Chapter 4: Photography and the Human Body

This reading in Well's was definitely one of the most challenging chapters for me, theoretically, because of the loose debates about the the exposition of the human body. I don't think I can come up with any sort of clear opinion on what I feel should be limited in terms of content and nudity, but it is certainly one of the easiest ways to stir up some emotions, religiously, politically, sexually, in gendered terms, and aesthetically. Also, I had never considered the roles that photographing the dead can play in society, and I was actually surprised when I saw the sub genre that it didn't go into more detail, possibly focusing on the roles of documentary and death.

What I found to be the most interesting however is the section titles "Technological Bodies" and the discussion based around the camera throughout the ages and its affects on the humans in terms of our physicality. "The camera and other technologies for seeing also affect the way we value our own sense of sight." (2009 Wells: 194) By making something capable of enhancing that which we see, we are actually devaluing the individual and their ability to see. Not only can we capture moments in clarity grame by frame, but we can show what and who were there, or so we think we do. The interventions that photography and related developments have had on science again give superiority to these machines, which are much more accurate than a human could ever be. But always much colder.

A couple of questions that I have:

If the technological advancements of photography are able to give "clearer vision" as to what is there and that which we can't see, what sort of consequences does this have in various fields? Medicinal? Judicial? Artistic? In Literature? In Storytelling?

 Also,

Why is it that we choose to place some much emphasis on nudity in the United States, whereas other countries, even those in the Western world, tend to appreciate and accept it more readily? It is something more universal than almost anything else to humans, so is it the need we have to compare with others? To strive for perfection? Does it make one lustful or allow us to eject the sense desires that many of us hold inside?