Visual education to fight seduction

Visual education to fight seduction

By Rashid Carre

JAKARTA (JP): Mounting serious concerns are expressed in non-
Western countries on the fast growing importance in their
societies of the U.S. dominated communication and entertainment
culture.

President Soeharto, along with Indonesian intellectuals,
expressed recently his concerns about the eroding of Indonesian
culture in a country where satellite TV has mushroomed. Jakarta
proudly displays its Mc Donalds, Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood
and movie-theaters showing American productions predominantly of
the most violent kind, and hosts, amongst others, Nike and
Barbie-Doll factories.

Singapore's senior statesman Lee Kuan Yew highlighted two
different aspects of Western and Southeast Asian Democracies: one
obsessed with freedom of expression and information at any cost
and the other obsessed with information control to maintain
stability, considered as a prerequisite to development in plural
societies. Lee Kuan Yew also lashed out recently at the American
"unbelievable assumption of cultural supremacy" expressed in
their press.

Shimon Peres, in a recent interview said that Israel is now
facing a real danger which is the steamrolling impact of what he
labels "the Hollywood culture" which jeopardizes the unique
achievement of the Israeli society: a Hebrew speaking nation of
five million, with all the history and culture attached to it. He
was therefore advocating a massive increase in the translation of
books into Hebrew in order, at least, to maintain an elite,
ferment of any society. Shimon Peres's recommendation echoed that
of Neil Postman in his classic Amusing Ourselves to Death: the
counterweight to the devastating hypnotic entertainment effect of
TV should be a desperate attempt on the part of educators to
strengthen literacy.

However an anecdote might indicate that the main solution is
not there. I was recently sketching some of the magnificent trees
of the Singapore botanical garden; this attracted now and then
school children on holidays. I ended up talking at some length
with a twelve year old boy, who had traveled to Europe with his
parents. He told me that reading was his favorite activity. How
many books a week? -- An average of five. What kind of books? --
Books from the movies, like The Firm...

The French publicist and image maker of former President
Mitterrand, Se'gue'la, analyzed in an article on Mitterrand's use
of TV the shift from the era of public opinion to the present era
of public emotion -- which he was instrumental in spreading,
along with the Madison Avenue experts and other Carvilles.
Emotional impact, the 'cool' factor of the youngsters, is at the
center of this U.S. dominated sub-culture, and I believe this is
where educators have to concentrate their attention towards the
new generations born in an environment of computers and
communication.

One might first ask why this sub-culture is so powerful as to
be a world-wide phenomenon. Paraphrasing Mc Luhan, one might say:
"communication is seduction." The psychological sources and
techniques at work in this seduction industry have been profusely
identified by semioticians and analysts of 'motivation research',
as well as the reasons for their predominance: enormous
investments in research and production, adequation of the means
to the goals by extremely efficient professionals. Be it
advertising, videoclips, TV series, MTV, action movies and
Virtual Reality, the instantaneous emotional impact is enormous
because their hypnotic power short-circuits reflection and sets a
reality of its own that fills the inner space: 'seeing is
believing.'

Why does the Marlboro man that greets us at the Jakarta
airport shows up everywhere on highways, city walls, magazines
and TV screens the world over? Why Rambo, Madonna, Cindy
Crawford, the K.C. couple and the GUESS girls? Because they are
manufactured by experts in visual seduction playing on universal
'basic instincts': greed and violence, lust and looks, voyeurism
and exhibitionism, and on the icon of the Western carefree,
liberated and individualistic image of the affluent liberal
capitalism. This highly commercial sub-culture of 'basic
instincts', largely targeted towards teenagers, comes to us,
omnipresent, repetitive; it is absorbed effortlessly, instantly,
physically and emotionally.

Observers of Southeast Asian societies within the past fifteen
years could not fail to notice the parallel between their fast
economic growth and the galloping spreading of the "Hollywood
culture", particularly amongst the young generations of the
increasingly affluent middle classes.

This poses a real challenge: is it possible for Southeast
Asian countries to maintain their fast growth, based on market
economy, deregulation and massive foreign investment, without
importing the sub-culture of fun, looks, sex, violence and power?
It is well proven that strict regulations, control and censorship
end up in making more attractive what one wants to prevent.

Signs of reactions against this acculturation are evident in
the younger generations of artists, writers, dramatists,
particularly in Indonesia. Some of their works might be perceived
as premonitions of considerable future social disturbances of a
cultural, religious and political nature, when upcoming
generations will question their identity.

I believe that educators could play a decisive role in
avoiding, or at least limiting, these foreseeable upheavals by
developing a pedagogy of "visual criticism" as a fundamental
component of education, an indispensable complement to technology
oriented programs. Education against seduction.

In the past four years I have led a number of lectures and
interactive presentations to school students and teachers,
putting this approach into practice: from a systematic decoding
of images, identify their components and what they imply, which
leads to questioning how they affect values and self-image. It is
my experience that youngsters are very responsive to a critical
visual approach; it fascinates them because all youngsters
question their identity, trying to build up a personality and
self-image. Decoding images, still or moving, not only breaks the
hypnotic spell of commercial seduction, but in so doing raises
issues that concern them deeply.

In another approach I involved students of all ages and
nationalities and teachers in establishing connections between
the Javanese shadow puppet (Wayang Kulit), Plato's allegory of
the cave, the King Arthur cycles and Carl Jung's psychology.
Similar approaches can certainly be developed within the specific
context of Southeast Asia or more specifically Indonesia. From a
Rambo movie to Bima play, an exciting path can be traveled with
students, towards the development of a personal identity and
cultural values.

A clear trend develops in Southeast Asia education towards
developing student's autonomy and critical approaches. A pedagogy
of visual awareness is essential to the shaping of a genuine
cultural and personal identity, in reaction to the seduction of
the 'basic instincts' global sub-culture. Educators might then
contribute a 'miracle' of their own: the growth of a genuine
modern culture along with the economic miracle.

Rashid Carre teaches Art at the Jakarta International School.
He has lived in Indonesia for the past 26 years and was recently
awarded the first place in the International School Services
Innovative Educational Practices Contest.