I've been thinking a lot about other kinds of visual culture media and how they build on past literacy/knowledge and reference popular and visual culture information/texts. I think about how much youtube influences what we see and talk about in class. It's such a different experience to teach this Writing Art Criticism course now than it was even a year and a half ago. There are so many (visual/culture) texts to reference and so many discourses to enter, to ignore, and to refuse/resist.
One piece of visual culture on the internet I found particularly interesting in the past week is this article and the accompanying interactive graphic from slate.com:
Bushies Behaving Badly: An Illustrated guide to Republican Scandals
Not only is it a critical and informative article, but it does such a great job of inserting itself into newer visual culture while referencing and borrowing from older visual culture. The title is a great reference to the "Girls Gone Wild" series and "Men Behaving Badly." The article and interactive page do a great job of approaching these scandals like a big political game of CLUE. Instead of Colonel Mustard and Mrs. Peacock, dining rooms and libraries, lead pipes and candlesticks, we get current political figures and their illicit operations.
This is definitely focused on, and critical of, Republicans doing bad/illegal/unethical things. It's not that there aren't Democrats doingbad/illegal/unethical things, it's just that this one does not include them .
I'd be interested in knowing what other folks think.
Mindi