Did you laugh when you looked at this picture? Or did you feel sorry about him? To be honest, I was shocked at the first moment, but then I laughed because the picture somehow looked funny. In this picture, a man is accidentally crushed into the rear window of a car and his body is kept straighten even though usually people would pass out and faint. Not to mention, this is a serious accident that the man could die because of this. However, this picture also makes people laugh since it is not a picture that we always see; sometimes these strange views look very funny. That is why this picture is found in a category of “funny pictures.” Now it is a bit confusing. Why an accident is described as funny? Thesignifier in this picture is the man crushed into the front window of a car. But interestingly, as you could guess from previous sentences, in this rare case, the signifier could lead readers to two different understandings. That is to say, two different things are signified by this sign. First, it is signified that the man in this picture is in a serious situation where he might lose his life; accident is always scary. But, the other message which is signified by this picture is that this irregular scene looks funny. And therefore I would say the accident would be object and our feelings toward this picture such as shock and laugh caused by this picture will be the subject. Personally, I feel that the second meaning had stronger impact on me because I kept laughing for a while. Therefore, the sign in this picture made me take a position of laughing at it. And at the same time, it is also a psychological aspect of culture.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
An accident
Did you laugh when you looked at this picture? Or did you feel sorry about him? To be honest, I was shocked at the first moment, but then I laughed because the picture somehow looked funny. In this picture, a man is accidentally crushed into the rear window of a car and his body is kept straighten even though usually people would pass out and faint. Not to mention, this is a serious accident that the man could die because of this. However, this picture also makes people laugh since it is not a picture that we always see; sometimes these strange views look very funny. That is why this picture is found in a category of “funny pictures.” Now it is a bit confusing. Why an accident is described as funny? Thesignifier in this picture is the man crushed into the front window of a car. But interestingly, as you could guess from previous sentences, in this rare case, the signifier could lead readers to two different understandings. That is to say, two different things are signified by this sign. First, it is signified that the man in this picture is in a serious situation where he might lose his life; accident is always scary. But, the other message which is signified by this picture is that this irregular scene looks funny. And therefore I would say the accident would be object and our feelings toward this picture such as shock and laugh caused by this picture will be the subject. Personally, I feel that the second meaning had stronger impact on me because I kept laughing for a while. Therefore, the sign in this picture made me take a position of laughing at it. And at the same time, it is also a psychological aspect of culture.
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As I was scrolling through the blog this picture jumped out at me. My first thought was is this real? My second reaction, however, was to start laughing. I find it interesting that there really is two different responses. Some people would just be mortified and disturbed while others, like me, just start laughing. I feel like people who have maybe been in a car accident or new somebody who was injured or killed in an accident would probably respond more seriously.
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