The Critical Eye

I really enjoyed reading The Critical Eye. I especially liked the fact that it didn't assume the reader had any background on the subject. I'll admit, at times I wish it did assume. There were times when I didn't think three paragraphs were really necessary to explain a close-up.

Some areas that were of specific interest to me: how quickly media can influence society, and the effect that camara angles can have on viewers.

In the first chapter of the book, the authors write how only 38 months after the people of Fiji are introduced to American television programs, 74% of the teenage girls said they were too fat, 62% began dieting, and 15% found the answer to their dieting dilemmas in induced vomiting. How sad is that. This concept is definitely not anything new to me. I mean, everybody talks about how self-image is thwarted by the media. What I didn't realize was how quickly those effects would make themselves noticed. Along the same lines, when refering to how media affects its viewers, the writers state, "No one actually has to belong to any of the modeled groups. One only needs to want to belong and to want to be like the figures in the ads, to identify with them." Again, this isn't anything new. But what struck me was the-matter-of-fact way the writers present the material. I mean, I don't like to admit that I fall into the kind of audience the writers are talking about. Surely, I should be smarter than to fall prey to such tactics.

I also found the writer's discussion of the effect of camaran angles on audience percetion in chapter three particularly revealing. I have never paid ay attention to thechnical aspects of film like camara angle. The only time I remember making any notice of the technicalities of filming was when seeing Romeo + Juliet for the first and last time. But the fact that something like camara angle can affect real life--that's just scary.

This book has made me realize how important it is to view films critically. There is a whole level of understanding I've been missing out on.