#imagetheory

Jules Dalou Rodin 1883

at Alte Nationalgalerie

30x21cm

Pigment Bar on Linen

황목Heavy Weight

Kohen — Project Bystanders

30x24.5cm Pigment Bar on Linen 2020, Berlin 

There is a concept on film theory called the Three-Act structure, which basically provides a framework to work a story into a film, helping the viewer understand what the story is about giving it a linear easy to understand sequence.

The first act usually present the universe and the rules that the protagonist has to live under. The second act takes that protagonist that lives on that context and makes them do something (find money, comeback from death, look for the truth, go get the princess). The third act can be described as the climax where our protagonist (now with a clear path) full fills its duty and deals with the consequences of such actions (as they might live happily ever after, died or do pretty much anything else).

Examples of this movies are The Lion King, Day of independence, Citizen Kane among others. So now, I would like to argue that when it comes to status of Guatemalan “Contemporary image theory” we can use this Three-Act structure as an analogy and the reason I can give for that, is the same reason Hollywood keeps using it… Because is easy to understand.

If we take into account Guatemala's history of neocolonialism and racism, it is logical to say that we are not what you may call “visionaries” when it comes to create knowledge and culture of our own, therefore I would like to say that we are still stuck in Act 1, in the sense that we kind of know what our reality is and the rules that might come along with it, however we do not have a purpose or a plan whatsoever.  

We are the little Simba just after his father died and he ran away, and in this particular case, we can say that we are like Simba not only because we are little and clueless, but also in the sense that we rather say “Hakuna Matata” to the sometimes difficult and not well paid task of educating ourselves (those who can, because Guatemala has education problems too, but that is for another post) creating culture, art and knowledge that provides value and help build bridges between cultures.

So what is the point on this post?... Well, what I am trying to point with all of this is... Guatemalan instagram “Influencers”, so let me explain, Guatemala is a country with about 20 millions phones which might arrange for a large set of likes and shares within the country, however only a few section of those likes and shares get “paid” by brands the rest is either brands themselves putting content or some content creator that gets paid by say Youtube (wich in this case I would not take those views or likes as “paid” because Youtube is not a Guatemalan brand).

The purpose of analyzing Instagram influencer is the fact that they are somehow “influential”, thus having a huge impact when it comes to set expectations of “good photography” or “good filmmaking” to new generations of photographers and producer. This influence can go so far as to “how much to charge” or what a good product campaign is, which at best can make Guatemala’s production quality go up, or at worst can take the whole industry to an end.

The concern I have over this Instagramers is that even though they are a kind of new way of creating visual content, they still present what I like to call “Bad Guatemalan habits” in the sense that they don’t really pretend to create a new structure / theory, a new technology or even understand the tools the have at their disposal (I’m talking about tools like research, image and film theory or the technology itself) the idea they are presenting is to copy the way countries like the USA use this tools, and to do it on a flat and non-reconcilable way, doing the same thing we have been forced to do before with colonialism, this can lead to a widespread misunderstanding of “how this tools should be used giving our local context”...

The thing with lack of understanding on information or tools is that the society on which this happens don’t really advance, instead they are always looking for someone else to tell what to do and how to do it, as they don’t really grasp the significance and implication this new knowledge / ability has, if we go back to the three-act analogy, it is like a protagonist who never gets to do anything on its universe, therefore having no goal or conquest (save the price, get the money, go back home), no development and not climax… Well, you can pretty much say that there is no movie at all!

The importance of studying and understanding image and film theory has nothing to do with people creating visual content or not, but with the future of our industry,  Guatemalan photographers and visual creators need to understand that “influencers” are just a tiny part of a bigger machinery, usually under control of those capable of understanding photography and images as a language that conveys more than “like and shares” but messanges and statements than can be use to make money or deliver an idea on a unique and unforgettable way.