When we have nothing to look at, nothing to truly see, it might be said that we’re truly bored. When I’m truly bored, I stumble. And no, I’m not referring to tripping over my own two feet, as I often do; I’m speaking of the website StumbleUpon.com. Like a playground of looking, I can set my interests to produce a different website with every click, all of which I am supposed to want to see. Yet in reality, I’m simply browsing. It’s something that we rarely do when we “browse the web”; just look, as though we’re shopping in a store. We go online to check our email, catch up on Facebook, and read the news. But when we stumble, we’re subjected to random images and information from the furthest corners of the Internet.
Yet not everything that we look at is something we are interested in really seeing. If I choose to stumble through photographs of nature, clearly some catch my eye more than others. They often have been expertly staged, edited to perfection, and made to be the most appealing perspective possible, something I would most likely not be able to see in real life. It is this subliminal “advertising” of an image, manipulating it so that I will want to see it, to focus my gaze on the minor details of it, that me want to stay on that web page. As Elkins would put it, I need to desire that image in order to really look at it, and when I really see it, I see everything about it.
In this image that I stumbled upon, it is described as the border between Mexico and the United States, near Tijuana and San Diego. There is so much about it that catches my eye, and makes me want to know that picture more thoroughly. The stark contrast between the sides is what I first see, but with that, I eventually see the fence that separates it, and the different lifestyles that are embodied on each side. The Mexican side is busy, populated, and full of life, but the American side seems empty, and there is a feeling of danger in the multiple walls and military style-buildings. It makes me wonder why there is so much of Mexico pushed up against this barrier, while it seems as though all of America is hiding further away behind bolstered security. When you really see what is going on in this picture, the meaning of the image goes much further, and the mental storage of this meaning will stay in your mind.
In this way, browsing through Stumble is much like looking, and when you see something that stands out, draws you in, and makes you want to know it, you can take the time out to fully see it.
I too have spent many hours on stumbleupon.com bombaring my eyes and "sight" with whatever was thrown at me. I wonder if you, like me, keep you cursor on the next button and have developed a filter for what you're looking for, or for what grabs your attention to stay on the page and keep "looking." Myself, I tend to hit next before the entire page even loads, although I don't know why. When I "stumble" I don't know what I'm "looking for" but I also think that I subconsciously know what I'm "not looking for."
ReplyDeleteYour photo caught my eye. It almost looks like a photo of "here is what San Diego used to look like in the 20's (on left)", and "here it is what it looks like today (on right)". Then after reading, I see that the difference is between Mexico and USA. This is a great photo. I find it interesting that it is so much more built up on the USA side, dramatically built up compared to Mexico in the same location. If you look at it from a practical point of view you might say the reason why it is built up in a certain area is because the resources in that area is plenty, the climate is ideal, there are jobs there or really close by, things like that. If that was the case, why isn’t the Mexican side built up? I can only figure that it is because Mexico has better places to live and this is the best we can get for where we can be? Great photo and post.
ReplyDeleteHey Mike - you actually are looking at it in reverse! i thought the same thing when i first saw the picture, the the US side was the developed side and the Mexican side was the empty one, but in reality its the other way around. its as if the US are trying to put a real buffer zone between the two, while the Mexicans are trying to get as close as they can. its really quite a complex picture if you really take the time to look at it and see what it could possibly be telling its viewer.
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