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Report on Ways of Seeing V.Rajagopal Roll No: 1310110258 “What you see is what you get” - a common phrase today, heard mostly from UI developers (artists of the modern day), turns out to be more profound than it was probably intended to. Every image, every painting that we see tells different stories, each one reaching out to a person with a unique mindset. The Rorschach test is a perfect example. An arbitrary inkblot is interpreted differently by different people, and reflects what is in the viewer's mind. This also means that what one sees is influenced heavily by what he/she is subconsciously thinking or has previously encountered. Aspects like self-actualization, emotion, intelligence, psychological resilience define what one perceives in a manner that justifies the context. The movie, 'Bean' tells us this very story. While 'Whistler's mother' may have been a masterpiece, the worth of which was decided by its uniqueness, critics were easily fooled into thinking that a poster was the original painting. Put a child's scribble behind bulletproof glass on a velvet-paint coated wall, and most people would stare at it in awe. Hang a Pablo Picasso painting in the house of a commoner, and suddenly it's just a piece of decoration. What you see is what you get indeed.

Ways of Seeing: A Report

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My thoughts on Berger's "Ways of Seeing"

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Report on Ways of SeeingV.RajagopalRoll No: 1310110258

What you see is what you get - a common phrase today, heard mostly from UI developers (artists of the modern day), turns out to be more profound than it was probably intended to. Every image, every painting that we see tells different stories, each one reaching out to a person with a unique mindset. The Rorschach test is a perfect example. An arbitrary inkblot is interpreted differently by different people, and reflects what is in the viewer's mind. This also means that what one sees is influenced heavily by what he/she is subconsciously thinking or has previously encountered. Aspects like self-actualization, emotion, intelligence, psychological resilience define what one perceives in a manner that justifies the context. The movie, 'Bean' tells us this very story. While 'Whistler's mother' may have been a masterpiece, the worth of which was decided by its uniqueness, critics were easily fooled into thinking that a poster was the original painting. Put a child's scribble behind bulletproof glass on a velvet-paint coated wall, and most people would stare at it in awe. Hang a Pablo Picasso painting in the house of a commoner, and suddenly it's just a piece of decoration. What you see is what you get indeed.