Article Response

Q. Do the written descriptions of the physical subjects actually "show" them to you? Or do you need visual images? If those descriptions fail? how do they fail? If they "work", how so?


A. The article on Lady Gaga did a lot of detailed describing, almost too much. As the descriptions went on they got more confusing. However I did manage to visualize the hat that she wore on Ellen, and the dress that she wore on Gossip Girl from the descriptions. The images obviously enhanced how I thought about the images, but I did not think they were completely necessary for this article. When Kwun was explaining Lady Gaga's hat on Ellen, she explained it well in the first sentence when she explained the color and the size. As she continued to describe it, she began to contradict herself, which caused confusion. The description of Lady Gaga's red dress was very well explained, except for when she said she had a 30 foot long sequence train. When I looked up the dress, the body of the dress was sequence but not the train. In Walkers article "Package It Black", I found that the descriptions were not enough for me. I need the visual aid of the pictures. I was able to visualize the Malboros in black packaging rather than red, however the other packaging was not clear to me until I saw the images.


Q. What concepts do the authors point as being "behind" these subjects? Do the authors effectively prove their points about these concepts? How so? 


A. Kwan does prove her point that Lady Gaga is architectural. All of her costumes , which create her image are an architectural piece of art. All of this contributes to her "mass consumption" by fans and the media. Walker makes the point that although the design seems like it should be hindering people from smoking, its in fact increasing it. People like the new design and "black" to them does not mean bad, its something new and interesting that many people want.