag (1 page)

When our tour guide brought us to this piece, I found myself asking questions with a recurring theme.

Why?
Just why?
Why on earth would someone spend seven hours, seven days a week for four months sanding down an atlas?
Why would someone even come up with that idea?

And that, my friends, is exactly why this piece stood out to me the most during our journey to view the Limited Visibility exhibit at CAM, and why I am undertaking the lovely task of analyzing this unconventional piece of art.

The whole meaning of this piece lies within what we can't see- the borders, the bright blocks that represent countries, the tiny dots of cities.  All that remains are the shadows of regions and faint outlines.  I interpreted this piece to mean that we (humans) are all one.  Borders only serve to divide us; while they give us a sense of nationalistic pride, they also create tensions or competitions between different people.  Imagine if there were no borders.  Imagine if we all could roam freely among these giant slabs of land.  There would be no immigrants, no citizens, no border patrols.

Augustina Woodgate used sand paper to erase everything but the faint colors off of all 515 pages of this atlas.  It is hard to distinguish this as an atlas.  We only see the hues of green and blue that we normally associate with the earth.  Think back to when you were a kid and were asked to draw the globe.  You didn't sit down and draw out each border of each country.  No, you drew a circle of blue with green masses.  That's what this piece does.  It makes the world seem simpler.

Everything about this piece has been neutralized, even the texture.  It is soft and smooth, almost velvety, to the touch.  Every aspect is atypical of an atlas.  The turning of the pages is even easier and quieter.  I feel like this gives the piece another appealing dimension. Everyone can be amused by the soft, delicate nature of the pages.  There are no page numbers; it just flows.  The texture further adds to the simplicity of the piece.  It has been sanded down to its true meaning.

She is erasing borders and the political tensions that overlap with geography.  The colors seem to blend together, rather than starkly contrasting each other.  An atlas is so organized, so methodically thought out; it literally shows the economic, environmental, and geographical features of every country.  Now, all of that is gone.  Some may wonder, "Well what is its value now?"  I believe that this piece is intended to make people think outside of the box (cliche, I know).  I have had numerous map tests, labeling this country and labeling that country.  I have been taught that "one country invaded another country because of that country's access to a certain resource", or "this country declared independence from this country, so the borders had to be redrawn."  But what if we did not think of the world in terms of borders or economic specialties?  Imagine how different things would be.  Personally, I cannot fathom the idea, but it's a pretty cool concept to ponder.  This takes us back to a time in which we did not exist.  A time before the borders were drawn and there were conflicting political and environmental agendas.

This artwork truly embodies the idea of the Limited Visibility exhibit.  You cannot gather anything from what you see, but rather from what was left behind.  Maybe an un-sanded atlas would have the same meaning, though.  The value of our world lies deeper than represented by the borders drawn on a map.

How to Become the World's Most Powerful Fan

Director: Matthijs Van Heijningen

First Aired: 2013
Agency: Grey New York
Production Company: MJZ
Campaign: DirecTV Most Powerful Fan

Ah, football.  A man's game.  A male-dominated field (which I plan to rule).  Nothing affects a man's pride and ego quite like football.

Take a look at this ad for DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket.  At first glance, we see a very tall and strong man in an Andy Dalton jersey (bless his heart) talking to a man of average height and build, but who looks minuscule in comparison. The office in which they are is very bland, with pale blue-gray walls and beige work spaces.  The small man himself is wearing neutrals, nothing about him is particularly special or noticeable.  What we notice is the powerful fan.  Our eyes are immediately drawn to the bold black and orange of his jersey, and his pants, which are the everyday-man's pair of khakis, are still brighter and crisper than his surroundings.  The director's use of color, layout, and dialogue draw our attention to and make us viewers desire to be like this all-powerful fan.

This advertisement, along with the entire DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket campaign, plays on a man's pride.  If you get Sunday Ticket, then you will be all-powerful, desirable, and possess qualities greater than those of your male counterparts.  If you don't get Sunday Ticket, then you will be an average, boring man, rejected by your coworkers and left in a man on a lightning bolt's dust.  The powerful fan is also displayed as exceedingly confident and, while his coworker quickly becomes intimidated and confused and his voice seems to trail off due to this man's apparent dominance.  The message is essentially that the only way to restore your pride is to get DirecTV.    

The use of the lightning bolt in this advertisement is particularly note-worthy.  The lightning bolt is a symbol of the Greek god Zeus- the god of all gods.  He is the one who possesses ultimate control and power.  The possession of the lightning bolt further distinguishes this man's superiority over other men, essentially he is god-like; he is truly the most powerful fan, the fan of all fans.  His coworker's pride is diminished when he promptly rejects his offer to watch the game and asserts his dominance. No one wants their weakness to be publicly displayed.

