




after viewing gentry's revised postcard, the clear message to me was his implication with hoard of people with cameras to make a hint towards paparazzi. that name alone has mostly negative connotations within our western society. this this social/cultural impact was said to be first from Italian dialect, used from Federico Fellini. he describes it to be a particularly annoying noise, that of a buzzing mosquito. we are so caught up in the lives of famous actors/actresses and musicians, we would ignore our own lives to find out what's happening in theirs. major magazines and other businesses are willing to go as far as pay 150,000 dollars for a single image of ben and lopez. if someone were to turn in two photographs, they could easily buy a house and be set. some paparazzi justify this behavior by saying it's a 'two way street' which they say gives the famous the attention they need. some of the major media corporations would hire the paparazzi to photograph certain stars if they are in an upcoming movie and want to create a certain buzz for publicity's sake. but how far are people willing to go to get the 'best shot'? a lot of ethical and legal concerns arise. a qualification for a 'good photo' is not quality, as long as the star is recognizable . paparazzi may even intentionally provoke stars for a better photo. an example of an ethical concern i have are the images captured of princess di's crash. images are seen of the crash even before the help has arrived, or perhaps even requested. is it morally right to capture a photograph instead of helping another human life?
i think the west and japan are similar in that in our society, we don't really say much about ourselves personally. it is improper to discuss personal aspects to each other, even if there was a married couple for many years, would be hard to talk about 'fantasies' or things of that nature. this is why one of the most prized possessions in japan is to read someones journal. to get a glimpse of how a person really is, they consider journals very sacred. a lot of the contemporary novels written by japanese are shi su se tsu (i novel) written from the first person point of view. we are in a way the same in our culture because of the popularity of shoes like 'real world' when cameras fallow a cast for months. a lot of people love looking at other peoples lives rather than focusing on our own.
i didn't re read this, so i might be rambling on or not making much sense.