The Death of the Author by Roland Barthes

The Death of the Author by Roland B cheathesIn this test I am going to write about Roland Barthes concept of The Death of the Author and how it applies to course of action and smack in the resolve of Tracey Emin. The reason why I am investigating this is that I want to show how diametric mannikines views influence differently. my theory is that if your brought up in a similar kind to slightly wiz else whence your views on art work will be similar. the essay is divided into 3 scratch. component 1 I will be talking about the Roland Barthes concept of The Death of the Author which is an essay on who holds the importee of any schoolbook edition/ fine art is it the author or the lecturer, he says as soon as the author present their work the significance behind the creation dies, so the new meaning lies behind the reader, I will similarly be explain what Michel Foucault theory is which is contrasting to Barthes theory, I will be using Martin Parr mainly computeing at hi s series for Last apply 1983-85.Section 2 I will be describing what cat egotismry and taste is, I will also be introducing fine perspectives such as Marxism and Feminism. Introducing some key theorist including Pierre Bourdieu and Antonio Gramsci. I will be using Grayson Perrys Tapestries for the series the narcism of sm altogether differences 2009 that he created that explores class and taste.Section 3 will be my main case study and I will be discussing Tracey Emins work in calls of class and taste and how Barthes theory applies to her work. This framework shouldnt be biased on Marxist view or a feminist thrust view beca phthisis I am looking at what population think of Emins work what class and taste does it have and what she has. Also to shoot the breeze whether The Death of the Author applies to her work. Does she hold the meaning or does the viewer.In this section I am going to be exploring the work of Roland Barthes. Barthes was born in 1915 and died in 1980, he was a French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic and semiotician. Barthe wrote an influential essay called The Death of the Author. This essay was scratch line published in a French journal in 1968. It was then re-published in 1977 in an anthology of Barthes essays called shape-music-text. The Death of the Author is create verbally in a semiotic framework. A British visual semioticians called Daniel Chandler defines semiotics as is the study of signs (chandler,1994). Semiotics and signs are split into 2 which are word form and the signified, a signifier the form which the sign squanders and a signified the concept it represents. In this essay that I am writing about Barthes argues against the method of reading, zip reads the description about picture first they are intrigued and corroborate lost in the picture itself, he says that the reader has full require on what the circumstance is all about, leaving their testify mark on the meaning of a particular ar twainr k for an example the Piss Christ created by Andres Serrano photographed in 1989 (see simulacrum 1) his intentions with this image was to show how we all use this motif as a fashion accessory which people are not horrified by it all, totally if what it represents is the crucifixion of a man that will hold meaning forever not just to religious people, it has become well contendn. It caused controversy for more than dickens decades by art critics and religion, Christians found the art work really offensive, this art work was severely damaged in several places it has been exhibited. Art critic Jesse Helms had only one view on Piss Christ even after reading the synopsis serrano is not an artist. He is a Jerk (Brooks, 2014). I dissent with Helms view due to what his intentions where.This essay addresses the lack of power of the authors in reading and analysing text/ artwork, this shows that reader or viewer ignores the authors and work background and focus on the work itself. When critically analysing a writing/ art work Barthes says the author, his soul, his life, his tastes, his passions (Barthes P.383) what I think Barthes is hard to say is that when we analyze work whatever the outcome whether its achievement or failure the author is forced to take full responsibility of the work they present, its his work. Serrano had intentions to present the work tho he wanted it to show that we use the Christ as a fashion accessory but in fact this work was failure to present his idea to the world but he did succeed as this work managed to cause controversy to all(prenominal)one.In The Death of the Author Barthes discusses the text itself appearing as copied from new(prenominal) works. The intention of the text could be misleading due to the translation from the author to text then to the reader this is due to the subjectivity of the reader, different levels of commandment would read this text differently and get their own interpretation of the text.This point ultimately leads to Barthes main point the reader holds more responsibility to the text than the author. The difficulty of different connotations and experiences that come from the author into the text are compressed and flattened