Characterization to Create an Attractive Appeal

Photography and realist portrait art is what Ronald Barthes, in his book, Mythologies, describes wrestling as, “a spectacle”, because it captures the very essence of a person. It’s grand, above life, and profound. Pictures really do tell a thousand words, because one comes to notice that a setting, perhaps with some context, perhaps not, is presented, and the rest is left to the imagination of the viewer. Maybe he’s had a rough past; maybe she hides many secrets; maybe he spends many of his nights on his personal projects; maybe she’s into past-century practices such as letter writing; and etc.

It’s a matter of giving a person a character, and to characterize someone is to give someone value. To give someone value is to give the admission that said person is interesting. Feelings of interest, of course, can vary widely. Even ‘interesting hate’ can spur. A great example of this would have to be Donald Trump. Someone who is not a Donald Trump supporter would probably subconsciously be thinking: “What a disgusting, hateful, morally bankrupt person! I can’t stand snobs like him. I must keep watching him!” The idea is that the character riles someone up so much that they become fascinated with the character even more, and so interest builds. This is in line with Zizek’s view on how Gangnam Style became popular. Dumb video. Almost abrasive in its making fun of the Asian race. Can’t understand anything. I hate it. I hate it so much that I must keep watching. To not stray off the path, this is exactly the type of hold photography and art have on us. To drive the point home, and to give a different illustration, we shall look no further than Hollywood.

The way Hollywood helps viewers connect with characters (especially on TV shows) is the same effect that photography and art aim to materialize, with a small variation (namely of course that TV characters have much more scripted personalities). This effect is so strong that in some cases it leaves some impressionable people into thinking that the actors are the actual characters they play.

So this kind of value-placing, this almost at times obsessive ways of projecting value, are done through these exact avenues. The difference is that one needs not Hollywood to experience a taste of this. Of course, once you think about it for a bit, you can come up with several ways why people develop these values on people other than Hollywood characters. For example, people fall in and out of love constantly, sometimes randomly too. It can be so that Person A fell in love with Person B because Person B projected value, or that Person A gave value to Person B, and then subsequently fell in love with Person B as a result. Friendship is another way. Long lasting friendships are the ones that have a lasting value, and hence some sort of lasting interest. Practically all close human relationships have this characteristic.

Photography and art hence, gives one a chance to project an image that potentially gives birth to people’s investment in giving their value to the person in the photograph or portrait. From high definition cameras and instagram filters, to photoshopping and upscaling images, these give any “normal” person the confirmation to characterize themselves in the ways they see themselves in their mind’s eye.