Appropriated images are all around us and can lead viewers to better understand how times have changed, just like the duck face Mona Lisa image. I came across this image of Ronald McDonald photo shopped into the same statue of Michelangelo’s “David” statue from 1504. The original seventeen foot high marble statue commands attention as it is so large and tall yet he is positioned there so simple as if we were just gazing up at him naturally in his own space. When I looked at this image of the “David” statue, I got a sense that he is an iconic man that resembles power and attention from viewers simply by his presence. In the case of the Ronald McDonald image, I got this same sense as well. We see what was once the statue of “David” transformed into Ronald McDonald in full McDonald attire, boots, and even holding a burger in his hand. This image also holds these same senses of an iconic man with power and calling for attention. Although Ronald McDonald is not reaching out to the viewer or doing anything in specific to get attention, the positioning and colors call our attention to look at him. Ronald McDonald has a lot of associations to being an iconic man that pretty much everyone knows and we definitely do not need to question where the color scheme or anything about him. The “David” statue was and still is seen as an important sculpture in that era but by appropriating this, viewers can understand how McDonalds is a large factor of today’s society in the fast food industry and everyone can recognize and understand this photo in the same way that people viewed the “David” sculpture back in 1504. Taking this old and massive statue and creating an image portraying the statue as Ronald McDonald goes to show that just about anything can be appropriated and can be understood to numerous people.
I found this picture on the Medical Research Council website (http://www.insight.mrc.ac.uk/2013/01/10/behind-the-picture-the-humble-beginnings-of-mri/) which features various information about medical research and highlights different timelines of research and products. This photo is from 1980 according to the website when this group of men, including Sir Peter Mansfield and his colleagues using the first full body MRI. We can understand that this is an important moment because before researchers were only able to get MRIs of certain body parts done, but never at a full scale. It shows the importance of continuing to develop, learn, and build new machinery and tools to help further the knowledge of learning about the body and how to go about finding the exact location of an injury/problem. We can understand that through their smiling faces that this was a huge advancement in the world of MRIs and gave way to learning more about treatment. For the most part they are dressed fairly nice as well which leads the viewer to understand again that this was an important day and moment in scientific history. As of today the MRI machines are much bigger and found in just about every hospital and even some doctors offices and are a huge aspect of detecting problems in the body. This photo goes to show where it all came from and from the faces of the men, we can understand that this was a step in the right direction and other technologies such as FMRI, CT, PET were next, showing how important the development of the full body MRI was at motivating and continuing scientific research.
As I was looking for an image using cultural appropriation, I stumbled across an up to date Mona Lisa on a blog site called Thinking Visually. I think this picture is a great example of this concept and really shows how times have changed. The original Mona Lisa which was completed in 1517 shows an elegant woman with a subtle smirk and a landscape background. This painting is so historical and recognizable to just about everyone and is still one of the most important pieces of art made by Leonardo da Vinci. It was relevant to that time frame due to the simplicity of the woman being shown with small background details; as her presence is the focal point and all of the history associated with the painting. But in this picture, we can relate to this even more as she is holding an iPhone with the infamous “duck face” taking a selfie. Also, her nails are painted, she is wearing a ring, and we see an even more up close look compared to the original Mona Lisa. From this image we understand that times have drastically changed with development of cell phones, more specifically the iPhone. Her nails being painted and ring contrast the original Mona Lisa as she is featured with a less is more, simple presences while the image here shows a more flashy appearance in subtle ways. This allows today’s viewers to get a laugh out of this piece as we can relate to this items displayed while still understanding where the original piece came from. Again, this picture takes a historical painting and turns it into a modern, up to date image to show how times have changed.
For this first blog, I used the links provided which lead me to the New York Times blog on photography. I was scrolling through and found the picture here: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/where-the-ice-and-the-population-is-thinning/ . For some reason it wouldn’t let me save it, sorry!
When I first looked at the picture, it reminded me of the George Washington picture we looked at in class; someone in the water who looks of importance and trying to accomplish something. It also looks freezing there as there as the man is standing on ice, even though there is not much other ice surrounding him; just dark clouds and snowed over mountains. I wondered how he was able to reach that small ice burg and his posture and stick he is holding comes across as if it is significant that he is on top of the only small piece of ice in the main piece of the picture. The title of the photograph on the site is “Where the Ice, and the Population, is Thinning.” I continued to read the few paragraphs underneath only to find out that this is a 64 year old man who is standing on an ice floe in northern Greenland. It mentions that the photographs are impressive but “not nearly as captivating to him as the people whose daily routines have been affected by rising temperatures and tides”…“Climate change is merely in the background”. After reading this, I realized that although this is a great photograph with great images, the underlying message or real photograph is making us realize that there are only one or two pieces of ice out there because of global warming. It isn’t about the man in the picture, rather all the people who have to deal with these drastic changes. I think this picture emphasizes that we really need to look beyond the picture to understand the full meaning and take in all the clues the picture presents.