The Surplus Value of Images

This reading is primarily about how images affect the senses and human decision making processes. The first portion discusses how the soda "Sprite" uses the slogan "Obey your thirst". This slogan is stating that images do not mean anything, and that a person should obey his or her natural senses, as opposed to obeying false images and fake ideas.

The author, W.J.T. Mitchell consistently puts an emphasis on the fact that images are inferior and meaningless. When he says "Surplus images", Mitchell is talking about the profits created for business from images. Mitchell believes that from a business standpoint, images are valuable. Otherwise, they are pretty much worthless.

Mitchell briefly discusses how commercials use a process called value transfer, where the commercials link positive ideas and cultures to a product that may be absolutely disgusting. Therefore, commercials appear to be appealing to the general public because they relate to familiar things.

I think the main point that Mitchell makes within this reading is that pictures do mean something greater than what they are. A picture will often create controversey and provoke ideas into viewers' heads, even if the picture has nothing on it. This is what makes images so exciting and makes photography a unique artform itself.