when it arrives to the reader. The reader comes empty handed and is completely self-engaged with the image presented. It is as if a sculpture, a three dimensional work, is photographed, reduced to two dimensions. So much information is condensed and do out-of-the-way to the viewer. Barthes makes the point that the origin of a work may lie with the author, but its destination is with the reader. message that the accredited meaning lies with the author and some of that is noticed but the real notice is but the reader. I recall this as you never read the text to see what its about, you read the picture get your own connotations from it and then read the text if you mass be bo in that respectd to do so. Barthes puts a point across of the induce of the r eader must be at the cost of The Death of the Author. (Barthes cited in Dayton, 1998, P.386). I believe that the reader holds the majority of the meaning but the author holds some meaning, especially if the author has a description of the image next to it, which the reader can then read to find out the background of the image can could give a different perspective on the work that could be what the author is trying to do or lead to a completely different to what the reader and the author is portraying.Barthes goes on to say a text consists of multiple writings, issuing from several finales and entering into dialogue with severally other .. But there is one place where this multiplicity is collected, united, and this place is not the author, as we have hitherto said it was, but the reader (Barthes 1968 P.6) I believe what he is trying to say here is that when people say a picture holds a thousand words doesnt mean a thousand words in a culture but each culture places their words of meaning into an image, these words are then collated with each other to bring a final meaning to a picture. So Barthes is saying Millions of minds on the job(p) together is better than one mind coming up with the meaning behind an+ image. Even if the meaning has a particular voyage to get there.Barthes states that the author is only a way through which a taradiddle is told. They have already been done by the journey of the particular image. But still the meaning behind an image still lays on the reader(s). if the reader was to view the work through the eye of the author then they will not gain any benefit from viewing an image. Barthes is saying that when we view an image without a text we right away can relate to the image in a certain way, if they dont then they are only stuck with the authors thoughts and intentions, which will not go far for the author. I think this is true because the author likes to k straightway what the readers think of their work they are interested i n the positives but most interested in the negatives, due to their personal experience that the image has recreated. (Atchison, 2016)It appears that when Barthes says the birth of the reader must come at the cost of The Death of the Author, it would help the reader to interpretation and understand the image if they were some to non-connection between the author and the image. I believe that the author will never be completely dead. The thought process and the process of the image has some meaning to the image. Barthes said that the author should get incomplete praise for a sober book not blamed for a bad one this is insinuating that the authors need labels, I believe that readers are responsible for the act presence of the author. As well as the authors own interests in being involved. The author is stuck between death and alive the author cant control what the viewing audience see of their work neither does he have a massive say on what they mean. For an example Martin Parrs wo rk who I will introduce that in the essay, when we view his work we immediately know its him due to his artistic approach so we know immediately know what the work would be about, so the meaning holds with the author, whereas Tracey Emin who also will be introduced later in the essay, her work was viewed differently due to her fame, she wasnt known as much, her work was seen the opposite to what her intentions where. Only now as she became famous and more well-known her work is now seen as how she wanted it to be seen.Nevertheless, in comparison to what Barthes is saying which is the meaning of an image the Great Compromiser on the reader, Michel Foucault was mentioned in the book Practises of Looking. He says yes the viewer does make meaning but there is a place for the author input/ style. This is called the author function. He identifies multiple functions of the author of 3 ways which are author as a legal construction so we rely on author right of first publication and charge on plagiarism, author as literary construction so we they build a story to go with the image and author as a unifying construction, this function shows our belief that authors are internally steady. (Kelley, 2011)We can see this theory in the work of Martin Parr mostly in his series of Last Resort, 1985. (see chassis 2,3 and 4) A little description about this series by Parr, they were taken 1983 to 1985, which was a period of economic decline in northwest England. Parr picked