We judge people by many things when we first meeting them. We judge them on things like their appearance, the way the act, their age and gender, class and ethnicity.
Yesterday we were shown 3 different images and given time to judge them based on what we can see.
Image 1
The first image we were shown was of a man called Doug Bihlmaier. In the initial lesson I thought that he was a homeless man because he was unshaven and looked to stand out from the other people in the street. He is a male in his late 50s/60s. Although he came across as a homeless man he conducts himself well. He has good posture and his clothing is clean. We later discovered that he is a fairly wealthy man, working in Ralph Lauren as a shop dresser, collecting furnishings from across the world. The boots that he is wearing are worth $350, his shirt and cardigan fit perfectly and he has a scarf around his neck to keep him warm. His turn-ups are immaculate and his patched clothing is sown to perfection.
He was in fact American, living in New York City, where in this picture he is stood on the most famous street in the City, Madison Avenue. From first glance I knew he must have been in a busy city from what else is in the "mise en scene." (everything in the frame) There is a tall building in the background and a bus.
Bihlmaier has a unique style, he may not be fashionable but there is a distinct difference between being stylish and being fashionable. He is highly regarded in the fashion and clothing industry because of his status within the Ralph Lauren industry and the way he puts himself together.
Image 2
The second image we were given was this one of a Mr Ted Bundy, born in 1968. At first glance I thought Ted was some sort of lawyer or in another highly ranked profession due to the way he looks. He is wearing a smart/casual suit and is cleanly shaven and all in all well presented. I thought he would be aged between 28-35 in this picture but we later discovered he was in fact 42. As I started to unpick this picture I began to grow more and more suspicious of the way he looks. His expression is one of concern and he has his attention else where.
We later went on to learn that Ted Bundy was a serial killer. He confessed to the killing of 30 women and was executed in the Raiford electric chair at 7:16 on 24th January 1989. I am slightly embarrassed to say that when our teacher asked which was our favourite out of all the images I chose this one, goes to show looks can most definitely be deceiving!
Image 3
Finally, the last image we were given was of this lady. Her name is Anna Piaggi, a famous fashion journalist. My first impression of Anna was that she must have been some sort of designer, or if not, most definitely involved in the fashion world. I came to this conclusion purely on how she has presented herself. she is wearing the most extravagant clothing that not many people could pull off. I also concluded that she must have a lot of self confidence, or if not a good front to be able to pull off such an outfit and to not care if people like you and I judged her. I thought that she might have been Vivienne Westwood as she is renowned for wearing bright, clashing outfits like this. Anna is know for only wearing an outfit once. You would never see her in the same outfit twice, personally I have no idea how she does it! Because she is so involved in fashion she gets garments for free so can quite easily afford to mix and match her outfits. In this picture everything she has on is designer. She loves to look expensive and to be different and thats exactly what shes known for.
Representation has taught me that we can't judge people on our initial feelings, we can't judge someone just for what they look, or how they act or where they come from. It's also taught me that wherever we are we are constantly getting stereotyped just for how we come across to people. Society has done this to us and the media has a massive role to play in it. The media is constantly bringing people into the lime light if they have done something "out of the norm" or wearing something that isn't within "their style." Day after day everyone is judged in some way or another in an attempt to categorize themselves, whether it is for what they wear, or how they conduct themselves or whether they are relatable or not. The media constantly puts pressure on all of us to follow a certain trend or to like or dislike certain people. The media has such a big impact on the decisions we make day in, day out. They influence us on what we wear, and what music we should listen to and what it thinks is "the norm." Most of the influences the media put us under we don't realise because we are used to reading articles on someone being scrutinized for wearing an outfit thats "too reveling" or "ugly."
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