Describing Society

Definition:

Dictionary definition - the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.

My definition - a community where people live together and share similar norms and values.

Describing Society:

Stereotypical

Insecure

Caring

Individualistic

Repetitive

Collective

Social Issues

This picture by Sally Mann is a typical photograph showing society, it is clear what the message is in this photograph and how it's portraying childhood in society. The viewers can see that the girl is quite young and is already smoking, this suggests that society is causing children to grow up too fast. Smoking is strictly prohibited for individuals under the age of 18 in modern society, so it is evident hoe much emphasis is put on the young girl smoking in this picture. Moreover, smoking is both for adults and extremely bad for one's health - the girl is damaging her lungs, showing the native impacts society has on childhood. People normally turn to smoking when they are stressed; this implies that this young girl is going through a stressful time, a time that is brought by society. The other girl has her back to the camera; this is so the viewer can only focus on the girl smoking and understand the photograph rather than pay attention to the surroundings.

In this picture, make up has been used in a bold way in order to hide the features of the subject. This has been done so that the viewer can see how woman see themselves in society. It is clear from this photograph that women want to be thin, dangerously thin; the bones and dark circles under her eyes suggest this. This represents how woman are struggling to lose weight as they believe that society does not see them as beautiful. It can be said that society has set such high expectations for women to look their best, even if it means going through drastic measures and putting themselves at risk. The photographer has chosen black as the main colour - this is so that it creates a string contrast between the background and the subject. The background is not white as such, it's a greyish colour; this has be done deliberately as white is known as a colour representing innocence and society is not being portrayed as innocent but rather the opposite in this photograph.

Photomontage has been used here to create a very surreal image. It can be easily implied that the individual in this picture feels trapped. This represents the mental illnesses that can be seem as a social issue. This person feels trapped and can't escape his own mind. The fact that the subject is sitting down and curling up in a ball shows that he is experiencing a mental breakdown and doesn't know what to do as he can't escape from it, it gives out impressions of slavery, suggesting he's a slave to society as well as himself. It could be argued that the pressures of society had lead to his mental illness and his breakdowns. The cracks on his face portrays how he's broken inside and almost as if he's slowly turning to stone as he feels useless and powerless.

In this picture, culture is shown as a strong theme. The subject is portrayed to be interested in the asian culture that is shown through the red robes. His interest is emphasised by him looking down at the robe he's wearing and his surroundings; it looks as though he is fascinated and this is suggested by his facial expressions. The red shows the elements of contrast and colour.