a seaboard resort that has passed its attractions designed to appeal to an economically depressed working class. Which are overcrowded beaches, video arcades, beauty competitions, chip chops and tea rooms. The series was exhibited at the serpentine verandah in capital of the United Kingdom. Published as a book in 1986 and this set Parrs reputation as a photographer. Parr contrasts the traditional approach to documentary photography, he shows the working class seeking cheap thrills for pleasure. The typical d ocumentary photographer photographs brits sought to worship the working class. In the 1980s The Last Resort was seen to be incriminate as to show what the economic policies of the conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher (Prime Minister 1979-90). Parr was showing that Britain wasnt great due to thatcher, I was showing that it wasnt as adept as she was telling us it was. We see a great division of meaning in his work, the north understood what Parr was trying to get across but the south sees his work as unartistic.Some critics understood Parrs illustration of what the economic lacked. Val William has read the image with a less politician approach, in her views, the last resort typifies Parrs keen eye for the strange. She commented theres no sarcasm in Parrs gaze, just interest, excitement and a real sense of the comedic (Williams, 2002 p.161). Parr himself has claimed, Im less interested in the fact that these people arent well off financially as in the fact that they have to deal with screaming kids, like anyone has to Im also interested in making the photographs work on another level, showing how British society is decaying how this once great society is falling apart (Williams, 2002, p.160). I agree with Williams on what she is saying, Parr take images as it is with his same technique that he uses. They are no real approach to his work. Also what I think he is trying to portray what us as brits have to deal with when we are the working the class, we dont have much money for a luxury holiday or to even live, the working class has to take the cheap route to be thrilled.In the DVD (the world according to Parr) David Hurn who is an English documentary photographer and member of the magnum photos, born in 1934, he stated he has managed to encapsulate the vulgarity of this period. What he is trying to say is that Parr encloses quality of being sophisticated at the period of time he was photographing. But other members of the magnum photos group they co n positioningred to be Thatcherite, portraying working class as scruffy, unintelligent but he rapidly became a top earner. Which is what my original view of Parrs work was like until I read into why he was photographing. In the same source Val williamson who was his biographer and curator she refers to him as a traditional documentary photographer, although I discord as traditional documentary photographers in the era he was photographing are mostly in black and white or de staring(a) images. Parrs images are very saturated which is completely different to what everyone else was doing around the same time as he the series of images that he was doing. But if you look at Parr image you know immediately it was created by him use to his aesthetics, of saturated colours, the randomness of what he is photographing and the quality of his images.In contrast critic Colin Jacobson comments that Parr is wacky colour photography attractive to magazine editors (DVD) he also describes Parr as a gratuitously cruel social critic who has made large amounts of money by sneering at the foibles and pretensions of other people.. (Bishop 2005) he also mentions that He uses the same tools as forensic and medical photographers a macro lens coupled with a ring-flash and photographs his subjects methodically. (Jesse Alexander, 2008). Now I agree with what Jacobson is saying his technique is the same with no take what the subject matter is and he isnt just exploring new ways to photograph but what I have explained forward this is his way of photographing, and due to this we can identify his images and we know what his work is all about, so really the theory of Death of the author is not true as we know what his intentions are due to his technique. I agree with his wacky colours, I think around the time he was photographing this is a new technique and it was different to what everyone else was doing thats why I think he was attracted to magazine companies. Kathryn Mussallem states s imilar to Jacobson, the use of a ring flash saturates the colours to an extreme making cheap squat look even cheaper and crappier. Now this is similar but this is more a negative answer compared to Jacobson. I do think when he photographs he, makes crap things look crappier, but thats my opinion even after knowing why he photographs like this I still think the same, nothing is as saturated as that. She also mentioned The entire world is now caught in the saturated embrace of global consumerism. This is referring to his technique and his style.In this section I will be delineate class and taste, some key words that needs to be addressed and I will also be looking into the work of Grayson Perry though