Intertextuality in the 21st Century

The Ad to the left is an example of what I feel is consumerist oriented culture gone awry. The image presents a woman as a passive object, or an accessory, much like the anorexic females in GAP clothing commercials which disgust me. The Ads appeal to me as a society in the dark ages; while many seem to ignore what it means to express an idea and its implications. This doesn't make me want to buy anything, it only disgusts me and draws attention to a powerlessness that I feel when I see these Ads. I tune them out, I stop buying the clothing they sell, and I get tired of seeing the same image everywhere. This is not a co-created text, and in fact I wouldn't call it a true text, who-ever made it wasn't taking into account all sides of the interpretation. This is not a genuine text, because it does not take into account the conscious actors in its medium of expression.

A text is any medium of communication that is read; when we read a text, we can use any of our senses or perceptions, and they are not limited to sight. This is why a text is not just an object such as a book, but it can also be a message such as propagandized news. The text has a basic value which is intended to be perceived; this value or message is spread through various mediums of technology in order to garner support for a politician, attain profit for a market, or increase public awareness without a profit incentive, etc. The value of a text is co-created and co-interpreted by the public. The public masses act as co-creators by the very act of being conscious actors in society. As conscious beings, we interpret various forms of media in ways that appeal to our personal, and interpersonal values. Media objects act as texts when we read them and interpret them for what they represent to us.

Intertextuality can be thought of as the on-going dialogue between various texts, and the way these texts influence each other in the grand scheme. People who act within the social paradigm within various cultures, are bombarded with inescapable texts. News on Fox is more-so entertainment than actual non-biased news. AOL is another medium of entertainment and gossip, rather than free news that keeps the art of journalism more-so in mind than the art of consumerism and entertainment. Real news is harder to find in this age when technology and markets are so readily available and able to swallow up genuine journalists to pay them to create stuff solely for television. You could compare real news to home-made bread and the mass produced news to generic tasteless bread made for your toaster/television.

One argument says that commercials appeal to our subconscious even when we tune it out, although I feel that if you consciously choose to ignore certain commercials you still will not find them appealing. I feel that commercials should take into account aesthetics more-so than humor; the creators should stop making them annoying because people really don't like them. If you compare a communication text to a piece of fine art, the same rules apply when being mass marketed. Art without value is generic and based more on popularity and a name-sake than aesthetics, emotional appeal, and setting itself apart. True art shakes the generic foundation by speaking a message that appeals to a sense of justice or personal flavor. This can be the sense of self-expression for its own sake, or it can be upfront about an idea that you never thought of.

Real texts express what the artist or the marketer intended, which is to express an idea and influence someone in such a way that does not make them feel compelled to do something without context. By real, I mean genuine. Genuine art and genuine texts appeal to the human individual, not themselves. Texts are an important aspect of daily life, whether though news or culture oriented propaganda, texts are an integral aspect of humanity and how we communicate our ideas to each other. Intertextuality is ever-evolving, just as the memes of culture are ever-changing and evolving to satisfy our needs. With more conscious co-creators in the ever-changing industry and market, there will be more room for improvement in what we see as media, and more texts that relate to the human and not just to the image itself. This is what I envision for a better and more aware culture.