Our giant friend also has the pleasure of riding off with a beautiful, scantily-clad woman on a lightning bolt, while the other man is left to look on in jealousy and confusion.  If you get Sunday Ticket, you too will be accompanied by a beautiful woman.  This woman doesn't talk, however; she is just seen as an object, a prize for the powerful fan.  This commercial further promotes the idea of male dominance.  It fits into the macho man persona of the NFL.  The woman is used to play on men's desire (lust) and pride, as though purchasing NFL Sunday Ticket will also fulfill everything you need as a man.

At the end, a voice over of Cris Collinsworth, one of the broadcasters on NBC Sunday Night Football and former NFL player, is played saying, "Become the world's most powerful fan.  Get NFL Sunday Ticket at no extra charge."  The idea of power is used as a way to enhance a man's pride.  The key to becoming all-powerful is just getting NFL Sunday Ticket.  It's quite simple really.

The intended audience is middle-class men in their thirties and forties, the average working-man. These men have to be making a decent amount of money, though because, as I know from personal experience, NFL Sunday Ticket is not included after the first year. These commercials are played on Sundays during football games, so it is specifically intended to target football fans.  The ad is targeting them by using pride to sell an ideal lifestyle.  It portrays a "manly man", something highly valued in our society.  Football is a huge part of American culture, especially for this audience, and any way to improve their fandom is likely to be highly revered.  The director uses this idea of "preserving your manhood" and becoming the "world's most powerful fan" in order to encourage people to purchase DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket.

Disclaimer: Though I have NFL Sunday Ticket and it is one of the greatest inventions of all time, I have yet to receive my lightning bolt.

Hypocrites, Idealists, or Both?

Lowood: where orphaned girls go to build their self-esteem by being considered heathens for having curly hair and having their isolation encouraged.  Because teenage girls have too darn much self-confidence, don't they?

"Such is the imperfect nature of man! such spots are there on the disc of the clearest planet; and eyes like Miss Scatcherd's can only see those minute defects, and are blind to the full brightness of the orb," (Bronte).

The teachers at Lowood, under the authority of Mr. Brocklehurst, focus so much on the imperfections of the students that they are blind to the value that each girl possesses. Bronte is trying to communicate that though cruel punishment for the eradication of imperfection may be justified by religion, it takes away the spirit of the individual.  There is so much emphasis placed on punishing mistakes (if you can consider having naturally curly hair a "mistake") that there is no room for the rewarding of good deeds or individual accomplishments.  

The Lowood teachers and Mr. Brocklehurst are striving to mold these girls into righteous, complacent, perfect followers of Christ; however, they go about this molding in a vicious manner. Bronte is commenting on the injustice of rules imposed in the name of Christianity and the hypocrisy that follows suit.  Mr. Brocklehurst embodies a characteristic typically associated with teenage girls. He is an adult, yet he calls for the isolation of Jane and publicly humiliates her.  Isn't that what we see in Mean Girls?  Mr. Brocklehurst imposes these measures to, "punish her body to save her soul: if, indeed, such salvation be possible" (Bronte).  Is standing on a stool and be deprived of food and human interaction really going to save her soul? Again, the passage focuses on the justification of cruel and humiliating punishment with Christianity.  

Bronte's most significant display of Lowood's hypocrisy comes when Mr. Brocklehurst's wife and daughters enter the room.  The girls were being scrutinized for having curly (first for conforming to society then for conforming to nature) or "extravagantly" braided hair.  One would think that Mr. Brocklehurst would have a family of Plain Janes, dressed modestly and donning simple hair styles, just as he expects of the girls at Lowood. Plot twist: his wife and daughters come strutting in with artificial curls and engulfed in silk, velvet, and furs.  If that's not situational irony I don't know what is.  Bronte uses this irony to showcase the contrast between standards religious practitioners impose on others and what they practice themselves.  

Bronte is also commenting on the difference in standards and expectations of conformity for different classes. The Brocklehursts are obviously wealthy, as demonstrated by their superfluous outfits, but the girls in Lowood have a significantly lower socioeconomic status.  Mr. Brocklehurst's wife and daughters are allowed to wear what they want, and their entrance is met with grace.  Mr. Brocklehurst imposes strict rules of dress on the girls at Lowood, and Julia Severn is condemned for the natural texture of her hair. Bronte's stark contrast between Brocklehurst's lecture about standards for the Lowood girls and those for his family exploit the hypocrisy of the time. 

Jane's isolation reveals how great of an influence the upper class has over the lower classes. Because she is an orphan, it is assumed that she is somehow at fault; therefore, she must be punished.  Moral values in the society are a result of Christianity and are taken to such an extent as to justify the isolation of a young girl for the sake of her soul.  Jane's alienation stands as a prime example of the society's assumption that cruel punishment is acceptable in the name of preserving moral values.

P.S. Helen Burns is my grandmother.