By blogging every week I have also been constantly on the look out for images that may be useful for these assignments. I have caught myself numerous amounts of times looking at images and advertisements and thinking about the many meanings that can be pulled from them. I also find myself analyzing an image and trying to figure out what type of thought went into the image or advertisement while it was being created.
Overall, throughout my blogging and this course in general my attention to detail has increased dramatically. I have taken many advertising and MIT classes in which we analyzed images but this course has allowed me to analyze images in a more detailed way and has over all given me a greater understanding of the argument that is being conveyed by a particular image or advertisement.
The image above was found on the cover of the UWO Gazette for the annual sex issue published in February. This issue of the Gazette is always a huge hit throughout the UWO student body as it is filled with funny articles, facts and opinion pieces that are not typically found within a student newspaper. The reason I loved this image so much was because it depicted a homosexual relationship opposed to the traditional heterosexual relationship that would usually be portrayed in the sex issue. I think that the fact that the Gazette felt comfortable enough to place this image on its cover is truly representative of how accepting the culture is here at Western. This image could also have been placed on the cover in order to shock people as it is most likely not the image they were expecting to see when they picked up the sex issue but this in itself is a way to challenge the Gazette audience into thinking about why this image is considered shocking in the first place.
I found that this image related to my time within the blogosphere because the place in which the image was found was why I found the image to be intriguing. Had I found this image within Cosmopolitan, GQ or even a blog I probably would not have thought twice about it, because to me, a relationship such as this one is something I am perfectly comfortable with. The fact that I found it interesting on the Gazette however made me realize that the Gazette was trying to convey an argument by placing this image on the cover. I suppose I was more so interested in the reaction of others to the argument that the visual rhetoric was composing than my own personal reaction.
Finally, I truly believe that my thought process about this cover page would not have been so complex had it not been for my experience within these blogs and my exposure to the many perspectives that one can take on an image and its context.
