Why We Say “Cheese”:
Producing the Smile in Snapshot Photography
(by C.Kotchemidova)
I. Two Perspectives Toward
Understanding Communication
• I. Transmission Model
• II. Cultural Perspective
I. Transmission Model
• Transmitting a MESSAGE from a SENDER to a RECEIVER through a CHANNEL and with the always present but reducible interference of noise
I. Transmission Model Questions asked (e.g.):
– Was the message accurately transmitted?
– How does the received message effect
behavior?
– “Who says what, to whom, through what
channel, and with what effect?” (Laswell)
II. Cultural Perspective
• Communication is the creation of meaning by people through symbols in a specific social & cultural context
• “Communication is a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed”
– James Carey
II. Cultural Perspective Questions asked (e.g.):
- How is meaning constructed?
- What reality is being produced, maintained, repaired or
transformed?
- Where do the ideas & information that we communicate
come from?
- By what processes (& in whose interest) is reality produced,
maintained, repaired and transformed?
We study (and critique) culture. We study:
Interpretations & Reception
History & Context
Institutions
Organizations
Power
Wealth
Discourse
Media Representations
Individual and Shared Meaning
Individual and Shared Values
Individual and Shared Beliefs
Communication as
transmission only?
Example: Advertisements
• If goal is only about sending a message
(i.e. “transmission”) in hopes the
receiver “hears” it (and buys the
product), how do we describe what‟s
going on in this commercial?
Team Bill vs. Team Eric
Team Edward vs. Team Jacob
III. Case Study of the Cultural Perspective
A. Kodak Photographs: Snapshot culture & the smile
Why do we say “cheese?”
Cultural perspective of
snapshot culture:
RQ: How did the smile come to be the
photographic standard?
Or, “How did the consensus to smile
in photographs arise and who
produced it?” (p. 4)
Kotchemidova: Outline
1. How media construct meaning
symbolically
2. “Political economy” & cultural meaning
3. Media & Technology
4. Social power & ideology
1. How media construct meaning
symbolically
• Kodak‟s association of photography with
“fun:”
• Changed the discourse about
photography to one of pleasure
Smiling women,
Smiling children,
Smiling soldiers
going to war,
Smiling animals
1. Kodak‟s symbolic
construction of meaning
• Markets photo as play
2. Political economy & cultural meaning
• Kodak‟s “cultural leadership”
• 1915: controlled 75-80% of photo
industry
• Horizontal & Vertical control
• Major advertiser and media producer
2. Political economy & cultural meaning
• What power did Kodak have as a
“cultural leader?” (p. 5)
• And why the smile?
• Role of amateurs?
3. Media & Technology
• Different media “do” culture differently
– “Medium theory”
• A medium‟s structure encourages
different ways of thinking and
processing info
“That the medium of choice was visual particularly helped the
Kodak message to be uncritically received” (p. 13)
The Grand Narrative
4. Social power & „ideology‟
• Cultural symbols are a form of power
• Who did the cultural construction of the
photographic smile benefit?
– Kodak
– Advertisers / consumer culture
Application
• Mcdonald‟s smile
• Coca-Cola‟s Happiness Machine