class and taste perspective. a Marxist would say group of people sharing common relations to labour and the means of production about what class is all about, but in the encyclopaedia Britannica says social class, (also called class) is a group of people within a society who possess th e same socioeconomic status (Encyclopaedia Britannica). This exactly what I believe class is all about, I see they are different class in society that hold powers and certain assets to family and to their country. Which are very similar they both mean a group of people in a particular society that share similar statuses or power.David Hume a philosopher in the seventeen hundred he says taste refined ability to perceive quality in an artwork he thinks that taste is developed by education and experience (freeland, 2001, p6), whereas another philosopher Immanuel Kant from mid seventeen hundred to early eighteen hundreds says that taste directly linked to beauty which is inherent in the work itself. So taste does not serve basic human need. (Freeland, 2001, p6).Pierre Bourdieu thinks that taste is largely determined and controlled by the dominant, ruling class. In the author of practises of looking in the burnish tastes is shared artistic and ethnical values of a particular social commu nity or individual taste is informed by experiences relating to ones class, cultural background, education, and other aspects of identity. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2001) I think taste is rarify to preference but I understand what these three are saying taste is down to what class a certain individual is in. gamey uper class doesnt mean you have good taste neither does the opposite, but taste is defiantly found in how amend and well discipline you are. This is also referred to habitus which is the idea that our taste is connected and results from our social class or education. Our taste identifies our social class.They are high culture which is referred to one which only an elite can appreciate such as classical art, music, literature, ballet, opera. Lower culture seen as commercially produced and is accessible to debase classes. I personally think these doesnt determine what class or taste you come under due to lower class can like high culture, I can also say that high class w ill like lower cultured stuff. Again this is determined by how well educated you are. (Sturken and Cartwright, 2001)From the book Practises of Looking they are some key Marxist terms and theoretical areas that link to class and taste that I think are inevitable to express, these are Ideology, this is the system of ideas of the ruling class, which is the ruling class controls the lower class, for Althusser it was a lifeless process through which people accepted their place in society. I think this mean no matter what society youre from the people accepted this. The lower class accept that the ruling class can rule control them. They are also hegemony, this is Gramscis development of ideology, the dominant ideologies changes and challenges values and ideas of the less dominant class.The artist that I am going to write about for class and taste is Grayson Perry. The main focus art work(s) that I am focusing on are his 6 tapestries that he created based on class and taste, these are ca lled the vanity of small differences. Perry was born in 1960s, his childhood has been a massive influence on his life, his teenager years he discovered he has an alter ego called Claire. In 2003 he won the food turner prize. He is most famous for his large scaled pottery and extraordinary detail about transvestite potter. He is also a BAFTA-winning documentary maker author social commentator curator and a lecturer.His tapestries are inspired by William Hogarths moral tale, who is an 18th ascorbic acid painter, Perrys tapestries follow the life of a fictional character called Tim Rakewell, as he develops from beginning through his teenage and middle years, to his untimely death in a car accident. The tapestries are rich in both content and colour and they show many weirdness and uniqueness that is associated with life in the UK. The composition of each tapestry also remembrances early Renaissance religious painting which draws us in to an art history. (Council, 2016)Perrys work is c onsidered to be Kitsch due to his high saturation on his garments. Kitsch is delineate as a German word for trash, and is used in English to describe particularly cheap, vulgar and sentimental forms of popular and commercial culture (tate, 2016).In this section I am going to talk about Tracey Emin and how different people in different classes view and read her work. I shall first talk about her. Tracey Emin was born in 1963 July, and she is an English artist known for her Narrative and confessional artwork. Her artwork is to challenge the subject matter and portrays a taboo. She also challenges feminism (explained later in the essay), the manful gaze, class and taste. She challenges the working class root and everyday She produces work in different media such as drawings, sculpture, film, photography, neon text and sewn applique. She was once a member of the Young British Artists in the 1980s but now