I’m going to start out with saying that I really enjoyed Nakaura and this book. So, the optics of race or more importantly gender roles and racial theory’s were best describe, in my opinion, in Nakamuras Ipod example.
From what we talked about in class and in the fish bowl I gained a general senses that most people think of the colors of an IPod as just colors. What Nakumaru was trying to get across, was that Apple has thrown the most obioves race filled marketing plan and have capitalized. In the reading Eric Sross , a technology journalist, gives credit to apple by saying Apples mastery of the “metaphysical mystery of cool” with its success as “the company that best knows how to meld hardware and software, the company embodied in the ecstatically happy hipster silhouette. The company that is, in a word, cool.” In my opinion it seems that Apple has always been a company who care about their appearance. By this I mean their products. They stand out because they are white but when there black they become cool. How did we draw this distinction of thought, that being, white is neutral and black is edge? Well over time our community as formed our opinions for us. What Apple does is very unique and specific by introducing the black man in a different light. Not so much the black, edge, leather wearing guy but the normal dancing iPod enthusiast. Nakamura mentions “Their strategy for creating “cool” brand identity by promoting an Afro-futuristic visual culture in the ads serves to separate blackness from other identities …” It’s changing our perceptions of what we are used to.
When people do achieves this “coolness” people often capitalize on them. The 2005 “iPod Ghraib” art installation by Trent Kelly critiqued our visual culture and political economy that Apple is flourishing in. In these pieces Kelly was making a statement that something that my look seemingly clear from a distance, when viewed closer, breaks apart into something else. The way in which the paintings are portrayed from a distance look fun, fresh and iPod but inside that is the horrible realism of war crimes. We see this alot with the coined term “Brandalsim” and gorilla artist.
See kellys sight is amazing!
CAPT. Jimmy Dangle
I wonder if people are really that smart? I know Apple can dominate markets. They also have some of the brightest designers, marketers and astheticticians around. But did someone say, hey, "this can be a race thing" or if it's obvious to us, why couldn't the company that is Apple, see this race card being played?
ReplyDeleteI have evaluated your posts and comments (where applicable) for assignments #5 & #6. Before Tuesday 2/23 I will have written summary comments about the assignments and posted them on the course blog.
ReplyDeleteI always saw the black as the void unto which we projected ourselves, not necessarily our inner Afro-centric dancer. Not because black was "cool," but because black itself is devoid of value, thus being the ultimate in blank canvas for marketers to use to try to pull us in.
ReplyDeleteBlack is a cheap gimmick! But it's still so slimming, I can't help but love it.