Semiotics(symbolism) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Semiotics(symbolism) - Essay Example David stood up to the Philistine giant, Goliath, as Cuba stood up to the imperialist giant, America. The girl with the wooden doll is a symbol of proletariat simplicity and innocence (supporting the David metaphor), standing up to all that threatens and embracing the seed of the future. African dance and the Beatles were seen as potential distractions from revolutionary focus, just as they are seen by various religious groups today as sinful distractions from Christian focus. The absolute present of the material images that engulfed Edmundo, separating him from the hustle and bustle of New York City, might suggest the way a church acts as sanctuary and a place set apart, an embassy of God and spiritual presence. His reference to patriotic hymns and his repeated use of the term redemption also support this. To see the dream and the nightmare is to encounter Kali (creation and destruction), or the Father and the Son (wrathful vengeance and sacrificial love). Haydee and Celia, political leaders in the struggle against Batista, were not in the exhibit, solidifying this revolution as a patriarchal religion. ... I therefore see a patriarchal religious system unifying the various metaphors used. Edmundo: Photo Changes Photos are not static, if you know how to look at them. They change with time because images are like zucchini, taking on the flavor of what surrounds them. Photographs sustain relativity to socio-historical climate, culture, current events, observer perspective and attitude. As an example, consider a photograph by Ansel Adams, Moon and Half Dome, taken in Yosemite National Park, 1958. Until quite recently, anyone who looks at this photograph would see the majesty and timeless, natural beauty of Yosemite. The moon joins the powerful mountain to the heavens, emphasizing the verticality of Half Dome, The black and white medium, and juxtaposition of shadow and light, speaks of nature’s exquisite simplicity and honesty. That perspective of this photograph has probably been a typical one until this year, when this very mountain claimed the life of a hiker. The media described the horror of witnesses, who had to be airlifted out because they were too traumatized to hike back down themselves. The media has continued to report on more than a dozen deaths in Yosemite, this year. Now, when I look at this photo, I see malevolence, the interplay of life and death, the danger of nature, and the coldness of the moon. My childhood hiking memories are now threatened by a nagging suspicion of parental negligence. What was lovely and quietly evocative has become haunted and threatening, â€Å"Context of viewing is meaning (Desnoes).† Edmundo: Photograph as Metaphor A photograph may look, to some, like a static recording of a single fragment of life, bounded by subject, immediate context, background, and single mark upon linear time, In truth,