she is a Royal Academician of the royal academy of Arts. Critics say that she r elies on tactics that shock rather than the actual talent.The main work I am going to focus on is Emins work My line (1998) (see figure ) and everyone I have ever slept with (see figure ) which are both representation alternative ways of viewing the bod., It shocked the nation when my do it was shortlisted for the 1999 turner prize. Women are usually idealized cleansed and sanitized compared to men, this sort of work is expected to be done by male therefore maybe this is why the my bed was a dramatic and disgusting piece of artwork to some society. Emin applies certain feminist ideas that presents the invisible nude, she offers symbolic gestures that indicate evidence of the system rather than the body itself. My bottom is the site of trauma and disgust, and with all the other dirt left intact. Her work is a self-expressionist piece that shows her personal trauma she claims that she produced is based on a mental breakdown that she had for 4 days, she quotedI had a kind of mini n ervous breakdown didnt get out of bed for four days made my way back to my bedroom, and as I did I looked at my bedroom and thought, OH, my God. What if Id died and they found me here? (Christies, 2014, P.2) I can believe that she had a break down but I dont believe that she stayed in bed for four days.One thing I have noticed with Tracey Emins work is that she expresses an unusual side of feminism. The term feminism comes from 3 different waves of feminism overall feminism is the suffegettes back in the 60s. Second wave feminism, refers mostly to the radical feminism of the womens liberation movement in the late 60s and early 70s. threesome wave feminism is basically girls being girlier and be seen as strong, capable and confident social representatives, The Third shiver is sustained by the confidence of having more opportunities and less sexism this approach can be seen for all genders that power and taking control in situations are good third wave feminism people (Krolkke, 2005 ).Tracey Emins exclusive subject matter is her own life. At first it appears that My Bed, symbolises Emins feminist engagement, yet equally she challenges it. We are presented with the artists own bed, her most personal space, its her own bed yet it is covered in clutter, couple of suitcases behind the bed the duvet is messed up and ruffled up, it is also litter with Emins personal possessions, such as bloody underwear, urine-stained sheets and worn underwear, used condoms, dirty clothes, a partially used tube of KY Jelly, empty bottles of alcohol, arses, and an over flowing cigarette tray. This to me shows her insecurity and imperfection.Some experiences revolve around the bed birth (ideally to some women own bed/ hospital bed), sleep, dreams, sex, illness and death (in some cases), (Kent, 1994, p54). Women are controlled and defined by the bedroom through marriage and sex due to society, the bed suggests sexual convenience but also limited. Emin further explores this in Everyone I puddle Ever Slept With (see fig ), we see names of everyone she has ever slept with in her bed, the more noticeable names are men, but then when you look deeper we see names such as her grandparents which are now showing everyone that has been in her bed with her, maybe for comfort. I think Emin tries to show that we shouldnt judge a book by its cover concept. Throughout her oeuvre she shows serious feminist questions about womens sexual responsibility and draws attention to late 20th century societys double standard. (Doyle, 2006, p.98). Emins subject matter is herself and her personal experiences, her style is more personal and reflects universal concernsEmins work are alternative and the unusual route towards feminism. Her work is disagreeing with the stereotyped Feminity from history. It is also contrasting the male Gaze. The Male Gaze was introduced by Laura Mulvey in 1975 who was a film feminist critic, it is about how visual art and literature show the world and women fr om a mannish point of view, women are objectified for male pleasure. The male gaze is the ideal woman to men for sexual pleasure. The male Gaze was created for advertising purposes, firstly gaze is a concept used for analysing visual culture that deals with how an audience views the people presented the types of gaze are mostly branded by who is doing the looking, which is the audience. Women in the advertisement becomes whats being bought and sold. Meaning buy this product and you will either get the girl or become the girl, so for Emin my bed shows a contrast of women but showing the verity about what women are truly like. The male gaze presents women as clean and tidy, but Emin is showing them as untidy and dirty as to what every person is like.Emin has had many critical views of her work my bed and everyone I have ever slept with. My bed has received criticism that it is self- indulgent or not real art. Some art critics describe Emin and her work as self-degrading, exhibitioni st and even self-flagellating. A paper critic, Richard Dorment calls Emin a phoney. He wrote What interests me about Emin is not her relentless self-absorption, boundless