Chapter 4: Representation and Interaction

Production vs. Reception
Whether the author of an image, or the author of a text, it is rare for that author to be on hand when the audience receives the message. The viewer or reader interprets the meaning of the work in isolation. This is where the real communication test begins. How well does the signifier represent the signified? How accurately will the viewer/reader interpret the meaning of the author’s work?

Kress and van Leeuwen remind us that “the knowledge of the producer and the knowledge of the viewer differ in a fundamental respect: the former is active, allowing the ‘sending’ as well as the ‘receiving’ of ‘messages’; the latter is passive, allowing only the ‘receiving’ of ‘messages’ (115).

Chapter 4, Representation and Interaction, delves into this “imaginary” relationship between the author and the viewer and asks us to consider the various means by which the visual image establishes a connection with a viewer, whether subjectively or objectively.

The Image Act and the Gaze (116): When an image appears to look directly at the viewer, the eyes form a vector, connecting the viewer to the personified image. We say "personified," because that image may not even be that of a human, but a cartoon or representative shape, an icon. The authors refer to the meaning of these images linguistically as either "offer" or "demand."

Size of Frame and Social Distance (124): Meaning is also achieved through distance from the signifier. Much as the action of meeting someone on the street and avoiding eye contact, or moving close to someone for physical intimacy as well as proximity, framing a subject within a space achieves the same purpose.

Perspective and the Subjective Image (129): Perspective refers to the "point of view" chosen for the viewer, the audience. Unnatural perspective applied to an image or photo disrupts conventional meaning, thus forming a subjective image, one left to the interpretation or social context of the viewer.

Involvement and the Horizontal Angle (133): The horizontal angle unites the participant and the viewer, inviting the viewer to enter the scene. However, the frontal angle depicts the participants' involvement with the viewer, while an oblique angle signifies the participants' detachment from the viewer.

Power and the Vertical Angle (140): We all know how we feel when we are forced to look up at someone or something. We are subjugated psychologically, we feel dominated. The vertical angle in a static image is no less powerful. When looking down at an object, the viewer is dominant, in charge.

Narrativization of the Subjective Image (143): Narrativization of an image asks the viewer to conjecture how the image might be seen in the eyes of another viewer. Who "occupies" the space from which this scene could be realized?

Objective Images (143): Throughout this book, I have noticed that I do not enjoy or wish to linger on depictions of charts, graphs, or geometric illustrations. These are objective images; they leave nothing to the imagination. They undermine the viewer's desire for interpretation or subjective meaning. The viewer is not involved.