`The offender never pardons'. George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum (1651).
`Pardon one offence, and you encourage the commission of many'. Publilius
Syrus, Moral Sayings (1st C. B.C.), 750, tr. Darius Lyman.
Definition
An image which causes people to be upset or embarrassed affronting,
insulting, disrespectful, intolerable, nauseating, distasteful, disgusting,
obnoxious, repulsive,
Something that is offensive upsets or embarrasses people because it
is rude or insulting.
`Generating disagreeable emotions or sensations, as the advance of an
army against its enemy' The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce, 1886.
differentiate from squeamishness.
The tactlessness of interviewing people shortly after a loved one has
been killed or murdered. Most images aim to communicate to people and
therefore the creator of an image has a responsibility to the viewer.
The extent to which certain images reach people - Televisual images
reach millions
Blasphemy, pornography, obscenity, permissiveness,
censorship
suggested sexual situations
the irreverent treatment of sacred subjects
Thomas Bowdler and `bowdlerisation'
In a publication of 1818 he got rid of the bawdy bits of Shakespeare
Offence = a strong military attack
people displayed as sexual objects in advertising, or macho car
drivers
Intention
Values
Is our materialistic society paying for a high spiritual price for its
plenty.
seduction, alluring
breaking the law (Are there any rules?)
sexually explicit scenes
untruthful (mistaken images)
propaganda
in the bad sense it manipulates, misinforms and keeps minds closed `Advertising
is the art of making whole lies out of half truths'. Edgar A. Shoaff
`Advertising is legalised lying' H.G.Wells lead astray
censorship
Freedom and Choice of looking or not looking by shutting our eyes or
blocking our ears or turning the switch off. An image would certainly
be offensive if we didn't have the choice. However what do we think
about the bombardment of images?
hurtful & humiliating
to a cultural or ethnic, group, religious organisation, children, men,
women, gays, colour of skin
cruelty and violence
film clips and photographs of the German concentration camps What use
does violence have to the viewer?
Photographs
TV - chewing gum for the eyes'. Frank Lloyd Wright.
`Children will watch anything, and when a broadcaster uses crime and
violence and other shoddy devices to monopolise a child's attention
it's worse than taking candy from a baby. It is taking precious time
from the process of growing up'. Newton Minow.
Are we drowning our children in gratuitous rubbish, violence, cynicism
and sadism?
Offensive words
`Let us swear while we may, for in heaven it will not be allowed'. Mark
Twain, Notebook (1935).
Words are only sounds or a group of letters but they are symbols of
meaning - written and spoken words
tone of voice; contextual/associated words in sentence; if expletives
are personally directed aimed at people or things accompanied by a facial
grimace, physical posture or gesture
The shock of the vicar in a pulpit uttering an expletive compared to
a navvy on a building site.
Words in common use among a group may give no offence; words related
to human parts
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