self-pit or compulsion to confess the sad details of her past life, but that all of this adds up to so little of real interest. (Dorment, 2016) what I think he is trying to say is that she is a lazy artist that she thought anything was art and she covered this up with a life story that is traumatic. Linking this back to section one and my opinion, I think if we didnt know the history behind creation of this installation we wouldnt feel the same with what the outcome was knowing why she created these art pieces.On different note the Saatchi gallery, the gallery that owns this work, and Saatchi writes that Emin work is A consummate storyteller, Tracey Emin engages the viewer with her candid exploration of universal emotions (gallery, 2016) he is saying that she is an excellent story teller she engages every viewer w ith her honest study of general passions. Even in all classes they all have their own thoughts on it, even if its a positive or negative.Journalist and author of dangerous women Liz Hoggard says that my bed had the most powerful effect on my life. For women of my generation, it broke so many taboos about the body, sexuality, shame maybe this was the contract of anti-male gaze, I think Emin had a massive influence on female society but not so much on the male (Hoggard, 2015). also Jonathan Jones says Emin wasnt really doing anything new. I understand what he is trying to get across due to Robert Rauschenberg put his own bed into a museum in 1955 (see fig ) he also says she rubs our noses in reality, in a way that subverts all our illusions, fantasies, snobberies and repressions, those barriers we put up between us and death. So we see a two side of Jones he is saying that she isnt doing art as we have already seen it before but also saying that its new art that pulls the reader into reality of living. claver this critical analysis of Emins work is what Foucault is saying, if Emin didnt give detail on what my bed is about he would just think that its already been done, but because they is a story behind my bed he is agreeing with the author function.Barthes, Roland. The Death of the Author. Art and Interpretation An Anthology of Readings in Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art. Ed. Eric Dayton. Peterborough, Ont. Broadview, 1998. 383-386. Print. platterChandler, D. (1994). Semiotics for Beginners by Daniel Chandler. online Visual-memory.co.uk. Available at http//visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/S4B/ Accessed 15 Nov. 2016. websiteKelley, J. (2011). What does Foucault mean by the author-function in his essay What Is an Author ? eNotes. online eNotes. Available at http//www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-does-foucault-mean-by-author-function-his-248608 Accessed 15 Nov. 2016. websiteImagine, The World According to Parr, 2235 03/12/2003, BBC1 London, 50 mins. https//learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/004B986D (Accessed 21 Nov 2016) videoWilliams, V. (2002). Martin Parr. 1st ed. London Phaidon. BookChristies, (2014). TRACEY EMINS MY BED ON THE MARKET FOR THE FIRST TIME YBA ICON SOLD TO BENEFIT THE SAATCHI GALLERYS FOUNDATION. 1st ed. ebook London Press Release, p.2. Available at http//www.christies.com/presscenter/pdf/2014/RELEASE_TRACEY_EMINS_MY_BED.pdf Accessed 21st Nov 2016. WebsiteKrolkke, C. and Srensen, A. (2005). Gender communication theories analyses. Thousand Oaks, CA Sage Publications. BookKent, S. (1994). Shark infested waters. 1st ed. London Zwemmer. BookMerck, Mandy and Townsend, Chris, The Art of Tracey Emin, (London Thames and Hudson, 2002) bookDoyle, J. (2006). Sex objects. 1st ed. Minneapolis University of Minnesota Press. BookImagine The World According to Parr. BBC1 3rd December 2003 videoDawber, S (2004) Martin Parrs Suburban Vision. Third Text. Vol18, Issue 3. p251-262. PapersBishop,B (2005) Martin Parrs true colors. Online http//www.parisvoice.com/photography/35-martin-parrs-true-colors assessed 21 Nov 2016Jesse Alexander, 2008 online http//www.jessealexander.co.uk/pages/writing/2008_6_parrworld.pdf assessed 21 Nov 2016Dorment, R. (2016). Is it art?. online Telegraph.co.uk. Available at http//www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturepicturegalleries/8216563/Is-it-art.html?image=8 Accessed 21 Nov. 2016. OnlineGallery, S. (2016). Tracey Emin My Bed Contemporary Art. online Saatchigallery.com. Available at https//www.saatchigallery.com/artists/artpages/tracey_emin_my_bed.htm Accessed 21 Nov. 2016.Council, B. (2016). Grayson Perry The Vanity of Small Differences Touring Exhibitions British Council Visual Arts. online Visualarts.britishcouncil.org. Available at http//visualarts.britishcouncil.org/exhibitions/touring/grayson-perry-the-vanity-of-small-differences Accessed 25 Nov. 2016.Tate.org.uk. (2016). Kitsch. online Available at http//www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/k/ kitsch Accessed 28 Dec. 2016. innovation 1 Serrano, A. (1987). Immersion (Piss Christ). image Available at https//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piss_Christ Accessed 30 Dec. 2016.Figure 2Figure 3Figure 4Figure 5Figure 6Figure 7Figure 8Figure 9Figure 10Figure 11Figure 12