Unit 2: POWER Lapastora 1

Rachel Lapastora

Art 133 5/6

September 21, 2017

Unit 2: POWER Lapastora 2

Everyday many people are submerged into a life where Power means everything.

Power is often viewed as what sets hierarchy, control, separation, and often dictate who will have

success. In todays 21st century world, Hurwitz and Day (2007) state, visual culture has become

more ubiquitous and more influential in the everyday life of people of all ages (p. 77). More

often children and young people have succumbed to the power of visual culture through new

media such as cell phones, computers, the internet, video games and so forth. Through visual

culture, designs such as billboards and magazines have the power to sway viewers into what is

considered the social norm or to buy products we do not support or believe in. Gude (2004)

states, If the messages carried by visual culture are not interpreted, we will be unwittingly

buying, wearing, promoting, and otherwise consuming opinions with which we may or may not

agree (p. 12). Due to these commercialized influences, students need to be educated in

denotations and connotations in order to make sense of misleading content.

Ways in which I would modify and teach future young students to understand power

through visual art would be to compare advertisements such as a Carls Jr. Ad versus a

McDonalds Ad. From there, students can discuss denotations and connotations and what the ad

is trying to convey to their audience. Questions that would be considered to ask are what is the

ad trying to sell and who are they trying to sell it to? Discussions that may come into play are

why we may think Carls Jr. decided to create ads objectifying women when compared to

McDonalds ads that simply showcase their burgers. Does Carls Jr. believe it is a power move to

use women to sell burgers or that eating a Carls Jr. burger make women sexy? After the

discussion I would have the students create their own burger ad on what they believe conveys

messages about fast food burgers.

Unit 2: POWER Lapastora 3

References

Hurwitz, A., & Day, M. (2007) Children and their art: Methods for the elementary school, (8th

ed.). Thompson Wadsworth.

Gude, O. (2004). Postmodern principles: In search of a 21st century art education. Art Education,

57(1), 6-14.