Stuart Hall's - The Spectacle of the Other
Stuart Hall's ‘The Spectacle of the Other’ examines representation and identity. Whilst
reading Hall’s chapter, I came across this discussion about why does
'difference' matter. It is a rather theoretical discussion, tracing some of the
academic reflections on the role of difference in the ways we make sense of
things.
Hall outlines four arguments about difference which have something to say about how we perceive and relate to difference.
1. The linguistic argument (made by Ferdinand de Saussure) that difference is central to making sense of things. We make sense of 'white' by comparing it to 'black', of 'male' by comparing it with 'female' and so on. Yet, this way of thinking emphasises the opposites - there is a range of greys in between black and white. One may choose to see how black turns gradually into white; or one may choose to see black versus white. I'm talking about colours; but one can easily talk about race, ethnicity, gender in the same way.
2. The dialogic argument (made by Mikhail Bakhtin) that difference is central to understanding and communication, because we communicate and make sense of things in a dialogue with another person. It is by participating in this dialogue and by confronting the different ideas we have that we make sense of things. So, difference is seen here as central to understanding.
3. The anthropological argument (made by DuGay and Hall; Mary Douglas) that each culture gives meaning by classifying things. Classification means emphasising the difference; better said: when you classify something, there is a principle according to which you decide it is different or similar - so it has to go into this class of things (e.g. chairs) or the other (e.g. dogs). The idea here is that difference is created by those principles of classifications (those things which you highlight as central to defining a chair versus a dog). Though it make look like those principles are 'natural', 'logical' and 'immutable', they are in fact social conventions (heavy to swallow, but I won't go into details here).
4. The psychoanalytical argument (made by Sigmund Freud) that the "Other" - different from Self - is central to how we form our identities. Psychologists and psychoanalysts like to point out how, as children, we come to understand ourselves as different from the others in a painful way (e.g. we throw things on the floor and they don't come up to us and thus we form a sense of the Self as different from the world).
Hall outlines four arguments about difference which have something to say about how we perceive and relate to difference.
1. The linguistic argument (made by Ferdinand de Saussure) that difference is central to making sense of things. We make sense of 'white' by comparing it to 'black', of 'male' by comparing it with 'female' and so on. Yet, this way of thinking emphasises the opposites - there is a range of greys in between black and white. One may choose to see how black turns gradually into white; or one may choose to see black versus white. I'm talking about colours; but one can easily talk about race, ethnicity, gender in the same way.
2. The dialogic argument (made by Mikhail Bakhtin) that difference is central to understanding and communication, because we communicate and make sense of things in a dialogue with another person. It is by participating in this dialogue and by confronting the different ideas we have that we make sense of things. So, difference is seen here as central to understanding.
3. The anthropological argument (made by DuGay and Hall; Mary Douglas) that each culture gives meaning by classifying things. Classification means emphasising the difference; better said: when you classify something, there is a principle according to which you decide it is different or similar - so it has to go into this class of things (e.g. chairs) or the other (e.g. dogs). The idea here is that difference is created by those principles of classifications (those things which you highlight as central to defining a chair versus a dog). Though it make look like those principles are 'natural', 'logical' and 'immutable', they are in fact social conventions (heavy to swallow, but I won't go into details here).
4. The psychoanalytical argument (made by Sigmund Freud) that the "Other" - different from Self - is central to how we form our identities. Psychologists and psychoanalysts like to point out how, as children, we come to understand ourselves as different from the others in a painful way (e.g. we throw things on the floor and they don't come up to us and thus we form a sense of the Self as different from the world).
In terms of photography, Stuart Hall has enhanced my understanding
of photography as he has made me realise that difference is about variation and
versatility. Black is seen as the negative colour and white is seen as the
positive. This is also seen in race as well due to the society we are
surrounded in. Difference isn’t always a negative aspect to life, difference
defines who we are as a person as we are all unique. are all unique. With more
change and variation, more options and ideologies will exist meaning more
creativity in this world.
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