Why We Say “Cheese”:

Producing the Smile in Snapshot Photography

(by C.Kotchemidova)

I. Two Perspectives Toward

Understanding Communication

• I. Transmission Model

• II. Cultural Perspective

I. Transmission Model

• Transmitting a MESSAGE from a SENDER to a RECEIVER through a CHANNEL and with the always present but reducible interference of noise

I. Transmission Model Questions asked (e.g.):

– Was the message accurately transmitted?

– How does the received message effect

behavior?

– “Who says what, to whom, through what

channel, and with what effect?” (Laswell)

II. Cultural Perspective

• Communication is the creation of meaning by people through symbols in a specific social & cultural context

• “Communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed”

– James Carey

II. Cultural Perspective Questions asked (e.g.):

- How is meaning constructed?

- What reality is being produced, maintained, repaired or

transformed?

- Where do the ideas & information that we communicate

come from?

- By what processes (& in whose interest) is reality produced,

maintained, repaired and transformed?

We study (and critique) culture. We study:

Interpretations & Reception

History & Context

Institutions

Organizations

Power

Wealth

Discourse

Media Representations

Individual and Shared Meaning

Individual and Shared Values

Individual and Shared Beliefs

Communication as

transmission only?

Example: Advertisements

• If goal is only about sending a message

(i.e. “transmission”) in hopes the

receiver “hears” it (and buys the

product), how do we describe what‟s

going on in this commercial?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaXOttV2VJ0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaXOttV2VJ0

Team Bill vs. Team Eric

Team Edward vs. Team Jacob

III. Case Study of the Cultural Perspective

A. Kodak Photographs: Snapshot culture & the smile

Why do we say “cheese?”

Cultural perspective of

snapshot culture:

RQ: How did the smile come to be the

photographic standard?

Or, “How did the consensus to smile

in photographs arise and who

produced it?” (p. 4)

Kotchemidova: Outline

1. How media construct meaning

symbolically

2. “Political economy” & cultural meaning

3. Media & Technology

4. Social power & ideology

1. How media construct meaning

symbolically

• Kodak‟s association of photography with

“fun:”

• Changed the discourse about

photography to one of pleasure

Smiling women,

Smiling children,

Smiling soldiers

going to war,

Smiling animals

1. Kodak‟s symbolic

construction of meaning

• Markets photo as play

2. Political economy & cultural meaning

• Kodak‟s “cultural leadership”

• 1915: controlled 75-80% of photo

industry

• Horizontal & Vertical control

• Major advertiser and media producer

2. Political economy & cultural meaning

• What power did Kodak have as a

“cultural leader?” (p. 5)

• And why the smile?

• Role of amateurs?

3. Media & Technology

• Different media “do” culture differently

– “Medium theory”

• A medium‟s structure encourages

different ways of thinking and

processing info

“That the medium of choice was visual particularly helped the

Kodak message to be uncritically received” (p. 13)

The Grand Narrative

4. Social power & „ideology‟

• Cultural symbols are a form of power

• Who did the cultural construction of the

photographic smile benefit?

– Kodak

– Advertisers / consumer culture

Application

• Mcdonald‟s smile

• Coca-Cola‟s Happiness Machine

http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/news/watch/v17865328Er3cpTERhttp://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/news/watch/v17865328Er3cpTERhttp://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/news/watch/v17865328Er3cpTERhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqT_dPApj9Uhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqT_dPApj9Uhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqT_dPApj9U